Business

A-level Business aims to equip tomorrow’s corporate leaders with the ability to make informed decisions across all aspects and sizes of businesses, both in the short and long term.  The UK business environment is constantly in a state of change whether due to evolving international relations or wider developments in technology that require businesses to change strategies or be left behind by the competition.  The 21st Century will be one that presents many business challenges and opportunities for those graduates who are well-enough equipped to adapt and thrive in an ever-increasing globalised marketplace.

This 2-year course will focus mainly on what businesses are and how managerial decisions are made to improve business performance across the functional areas of Marketing, Finance, Operations and Human Resources.  The full A-level will also include studying leadership and corporate strategic decision-making, including the internal and external influences that can impact on the overall success of a business, particularly through times of corporate change.  The course will be based very much on real business scenarios and students are advised to keep up with the latest business news in order to relate real-world cases to core concepts taught in class.

Assessment (Exam Board – AQA)
Students will be assessed across four Achievement Objectives:  Knowledge, Application, Analysis and Evaluation.  These will be assessed as follows:

A-level Course (100% exam-assessed; each paper covers all A-level course material)

• Paper 1 (2hrs):  15 Multiple choice questions, Short Answer questions worth 35 marks, 2 essay questions (choosing one question from 2 options twice) worth a total of 50 marks.  Paper 1 is out of 100 marks and is worth 33.3% of the A-level.
• Paper 2 (2hrs):  3 Data Response compulsory questions worth approximately 33 marks each and made up of three or four-part questions.  Paper 2 is out of 100 marks and is worth 33.3% of the A-level.
• Paper 3 (2hrs):  One compulsory case study followed by approximately six questions. Paper 3 is out of 100 marks and is worth 33.3% of the A-level.

AQA Business Specification

Entry Requirements: 
7 Higher Grades

• Grade 4 (or above) for English
• Grade 5 (or above) recommended for Maths
• Grade 4 (or above) for other GCSE subjects
• 1 BTEC (or equivalent) at Merit (or above) may be included within the 7 grades

Other items you may be interested in:
Student Investor Challenge – Annual National Stock Market Competition
Zidisha – Oakes College Micro-Financing Club
Young Enterprise – See what the students have accomplished

Further Information