Briana Duka
Throughout my A Levels, I constantly wondered – what will studying an Economics degree actually be like? This blog will give my overview to help students who may be wondering the same question.
My name is Briana, currently a second-year Economics and Finance undergraduate at the University of Surrey.
Why Economics as a degree in the first place?
It all started from choosing it as one of my A Levels. I had no prior knowledge whatsoever so initially, I wasn’t sure if A Level Economics would be right for me.
However, Economics exceeded my expectations as I found it to be very eye-opening and fascinating - understanding the subject came quite natural to me. From my first lesson in class, I realised there was more to Economics than its stereotypical representation of just being about money.
I noticed that Economics is always present, influencing almost every aspect of our lives (whether we realise it or not). I understood just how much economic policies affect people - whether it be to an individual or the whole nation. Given these realisations (and more), I knew I wanted to pursue Economics further.
2 years passed… and eventually, the time to begin university came.
What approach/structure can be expected at degree level?
Starting university at Surrey felt like turning the page of a book to a new chapter.
This was not only due to the unfamiliar area but also because of how different the structure and approach to learning Economics at degree level is, compared to the A-Level.
An Economics degree will usually include a combination of in-person/ online exams, coursework and dissertation that often takes place in third year.
Across the degree, there also leaves no/very little room to memorise. You need to thoroughly understand the information presented on lecture slides and go over a concept step-by-step, to understand the full picture.
So, it is crucial to not leave a topic/information that you don’t understand hanging. Otherwise, it will catch up to you during exam season (speaking from experience).
To dissolve confusion, there are a range of useful options you can take – from reading the relevant parts of the textbook, watching informative YouTube videos to asking the professor questions when they’re available, e.g. during their office hours.
It’s important to realise that the degree modules and structure will vary across universities (although the content you learn is likely to be similar) - but I can only highlight my personal experience. In first year, I studied 8 economics modules, focusing on Micro, Macro (which you get a much deeper insight into), economic data analysis, current economic issues and the use of statistics & maths in Economics.
Which leads to the next important part…
Maths in Economics: How much of it is there?
You will see maths (mainly algebra and statistics) and therefore graphs often in the degree. This is true regardless of the university – especially if the degree is a BSc (which mine is) instead of a BA. In Economics, maths is used as a tool to apply and explain economic reasoning in practice.
I didn’t complete Maths as an A-Level (mostly a requirement for the degree) so I found this aspect to be very tricky, especially during first year. However, I came to realise that maths is only difficult if you haven’t understood something or practiced many times. I would remind myself that I simply needed to put more time and practice, and eventually maths didn’t seem like a foreign language anymore. I managed to improve. A lot.
Getting a notebook to practice just maths-related problems separate from lecture notes is so helpful for this- I really recommend it. Also, applying maths and statistics to a variety of economic contexts is more interesting than you think. You will really start to understand why different economic variables behave the way they do, further enhancing your knowledge.
Overall, I managed to perform well across my first year despite my challenges with maths - to highlight that if I can do it, so can you.
The use of coding in Economics:
You will also more likely than not learn to use one or more coding programme(s)/language(s) - to perform data analysis, carry out calculations and create graphs. I learned to use R studio in first year and in second year, I am now learning Stata.
Although the coding will first seem new and different, it will help you overtime to understand the theories (economic and statistical) better. The ability to code also significantly boosts your employability in the long-term.
Why Finance as part of the degree?
I hadn’t exactly planned to study Finance before; after taking an (extracurricular) online finance course during first year, my interest grew where I wanted to learn more about the specifics.
I have only started to study finance-related modules in second year – including the financial system, securities, bonds, shares and their respective pricing systems. I will also learn financial accounting, investment portfolio theory and more, later on.
The subject involves a heavy use of formulae so there is a need to become comfortable with applying formulas to problems appropriately - again this takes time and practice. Good knowledge of the theory itself of different concepts and their respective formulas is important during this process - but practice is especially key, to ensure you do well in the exams.
And that wraps up my overview of the degree, until now:
I want to thank ALSA for giving me the opportunity to share my insights as part of this blog. I also want to thank you for reading.
If you have any questions about the degree/would like more of my insights, feel free to message me on LinkedIn - I am happy to help!
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