Developing Exam Skills: AQA GCSE Business Studies: Application

One area that students struggle with time and time again is the key skill of application and this was highlighted in the examiners report from the last Unit 2 exam sat in June.

The examiner’s report states that in order for students to access the higher level of marks, answers must be firmly rooted in the context of the business scenario.

The examiner’s report even goes on to say that the scenarios will contain ‘hooks’ or items of information that give students the opportunity to tailor their explanations to the business.

The report went onto say that many students were in the habit of simply mentioning the business concerned or providing a response that could apply to any business.

It might be worth showing students the mark scheme to show how this works in practice. Last June, one of the exam scenarios was about a business called Fine Tune Arial’s with one of the questions being, explain the benefits to Fine Tune Arial’s Ltd of growing in size (6 marks). A maximum of 4 marks can be awarded for students simply, ‘explaining benefit(s) of growth’. However, the full 6 marks can be awarded for students who, ‘explain the benefit(s) of growth for Fine Tune Arial’s’.

In the recent conferences (both GCSE and A level), I referred to the case studies and scenarios as a gift, a gift from the examiner. I said that the examiner has written a nice story before the questions and in this story are ‘hook’s to help you answer the question.

It appears that the secret for success is getting students to simply read the gift, rather than just the question….....