EXAMINER TIPS for O Level Business Studies 7115

EXAMINER TIPS for O Level Business Studies 7115 How to use These Tips These tips highlight some skills that can be developed to help improve your performance in IGCSE Business Studies. They also identify some common mistakes that you might make. You could use them as part of the preparation for the examinations. General Advice • Make sure you have covered all the topics in the syllabus in your revision. Check this with your teacher if you are unsure. • Learn as many specialist business terms as you can and include them in your answers. • Read each examination question very carefully so you really do understand what is being asked. • Take particular notice of the command word in the question e.g. state, explain, compare, advise • Keep track of the time available so that you do not spend too much time on one question. • Look at the past papers to get an idea of the sort of questions and the styles of paper that are set. Commonly Confused Terms • Overdraft and loan • Shareholder and stakeholder • Price and cost • Shares and market share • Job promotion and sales promotion • Private sector and public sector • Sales revenue and profit • Manager and owner Paper 2 Tips • Take plenty of time to read all the case study information. Really get a picture in your head of what the business is like. • Look carefully at how many marks are given to each question. Do not write too much for a question that says “state” or “identify” and is worth three marks. • Do offer plenty of analysis for longer answers worth more marks. Don’t be tempted to just offer a list of points. • Always refer to the particular business in the case study, not just by name but also by linking your answer to the product/service it makes or sells. • Remember a new business will have different objectives to a large, well-established business. • Some questions ask you to advise or recommend a course of action. Always write a conclusion making a judgement, giving reasons for your suggestions or decisions. • Use as many relevant business terms as you can in each answer. Show you understand what they mean by using them in the right context. This can often help to score higher marks. • Avoid textbook answers which show you have learnt facts but do not necessarily understand the information. Always relate to the particular business in the case study. • Practise calculating percentages and drawing graphs. Always include a title for a graph and label axes clearly. These styles of question appear regularly. • Show formulae and methods of calculation in any numerical answers. Often you will earn marks for method even if the final answer is wrong.