Why choose AS /A2 Business Studies?

It is a subject that affects your every day life.

Everyone will be involved in one type of business or another

It is suitable for any one who takes an interest in the environment around them and wants to know more about what is happening in the outside world and how it affects them.

Students who want to do something different yet want to do a subject that complements most other subjects. It fits in well with Economics, Law, Politics, Psychology, Sociology the Humanities, Languages, English, Sports Studies, Maths and Sciences.

Students who want to go into Business or a business related area, such as Management, Personnel, Law and Marketing.

This particular course is more suitable for people who do well in exam room situations.

If you are better at coursework and independent learning then AVCE Business Studies may be better for you.

 [Look on the online prospectus under AVCE Business Studies – You can also go into a more detail in AVCE Business Studies if you elect to do the 12 unit course, this is the equivalent of 2 A levels]

Both courses have exams and coursework but the emphasis in AS/A2 Business Studies is primarily on exams whilst the AVCE Business Studies is based more on independent research and is mainly assignment based.

The AS/ A2 has an extremely high exam success rate with above average grades at all levels.

Courses offered & minimum entry requirements:

Business Studies is offered at both AS and A2 level

Entry requirements are 5 GCSEs at grade C and above.

We follow the OCR Business Studies course Syllabus No : 3811 / 7811

Brief Outline of the course:

AS

Unit 1

It is mainly concerned with how Businesses work and how the Business is influenced by the

outside environment.

Unit 2 and 3

Both cover work based on the first unit but with an emphasis on the four main behavioural [Marketing, Production, Human Resources and Finance] functions of business and that for an organisation to be a success in a changing and challenging environment. Decisions have to be taken in the context of both the organisation’s wider objectives and its resources.

A2

Unit 4

This is coursework and is based on solving a genuine problem in a business in your local area. You will carry out 1 weeks work placement in a business of your choice.

Unit 5

This is based on marketing and looks at all aspects of the marketing mix –

Production, Distribution, Product and Place.

Unit 6

 This is based on all the information that has been covered in the course so far. The idea is to apply this knowledge and develop appropriate strategies for that company in order to deal with particular situations.

For more details look at the further details are on the school intranet in Shared resources

→Subject specific resources → Business Studies →Business Studies AS/ A2 folder. Look on the

OCR website www.ocr.org.uk

Work load

The work is quite varied and you will be expected to do the following:-

1] General outside reading, watching the news and reading a paper [Not just the sports section!]

2] For homework you will mainly be doing questions based on case studies as this is the main method of assessment. This is basically applying your theory and the data in the case study to answer a series of practical business problems.

3] You will be taking a significant amount of notes and be expected to contribute to

classroom discussion based on the above work.

4] Business Studies is based on case studies and most are pre-issued, that is you will know what the case study is about several weeks before the exam is taken. As a result you will know virtually what the exam will be about.

The key therefore is learning the Levels of response approach [Basically, knowledge, applying theory in practice, analysis and evaluation]

In AS there are 3 exams –

Unit 1 is 1 hour and is based on a pre-issued case study – this is taken in the January of the first year.

Unit 2 is 45 minutes and is based on an unseen case study and Unit 3 is also is based on a pre-issued case study 1h 15 minutes. These are both taken in June of the first year.

At A2 we start the coursework and Unit 6 at the end of the AS course. Both are taken / submitted in the January of the second year. The Unit 6 exam is 2 hours long and is based on a pre-issued case study.

In June of the second year only Unit 5 is examined and is 1h 30 minutes and is based on an un-seen case study.

For more information contact: Mr. Addis in person or phone School –

01480 / 375700 [Ext 5710]

For even further details are on the school intranet in Shared resources →Subject specific

resources →Business Studies →Business Studies AS/ A2 folder. Look on the OCR website www.ocr.org.uk