How to get an A in Business

LCBanter

Basically I'm a good 5th year business student with a teacher who isn't always in the mood for teaching! I was just wondering if people who are doing well in business or have done so in the past could lend me a hand on how to cover all the material as well as making it stick! I'll have to do a lot outside of class. 😊

I'm willing to work hard to get an A1/A2

All help welcome 😊

Almen11

There is no two ways about doing well in business other then learn your notes!
If you learn your notes well enough your already looking at a high B. The A students are generally the ones that can use a general good knowledge of business as well as their notes to answer exam questions.
Learn the units for your year inside out and make sure you practice exam questions!
Learning your notes well now will really stand by you in 6th year!

RoRo979

Almen11 wrote: »

There is no two ways about doing well in business other then learn your notes!
If you learn your notes well enough your already looking at a high B. The A students are generally the ones that can use a general good knowledge of business as well as their notes to answer exam questions.
Learn the units for your year inside out and make sure you practice exam questions!
Learning your notes well now will really stand by you in 6th year!

user said it all. done even need a teacher tbh, examinations.ie and learn it all off, nothing diffucult in it

thelad95

Examinations.ie will be your friend. Also, bring in bits of info from other parts of the course when answering.

I'd avoid unit 6 and 7 in the exam. They are really difficult to get high marks in.

Aspiring

I got an A2 in business last year. Most of my answers were just a combination of marking schemes and notes from my teacher. You have to learn them off really well and have examples for everything. Start doing exam questions, and writing out word perfect answers. Get your teacher to correct them, and look at the marking scheme yourself to see how you could improve them. Do this over and over, as many questions as you can a week. Be interested in business, read papers and watch the news. Know about what's going on in business. It's a subject you really have to work hard at to do well but if you work hard you'll be rewarded.

Best of luck!

LCBanter

Thanks everyone for your great help

Gonna go after my A now!

robman60

There are a few pieces of advice that I think you should know about business.

1. Use marking schemes as opposed to textbooks. I used a textbook and it came back to bite me because I simply didn't get marks for things I'd learnt from the book and I ended up with an A2 as a result. Maybe there are good business books but mine was terrible.

2. You have plenty of time for the short questions but definitely do all 10. It might be advisable to do your best 8 and come back at the end if you have time to. You really should be aiming for full marks here. I managed 80/80 and it was 20% in the bag after 20-25 minutes.

3. The ABQ is crucial. It will probably take you more time than it's worth but you can buy some time on the short questions. You should be able to complete the short questions with about 10 minutes to spare which I honestly think you need for the ABQ. Remember to include a unique linking quote for each point you make. They're literally throwing marks at you for those quotes

4. For the long questions time will inevitably be against you. I think four questions is excessive here, but that's beside the point. Keep your points separate and don't write essays. You need a balance between explaining your points well, yet maintaining a succinct style in order to not waste time.

5. The most important thing is the questions you choose for the long questions. I remember thelad95 mentioned that Q3 is marked more easily because fewer people do it. This is completely correct. I thought Q3 was my worst but it was my highest mark in the long questions. The wishy-washy questions like 4 and 5 are marked harder because nearly everyone does them. I ended up with low-40s/60 in both and I lost the A1 right there. I'd advise two questions from section 1 (probably 1 and 3) and then the more factual ones from section 2. It may suit you to do three long questions from section 2 as that's also the focus of your ABQs.

6. Timing is key. Personally, I think this exam is the most rushed I had (along with English I suppose). Don't get caught out by going over time in the long questions. Do not go over thirty minutes per question as you'll hve no hope of an A if you don't get four long questions done. I know the exam papers advise you as to how long you should spend on each question but my time in the actual exam was something like this and I think it's the best way.

SQs: 22-25 mins
ABQ: 35-40 mins
Essay Qs: 27-30 mins.

thelad95

Also, don't panic if an ABQ question looks like it needs loads of points it actually doesn't. I remember last June there was a bit of debate at how many elements of contract law people should have put down for a 30 mark ABQ question. In the end I think they were looking for four at 8,8,7,7.

While I'm at it, offer and acceptance combine to make up one element not two separate elements!

Unit 7 is a really nice unit if you learn it well and because most people avoid it, you'll have marks thrown at you. Units 3,4 and 6 are very waffly I think. It's better to stick to actual theory instead of having to shíte on about the implications of teamwork or the benefits and disadvantages of a public limited company.

RoRo979

offer and acceptance = agreement. Good point to add in no matter how unlikely to come up this year. I agree with unit 7, especially if you do geog and/or economics, makes it that bit easier. I would stay away from unit 6 for that reason also, however question may be easy in you head, getting the marks might be tough. aims,requires,benefits,diadvantages,incorporates, no matter how boring it is to learn its the stuff you need for a high grade and this user wants an a1 so it really is a must

mhackett102

Im in leaving cert now and I have my Business mock exam on tuesday. Believe it or not, my teacher sounds the exact same as yours! My advice is to go out and buy the Revise Wise book, it summarise's whats in your book already and gives examples and great ways of remembering it. Ive been depending on it since September!

Kremin

robman60 wrote: »

There are a few pieces of advice that I think you should know about business.

1. Use marking schemes as opposed to textbooks. I used a textbook and it came back to bite me because I simply didn't get marks for things I'd learnt from the book and I ended up with an A2 as a result. Maybe there are good business books but mine was terrible.

2. You have plenty of time for the short questions but definitely do all 10. It might be advisable to do your best 8 and come back at the end if you have time to. You really should be aiming for full marks here. I managed 80/80 and it was 20% in the bag after 20-25 minutes.

3. The ABQ is crucial. It will probably take you more time than it's worth but you can buy some time on the short questions. You should be able to complete the short questions with about 10 minutes to spare which I honestly think you need for the ABQ. Remember to include a unique linking quote for each point you make. They're literally throwing marks at you for those quotes

4. For the long questions time will inevitably be against you. I think four questions is excessive here, but that's beside the point. Keep your points separate and don't write essays. You need a balance between explaining your points well, yet maintaining a succinct style in order to not waste time.

5. The most important thing is the questions you choose for the long questions. I remember thelad95 mentioned that Q3 is marked more easily because fewer people do it. This is completely correct. I thought Q3 was my worst but it was my highest mark in the long questions. The wishy-washy questions like 4 and 5 are marked harder because nearly everyone does them. I ended up with low-40s/60 in both and I lost the A1 right there. I'd advise two questions from section 1 (probably 1 and 3) and then the more factual ones from section 2. It may suit you to do three long questions from section 2 as that's also the focus of your ABQs.

6. Timing is key. Personally, I think this exam is the most rushed I had (along with English I suppose). Don't get caught out by going over time in the long questions. Do not go over thirty minutes per question as you'll hve no hope of an A if you don't get four long questions done. I know the exam papers advise you as to how long you should spend on each question but my time in the actual exam was something like this and I think it's the best way.

SQs: 22-25 mins
ABQ: 35-40 mins
Essay Qs: 27-30 mins.

Structure is very important in business I've been told. For the ABQ always do STATEMENT. Skip a line... Explanation... skip a line.. and finally use a unique quote. Quotes alone will account for about 14 of the 80 marks which might not seem very significant but its 4% which could be the difference of a grade. Even if they question doesn't say refer to the text, assume it does :P.

All of Robman60's advice is very very good. I personally love Q3, I do economics and geography (which we did the economic elective in) so Q3 is a walk in the park. My teacher always tells us to stray away because it's hard to learn and always changing but it's much handier to be able to do 2/3 in the first section rather than 3/4 in section 2 :y: (in my opinion)

DiarmuidBoy89

Got an A2 last year and 79/80 in ABQ

learn your ABQ units lnside and out
Do all short qs
Do calc q to save time
Never write essay style answers


ALSO DONT DO Q1!!!!
it's fine in the mocks etc but in the lc this is the most popular q with over 60% of students doing it, it dosint matter if you know the info for q1 it will be marked way harder than other qs

RoRo979

DiarmuidBoy89 wrote: »

Got an A2 last year and 79/80 in ABQ

learn your ABQ units lnside and out
Do all short qs
Do calc q to save time
Never write essay style answers


ALSO DONT DO Q1!!!!
it's fine in the mocks etc but in the lc this is the most popular q with over 60% of students doing it, it dosint matter if you know the info for q1 it will be marked way harder than other qs

my teacher reccomends the exact opposite, people dont score well on q1 so they are making it easier