Business

Business is offered at GCSE level in Year 10 and Year 11 and A level in Years 12 and 13. Students learn about how the world of business works and its relevance to almost every aspect of modern society.

Edexcel International GCSE in Business

A GCSE in Business is a qualification that is engaging and inspiring, and which reflects the demands of a truly modern and evolving business environment. The aims and objectives of this qualification are to enable students to:

Know and understand business concepts, terminology and the impact of business on individuals and wider society.
Apply knowledge and understanding to contemporary business issues and to different types and sizes of businesses in local, national and global contexts.
Develop as enterprising individuals with the ability to think commercially and creatively, to draw on evidence to make informed business decisions and solve problems.
Develop as effective and independent students, and as critical and reflective thinkers with enquiring minds.
Use an enquiring, critical approach to make informed judgements.
Investigate and analyse real business opportunities and issues to construct well-argued, well- evidenced, balanced and structured arguments, demonstrating their depth and breadth of understanding of business.
Develop and apply quantitative skills relevant to business, including using and interpreting data.

Course components

The course is split into two main themes; this is then broken down into five topics per theme.

Theme 1 consists of enterprise and entrepreneurship, spotting a business opportunity, putting a business idea into practice, making the business effective and understanding external influences on business.

Theme 2 consists of growing the business, making marketing decisions, making operational decisions, making financial decisions, making human resource decisions.

Assessment

Two examination papers:

Paper 1 (50%, 1 hour 30 minutes) consists of calculations, multiple–choice, short–answer and extended– writing questions on Theme 1.

Paper 2 (50%, 1 hour 30 minutes) consists of calculations, multiple–choice, short–answer and extended– writing questions on Theme 2.

Future Opportunities?

Students can progress from this qualification to: International AS and A Levels in Business and/ or Economics and other subjects.

Edexcel International A Levels in Business

Business is an exciting and dynamic subject that is relevant and intriguing to students. It has a strong academic thread and prepares students extremely well in a vast range of transferable skills. Every day there are important news stories to which you can relate the theories and techniques you have studied. This ensures the subject is energetic and vibrant, stimulating students and broadening their understanding of the business world.

Course Components

You will be focusing on decision making to improve the performance of the marketing, operations, finance and human resources departments within a business as well as the strategies businesses may adopt to achieve their objectives. You will also examine the ways in which businesses can manage change successfully. You will study businesses in a variety of contexts for example large multinational businesses versus small start-ups. The course reflects today’s global world; students develop an understanding of current global issues that impact on business, preparing them for their next steps in today’s global world.

Development of your quantitative skills – students develop these skills throughout the content of the course and are required to apply these skills to relevant business contexts within the assessment.

The course helps develop a holistic understanding of business – the assessment culminates with a final paper that draws on the knowledge and skills students developed from all the Units.

Assessment

Assessment is through written examinations. Each paper is 2 hours long with a mixture of short answer, data response and essay questions. The International Advanced Level consists of the two IAS units (Units 1 and 2) plus two IA2 units (Units 3 and 4). Students wishing to take the International Advanced Level must, therefore, complete all four units.

Future Opportunities?

As many degree courses relate to the business world it is no surprise that A-level Business students continue to take business related courses such as Management, International Marketing and Accountancy and Finance at university. A number of students opt to study non-related subjects such as Law, Mathematics, Politics, Psychology, IT and Sciences at university. Business prepares you for a variety of careers ranging from marketing, banking, accountancy and finance, management consultancy, law and actuarial work. If you combine Business with a language, this can lead to many opportunities working abroad. The A level allows students to apply for a variety of graduate recruitment schemes offered by major blue-chip companies.