BUSS4 Exam Technique - Sniper or Machine Gunner?

One of the major difficulties with the BUSS4 paper is managing time effectively. Students- understandably under pressure- regularly neglect to take the time to understand the question before they start writing. They are unsure how best to address the essay and so try to reproduce their text book, hoping that some of their knowledge will hit the target. Another error from those who have learned the syllabus, and/or built up a vast portfolio of information on the research theme, often feel obliged to ‘show off’ in the exam room. Rather than scoring highly, however, their essays tend to read like a list of bullet points, interspersed with ‘stories’ about businesses they have studied.

Writing good essays requires you to stop and think about your response, before committing pen to paper. It also demands that you are selective in choosing which points to develop and which case studies to draw upon. Adopt the ‘sniper’ approach as opposed to the ‘machine gun’ method; try to plan effectively so that the points you develop hit the target, rather than spraying your knowledge around randomly hoping that some of it will strike home.

The BUSS4 time limit- 1 hour and 45 minutes- makes writing two 40-mark essays a difficult task, although it is far from impossible. The key is to try to cut out the waste so that every sentence you write is focused on the question and is therefore likely to score you some marks. In order to do this, you have to first have a good understanding of the question you intend to answer. Think of the question as a signpost; if you follow it, you will reach your destination by the most efficient route. Misread it, however, and you risk going off in the wrong direction, wasting time and energy in so doing.

How long does it take to actually write an essay? Clearly this is very subjective and will vary from student to student, but the time taken to write a focused essay might actually surprise you. The cliché “its quality, not quantity” is as valid on BUSS4 as any other paper, yet there are guidelines as to how much you might write. Four to five ‘chunky’ paragraphs per essay (including a conclusion) could easily reach the peaks of Mount KAA (IE level 5 knowledge, application and analysis) and Mount EVA (IE level 3 evaluation).

With this in mind, there is more time available for planning and checking than you might think. Snipers are patient and will wait to ensure that the target is in the crosshairs before pulling the trigger. You can do the same by planning effectively so that what you write is accurate and focused on the question.

It might be a shame to think that some of the time spent learning BUSS4 terms and concepts, as well as the detailed research you have done on the research theme might go to waste. Don’t feel obliged to prove to the examiner how much revision you have done by producing content-heavy essays though. You are unlikely to get sufficient depth to your arguments and end up writing a list. Focus on 3-4 points and develop each in detail. This could well mean that not all the points you have put into your plan are actually going to make it into the essay. That isn’t a problem, because it forces you to be selective and to concentrate on the most pertinent issues. The same is true of the businesses you have researched. Not every merger and takeover studied will necessarily be relevant to the question, so select those that are. To stretch the sniper analogy even further; just because you have lots of bullets, it doesn’t mean you have to use them all- the trick is to ensure you hit the target!