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.
閱讀時間 4 分鐘更新於: 2026年9月3日
試卷概覽
卷數
2
總分
180
考試時間
3小時
題型
12
試卷
時間
分數
題數
比重
題型
Unit 1: Starting a Business
1小時 30分鐘
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
1小時 30分鐘
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
評級
A*ABC*CDEFGU
計算機規定
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%)
用途: Get an accounting ratio such as net profit percentage or gross profit percentage as a single percentage figure.
使用時機: For any question asking for a profitability ratio from figures in the case study, such as net profit percentage or gross profit percentage.
步驟
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.
考試提示: 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
用途: Get the break-even output level directly from fixed costs, selling price and variable cost, without working out contribution as a separate written step.
使用時機: 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.
步驟
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.
考試提示: 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
用途: 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.
使用時機: For cash flow forecast questions that ask you to complete a table of monthly net cash flows and closing balances.
步驟
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.
考試提示: 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.
常見錯誤
1medium涉及分數: 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.
如何避免: 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.
2high涉及分數: 8Business Growth
Writing a one-sided answer to a 5, 6 or 8 mark discuss or evaluate question, covering only advantages or only disadvantages.
如何避免: 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.
3medium涉及分數: 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.
如何避免: 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.
4medium涉及分數: 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.
如何避免: 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.
5high涉及分數: 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.
如何避免: 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.
6high涉及分數: 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.
如何避免: 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.
7medium涉及分數: 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.
如何避免: 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.
8medium涉及分數: 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.
如何避免: 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.