Differences between Edexcel, WJEC, OCR and AQA Economics A Level
A-Level Economics: 5-Board Comparison
Key differences between Edexcel, AQA, WJEC (Eduqas), OCR and CIE
Topic emphasis
Edexcel
AQA
WJEC
OCR
CIE
Behavioural economics
✅ Explicit
⚠️ Implied
⚠️ Light
⚠️ Light
⚠️ Light
Merit & demerit goods
❌ Not named but externalities
✅
✅
✅
✅
Inequality & poverty (micro)
⚠️ Limited
✅
✅
✅
⚠️ Limited
National wellbeing & happiness
✅
❌
❌
❌
❌
PPP comparisons
✅ Explicit
✅
✅
⚠️ Limited
⚠️ Limited
Size and types of firms
✅
❌
❌
❌
❌
Keynesian vs Classical LRAS
✅ Explicit
⚠️ Light
⚠️ Light
⚠️ Light
⚠️ Light
Trading blocks
✅
⚠️ Implied
⚠️ Implied
⚠️ Implied
⚠️ Implied
Types of economies (free market, mixed, command)
✅
❌
❌
❌
❌
Financial sector (distinct topic)
✅ Strong
✅ Strong
⚠️ Limited
⚠️ Limited
⚠️ Limited
Emerging & developing economies
✅ Explicit
✅ Explicit
✅ Explicit somewhat narrower
⚠️ Limited
⚠️ Limited
Government failure framework
✅ Formal
⚠️ General
⚠️ General
⚠️ General
⚠️ General
Exam insight: Edexcel is the most theoretical and wide-ranging; AQA, WJEC and OCR emphasise inequality, merit goods and macro flow models; CIE focuses on applied international economics.
Other topics in edexcel but not others
Demergers.
Topics in AQA and WJEC but not Edexcel
Topic
Edexcel
AQA
WJEC
Merit & demerit goods (named)
❌
✅
✅
Income & wealth inequality (micro) – but in development
⚠️
✅
✅
Accelerator
❌
⚠️
⚠️
UK poverty – more international
⚠️
✅
✅
About 80–90% of A-level Economics content is shared across Edexcel, AQA, OCR and WJEC.
Revision guides for different exam boards
If you do a specific exam board, you can choose a specific revision guide:
Tejvan Pettinger. Author of “Cracking Economics” “What Would Keynes Do?” – studied PPE Oxford University (1995-99) and works as an economics teacher and writer.
