by Mary Kelly & Shauna Mujic.
Overall, a challenging paper. However, the well prepare student was granted the opportunity to excel.
Short questions: A mix of questions from all units, some requiring quite a lot of detail. Students will have welcomed the variety of question styles, including multiple choice, business abbreviations, calculations and for the first time students were asked to draft an email. Given that students were required to only answer 4 out of 12 questions, all found this manageable.
Applied Business Question: In line with previous years, a challenging ABQ for students, allowing stronger students the opportunity to shine. As with all ABQ questions, the points lie within the case study. The ABQ examined change management, expansion and social responsibilities of a business.
Long Questions:
Students were required to answer 3 out of 8 long questions. In line with last year the additional long question in part one was on Unit 1.
Questions 1 & 4 were both based on unit 1, which were the more challenging questions on the paper as they required a very in-depth knowledge of unit 1. Question 2 on unit 6 was very approachable, as was question 3 on unit 7. Question 5 was a very manageable question on units 2 and 3. A balanced blend of topics from unit 4 were examined within question 6, part (a) featured a common question on human resource management and a more topical element on the impact of remote working on HRM, this required students to think on their feet. Students will have welcomed the appearance of the debt/equity ratio in question 7, which was very manageable for the practiced student. Question 8 was a lovely question on unit 5, the entire question was based on three of the four elements of the marketing mix.
