AQA Paper 1 Hot Topics 2025!

Summary

This video highlights key hot topic areas for AQA students preparing for their 2025 exams, focusing on market failure, market structures, competition policy, the labor market, income and wealth inequality, and smaller niche topics. The speaker emphasizes the importance of revising specific areas such as childcare, environmental failures, vaping, housing, and labor shortages. Students are encouraged to spend extra time on these areas while continuing to review the entire course to be ready for any essay question. Practical tips are provided for students to maximize their revision and secure top grades.

Takeaways

• 😀 Focus on hot topics like Market Failure, Market Structures, and the Labor Market as they are highly likely to feature in exams.
• 😀 Spend 10-15% more time revising these hot topics to ensure you're well-prepared for relevant essays.
• 😀 Don’t neglect smaller, niche topics such as indirect taxes, subsidies, price controls, and elasticity, as they could also appear in exams.
• 😀 For Market Failure, know real-world examples like childcare, water pollution, vaping, gambling, housing, and obesity, along with their policy solutions.
• 😀 Market Structures, including perfect competition, monopolies, and oligopolies, should be understood in-depth, especially in relation to business closures and government intervention.
• 😀 Understand how Competition Policy regulates inefficient market structures, with examples like the CMA's interventions in various industries such as energy and tech.
• 😀 Keep an eye on Labor Market issues like wage growth, labor shortages, and the effects of minimum wage increases, as they are key exam themes.
• 😀 Income and Wealth Inequality is a major topic, with emphasis on the consequences of inequality and policies like wealth taxation and universal basic income.
• 😀 In addition to core topics, remember to master smaller but important concepts like economies of scale, diminishing returns, and revenue curves for potential 9-mark or 15-mark questions.
• 😀 Real-world applications are crucial—be prepared to apply economic concepts to current UK and global issues, such as government interventions and market failures.
• 😀 Always revise the entire course to ensure you're equipped to answer any essay, even if the hot topics don’t come up in the exam.

Q & A

What is the main focus of the video for AQA students?

The video focuses on hot topic areas for AQA paper one, with a special emphasis on topics likely to appear in the exam. It also touches upon potential topics for paper three, aiming to help students efficiently revise and secure top grades.

How should students approach revision for the hot topic areas?

Students should allocate an extra 10-15% of their time to revising the hot topics, ensuring they are well-prepared for these essays. At the same time, they should continue to revise other topics in the course to be ready for any potential essay questions.

What are some examples of market failure mentioned in the video?

Examples of market failure discussed include childcare affordability in the UK, environmental damage caused by water companies dumping sewage, vaping, smoking, gambling, housing market inequities, and issues surrounding access to dentistry and university education.

Why is the housing market an important area of focus for revision?

The housing market is crucial due to the rising rent costs and the difficulty many individuals face in accessing affordable housing. This issue is directly linked to market failure and could appear in the exam, particularly in relation to rental affordability.

What is the significance of vaping in the context of market failure?

Vaping is a significant example of market failure due to its negative externalities, including the environmental issues of vape disposal and the health risks associated with vaping. The UK government has introduced a vaping tax to address some of these problems.

How does the video suggest addressing the rising food prices in the UK?

The video suggests that the government may need to intervene to assist low-income households struggling with rising food prices, possibly through subsidies or price controls. Understanding demand and supply factors, along with elasticity, is key in addressing this issue.

What is the role of competition policy in the revision material?

Competition policy is important as it focuses on regulating market structures that are not functioning efficiently. The video suggests students should know about real-world examples where the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is intervening, such as in the cases of vet services, baby formula, and energy companies.

What does the video emphasize about labor market themes?

The labor market is highlighted as a significant area due to issues like labor shortages, wage growth, and government policy changes affecting workers. Topics such as minimum wage increases, labor market regulations, and worker rights are key areas for revision.

What is the relationship between income and wealth inequality and labor market issues?

Income and wealth inequality are closely related to labor market issues. The video highlights the consequences of inequality, such as unequal access to opportunities, and suggests policies like wealth taxation and universal basic income to reduce these disparities.

Why is it important to revise niche areas of the microeconomics course?

Revising niche areas such as indoor taxes, subsidies, price control diagrams, and elasticities is crucial for the exam. These topics could come up as shorter essay questions (e.g., 9 or 15 markers), and understanding them in high detail can help secure strong exam results.