Minimum B in GCSE English and C in GCSE Maths, with an A in a humanities subject or English Literature.
The Business A level course focuses on a problem-solving approach to business designed to help students understand the nature and working of business organisations. Much of the learning is based around business case studies and focusing on how students can use their business knowledge to determine the success of a business.
The course is split into four themes: marketing and people; managing business activities; business decisions and strategy; and global business. These themes cover a wide range of concepts that are used to measure business success and help identify strategies that will improve it.
There are three exams at the end of Year 13; each lasts two hours and includes calculation, short and long answer questions. The vast majority of marks are awarded for essay-style questions and so students’ ability to communicate through extended writing is important. Students are rewarded for their ability to respond to data and extracts about firms and industries.
Pure Business is a popular degree and there are many related courses or joint-honours degrees that include Business, such as: Business and International Relations, Business and Marketing, Business and Management and Business Analytics. After university, Business has a wide variety of applications in the world of business and can lead to large number of career paths.
This is a challenging A level and should not be taken lightly. There is, of course, a theoretical and conceptual challenge but what may cause students greater difficulty, is the quantity of work and the accuracy of understanding and application required. Simple memorisation is not sufficient as students are given a large amount of data in the exams and so have to adapt their responses to the context provided. Students are expected to work hard outside the classroom from day one and take responsibility for their progress through independent work and wider reading.