How CCEA GCSE Business Studies marks are really won: paper by paper timing, the one-sided evaluation habit that caps answers at Level 2, and the ratio and break-even slips that cost marks in every series.
อ่าน 4 นาทีอัปเดตเมื่อ: 3 ก.ย. 2569
ภาพรวมข้อสอบ
จำนวนฉบับ
2
คะแนนเต็ม
180
เวลาสอบ
3ชม.
ประเภทคำถาม
12
ฉบับ
เวลา
คะแนน
จำนวนข้อ
น้ำหนักคะแนน
ประเภทคำถาม
Unit 1: Starting a Business
1ชม. 30นาที
90
24
50%
Short recall and identify, Explain and describe, Discuss and evaluate, Define and explain technical terms, Quality and regulatory explanation, Extended QWC essay
Unit 2: Developing a Business
1ชม. 30นาที
90
26
50%
List, identify and short recall, Explain and discuss, Describe and analyse growth factors, Evaluate a method or option, Complete a financial statement grid, Ratio calculation and interpretation, Extended QWC essay
เกณฑ์เกรด
A*ABC*CDEFGU
ข้อกำหนดเครื่องคิดเลข
Calculators are permitted throughout both Unit 1 and Unit 2. The general JCQ and CCEA rule applies: a calculator must be free of any lid or case with printed instructions or formulae, must not offer symbolic algebra manipulation or communication with another device, and must not have any retrievable information stored in it, including saved formulae, notes or programs. You are responsible for clearing your calculator's memory before the exam. If it has an exam mode, switch it on rather than relying on the reset button, which resets settings but does not clear stored data.
AO1: AO1: recall, select and communicate knowledge and understanding of concepts, issues and terminology. (35%)
AO2: AO2: apply skills, knowledge and understanding in a variety of contexts and in planning and carrying out investigations and tasks. (35%)
AO3: AO3: analyse and evaluate evidence, make reasoned judgements and present appropriate conclusions. (30%)
วัตถุประสงค์: Get an accounting ratio such as net profit percentage or gross profit percentage as a single percentage figure.
ใช้เมื่อใด: For any question asking for a profitability ratio from figures in the case study, such as net profit percentage or gross profit percentage.
ขั้นตอน
For any percentage ratio, such as Net Profit Percentage or Gross Profit Percentage, key in the calculation as one continuous sequence: profit, divide, revenue, multiply, 100, equals. Read the sign and unit off the case figures before you key in anything, so you divide by the right total.
ข้อควรระวังในการสอบ: This is a live keystroke sequence performed during the exam. CCEA and JCQ rules do not allow any formula, note or program to be stored in the calculator beforehand. Clear the memory before the exam and use exam mode if your calculator has one.
Break-even in one sequence
วัตถุประสงค์: Get the break-even output level directly from fixed costs, selling price and variable cost, without working out contribution as a separate written step.
ใช้เมื่อใด: For break-even questions that give fixed costs, selling price and variable cost per unit and ask for the break-even output or level of sales.
ขั้นตอน
Calculate break-even output directly: fixed costs, divide, open bracket, selling price, minus, variable cost, close bracket, equals. Check that the bracket result is positive before you divide, since a negative contribution per unit signals a misread figure from the case.
ข้อควรระวังในการสอบ: Perform this calculation live from the figures printed in the case study booklet. Do not store a break-even formula or template in the calculator's memory ahead of the exam; that is not permitted under JCQ rules.
Running cash flow balance with memory keys
วัตถุประสงค์: Keep an accurate running total across a cash flow forecast table without re-adding every column from the start each time you check a balance.
ใช้เมื่อใด: For cash flow forecast questions that ask you to complete a table of monthly net cash flows and closing balances.
ขั้นตอน
When completing a cash flow forecast table, use the M+ and M minus keys to keep a live cumulative total as you move left to right across the months, rather than re-adding every column from the start each time you check a closing balance.
ข้อควรระวังในการสอบ: The memory key use here is a technique performed during the exam itself on numbers taken from the paper. No pre-entered figures, formulae or programs may already be stored in the calculator when the exam begins.
ข้อผิดพลาดที่พบบ่อย
1mediumคะแนนที่เกี่ยวข้อง: 2Business Aims and Objectives
Naming survival as the main objective for a large, established business in the case study, such as a well-known plc, when growth, profit or corporate social responsibility fit the scenario better.
วิธีหลีกเลี่ยง: Match the objective to the business's size and stage as described in the case. A large, established plc rarely lists survival as its main aim; save that answer for a genuinely new or struggling business.
2highคะแนนที่เกี่ยวข้อง: 8Business Growth
Writing a one-sided answer to a 5, 6 or 8 mark discuss or evaluate question, covering only advantages or only disadvantages.
วิธีหลีกเลี่ยง: Plan both sides before writing a word: one point for, one point against, then a final sentence starting 'Overall,' that weighs them against the specific business in the case. Skipping any of the three caps the mark at Level 2.
3mediumคะแนนที่เกี่ยวข้อง: 1Ratios
Leaving off the percentage sign or the unit in a calculation answer, for example writing '37' instead of '37%' for a Net Profit Percentage, or '500' instead of '500 BBQs' in a break-even answer.
วิธีหลีกเลี่ยง: Write the unit or sign immediately after you calculate the number, before moving to the next part of the question. Treat the labelled figure as the actual answer, not the bare number.
4mediumคะแนนที่เกี่ยวข้อง: 2Selection
Confusing a Job Description, which sets out the duties and tasks of a role, with a Person Specification, which sets out the qualities and qualifications wanted in the candidate.
วิธีหลีกเลี่ยง: Fix the pairing with one sentence: a Job Description describes the job, a Person Specification describes the person. Check which one the question names before you answer.
5highคะแนนที่เกี่ยวข้อง: 3Business Ownership
Writing a generic, textbook answer that never refers to the named business in the case study, for example describing economies of scale in the abstract rather than applying it to the actual company and product given.
วิธีหลีกเลี่ยง: Use the business's name and product inside the explanation sentence itself, not only in the opening line. A point tied to the case earns AO2 application marks that a correct but generic point does not.
6highคะแนนที่เกี่ยวข้อง: 2Business Growth
Ending a 5 mark evaluate question with a list of points and no final judgement, so the answer never states which side wins and why.
วิธีหลีกเลี่ยง: Finish every evaluate answer with a one sentence verdict that names the deciding factor from the case. Without it, the answer is capped below Level 3 even if every earlier point is correct.
7mediumคะแนนที่เกี่ยวข้อง: 2Quality Assurance
Conflating Quality Assurance, which prevents defects throughout the whole production process, with Quality Control, which inspects only the finished product, and misdescribing the split between the Health and Safety Executive's role and the employer's own legal duties.
วิธีหลีกเลี่ยง: Learn the pairing as fixed facts: QA runs continuously through production and prevents faults, QC checks the item at the end. The HSE enforces and inspects from outside the business; day to day safety duties belong to the employer.
8mediumคะแนนที่เกี่ยวข้อง: 8Health and Safety in Manufacturing
Giving a purely descriptive answer to an 8 mark extended question, restating facts from the case without analysing cause and effect or reaching a written-communication standard needed for the top band.
วิธีหลีกเลี่ยง: Structure extended answers in full paragraphs with specialist business terms, not bullet points. Build a chain: what happens, why it happens, what it leads to for this business, then the judgement.