AS Business Studies

This subject may be offered at more than one Southern Consortium school site. The teaching of this subject may be at any one of the sites listed below.

The information on this webpage is a guide only. Topics, units and course content may vary from those listed below.

AS Business Studies @ JRCS

Award AS/A level Exam board: Edexcel

Outline of the course

Students do not need to have studied business studies at GCSE level or BTEC Business in order to take an AS or Advanced GCE course in the subject. Several topics in the course are developments of work covered at GCSE, but others are new. It is more important that students have a strong interest in business studies and want to learn how a business is organised, operates, plans and makes its decisions.

Skills you will develop include

  • How to develop a critical understanding of organisations, the markets they serve and the process of adding value
  • The internal workings and management of organisations
  • The process of decision-making in a dynamic external environment
  • How business behaviour can be influenced by a range of people and organisations including customers, managers, creditors, owner/shareholders and employees
  • What outside factors influence the operations of a business, such as the state of the economy the environment, ethical considerations, the government, the law, social and technological issues associated with business activity
  • Techniques to analyse and solve business problems
  • The importance in a business of setting objectives
  • How a business markets its products or services, what production is all about, financial control of businesses and how human resources are planned.

Assessment

The assessment for this course is through a combination of coursework and final examination.

 

AS element

 

Time

 

Overall Advanced GCE weighting

 

Type of assessment

 

Unit 1

 

Developing New Business Ideas

 

 

 

1 hour 15 minutes 

 

 

25%

Exam is divided into 2 sections:

Section A: Supported multiple choice questions.

Section B: Questions based on Data

 

 

A2 element

 

Time

 

Overall Advanced GCE weighting

 

Type of assessment

 

Unit 4a

 

Making Business Decisions

 

 

 

1hr 30 mins

 

 

 

 

 

25%

 

 

 

Exam is divided into 2 sections:

Section A: Questions based on data

Section B: Decision making report and questions (pre released case study)

Unit 3

 

International business

 

 

1hr 30 mins

 

 

 

25%

Exam is divided into 2 sections:

Section A: Questions based on data.

Section B: Case Study and Questions

AS weighting

 

 

50%

 

Total Advanced GCE

 

100%

 

Careers and further study

Students with AS or Advanced GCE Business Studies have access to a wide range of possible career and higher education opportunities. You learn and use a variety of transferable skills throughout the course. These include the important business skills of decision making and planning.

You can start a career in business armed with an excellent knowledge of how businesses operate. In particular you will have a head start in careers within accountancy, marketing and human resources.

Business Studies combines well with a range of social science, humanities and mathematics subjects to lead to university subjects in such areas as business, economics, law and accountancy.

An AS or Advanced GCE in Business Studies will also combine well with GNVQ Advanced Single and Double Awards. You will gain a valuable insight into the business world which will add value to your vocational studies.

 

AS Business @ EB

If you have ever wondered how small shops manage to survive when consumers can get products much more cheaply from a supermarket, why some people earn vast incomes for doing very little while others cannot even get a job, and why it is that some businesses are richer than most countries on the planet, then Business Studies is for you. Business Studies aims to shed light on these questions and many more, by examining how firms of all shapes and sizes behave in an ever-changing world.

Key features of the specification

  • The qualification is built around a core unit with an enterprise theme, to enable students to think of a new business idea and how they might research and develop it.
  • Students will think about how their learning applies to their own business idea.
  • The qualification will introduce students to international business, equipping them either to work in or to manage a business in an international context.
  • The GCEs enable progression from GCSEs in Business Studies, Business and Economics, Applied Business and Business and Communications.
  • An Advanced GCE Business with its economics content will give students enhanced career choice and progression opportunities.
  • A variety of assessment techniques will be used – supported multiple-choice questions, data-response questions, case studies and a decision-making report.

Advanced Subsidiary and Advanced GCE in Business Studies:

  • AS level – Unit 1: Developing New Business Ideas; Unit 2a: Managing the Business (exams in January and July)
  • A2 level – Unit 3: International Business; Unit 4a: Making Business Decisions (exams in January and July)