Business for Cambridge IGCSE and O Level by Cambridge International Education

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Business

for Cambridge IGCSETM and O Level

EXAM PREPARATION AND PRACTICE

Kelly Chalk

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ISBN 978-1-009-81812-4 Exam Preparation and Practice with Digital Access (2 Years)

ISBN 978-1-009-81809-4 Digital Access Exam Preparation and Practice (2 Years)

ISBN 978-1-009-81810-0 Exam Preparation and Practice – eBook

Additional resources for this publication at www.cambridge.org/9781009818124

Some text in this book has been taken from the Business for Cambridge IGCSE and O Level Coursebook.

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SAMPLE

NOTICE TO TEACHERS IN THE UK

It is illegal to reproduce any part of this work in material form (including photocopying and electronic storage) except under the following circumstances:

(i) where you are abiding by a licence granted to your school or institution by the Copyright Licensing Agency;

(ii) where no such licence exists, or where you wish to exceed the terms of a licence, and you have gained the written permission of Cambridge University Press;

(iii) where you are allowed to reproduce without permission under the provisions of Chapter 3 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, which covers, for example, the reproduction of short passages within certain types of educational anthology and reproduction for the purposes of setting examination questions.

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Digital questions for all chapters can be found online at Cambridge GO. For more information on how to access and use your digital resource, please see inside front cover.

How to use this series

This suite of resources supports students and teachers following the Cambridge IGCSE™, IGCSE (9–1), and O Level Business syllabuses (0264/0774/7081). All of the components in the series are designed to work together and help students develop the necessary knowledge and skills for this subject. With clear language and style, they are designed for international students.

The coursebook is designed for students to use in class with guidance from the teacher. It offers complete coverage of the Cambridge IGCSE™ , IGCSE (9–1) and O Level Business syllabuses (0264/0774/7081). The coursebook contains in-depth explanations of business concepts, a variety of independent and group activities, engaging new features and images to help students make real-world connections.

A digital version of the coursebook is included with the print version, and available separately. It includes access to video content to further support students’ learning, as well as simple tools for students to use in class or for self-study.

The workbook provides further practise of all the skills presented in the coursebook and is ideal for use in class or as homework. It provides engaging activities, worked examples and opportunities for students to evaluate sample answers so they can put into practice what they have learnt.

A digital version of the workbook is included with the print version. It includes simple tools for students to use in class or for self-study, as well as downloadable templates to complete some of the activities.

Business

for Cambridge IGCSE™ and O Level

RESOURCE

The digital teacher’s resource provides everything teachers need to deliver the course. It is packed full of useful teaching notes and lesson ideas, with suggestions for differentiation to support and challenge students, ideas for formative assessment, overcoming common misconceptions and language support.

The digital teacher’s resource contains downloadable resource sheets and worksheets.

All answers are available on Cambridge GO.

The exam preparation and practice resource provides dedicated support for students in preparing for their final assessments. Hundreds of questions in the book and accompanying digital resource will help students to check that they understand, and can recall, syllabus concepts. To help students to show what they know in an exam context, a specially developed checklist of exam skills with corresponding questions, and past paper question practice, is also included. Self-assessment and reflection features support students to identify any areas that need further practice. This resource should be used alongside the coursebook, throughout the course of study, so students can most effectively increase their confidence and readiness for their exams.

Business

for Cambridge IGCSE™ and O Level

DIGITAL TEACHER’S

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How to use this book

This book will help you to check that you know the content of the syllabus and practise how to show this understanding in an exam. It will also help you be cognitively prepared and in the flow, ready for your exam. Research has shown that it is important that you do all three of these things, so we have designed the Know, Show, Flow approach to help you prepare effectively for exams.

Know You will need to consolidate and then recall a lot of syllabus content.

Show You should demonstrate your knowledge in the context of a Cambridge exam.

Flow You should be cognitively engaged and ready to learn. This means reducing test anxiety

Please note that you should complete all the tasks in this book in your notebook.

Exam skills checklist

Know

The full syllabus content of your IGCSE and O Level Business course is covered in your Cambridge coursebook. This book will provide you with different types of questions to support you as you prepare for your exams. You will answer Knowledge recall questions that are designed to make sure you understand a topic, and Recall and connect questions to help you recall past learning and connect different concepts.

KNOWLEDGE FOCUS

Knowledge focus boxes summarise the topics that you will answer questions on in each chapter of this book. You can refer back to your Cambridge coursebook to remind yourself of the full detail of the syllabus content.

Knowledge recall question

Testing yourself is a good way to check that your understanding is secure. These questions will help you to recall the core knowledge you have acquired during your course, and highlight any areas where you may need more practice. They are indicated with a blue bar with a gap, at the side of the page. We recommend that you answer the Knowledge recall questions just after you have covered the relevant topic in class, and then return to them at a later point to check you have properly understood the content.

RECALL AND CONNECT 1

To consolidate your learning, you need to test your memory frequently. These questions will test that you remember what you learned in previous chapters, in addition to what you are practising in the current chapter.

UNDERSTAND THIS TERM

These list the important vocabulary that you should understand for each chapter. Definitions are provided in the glossary of your Cambridge coursebook.

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Show

Exam questions test specific knowledge, skills and understanding. You need to be prepared so that you have the best opportunity to show what you know in the time you have during the exam. In addition to practising recall of the syllabus content, it is important to build your exam skills throughout the year.

EXAM SKILLS FOCUS

This feature outlines the exam skills you will practise in each chapter, alongside the Knowledge focus. They are drawn from the core set of eight exam skills, listed in the exam skills checklist. You will practise specific exam skills, such as understanding command words, within each chapter. More general exam skills, such as managing test anxiety, are covered in the Exam skills chapter.

Exam skills question

These questions will help you to develop your exam skills and demonstrate your understanding. To help you become familiar with exam-style questioning, these questions follow the style and use the language of real exam questions, and have allocated marks. They are indicated with a solid red bar at the side of the page.

Looking at sample answers to past paper questions will help you to understand what to aim for

SAMPLE

The Exam practice sections in this resource contain example student responses and examiner-style commentary showing how the answer could be improved (both written by the authors).

Some of the older past paper questions in this resource reflect the type of questions that appeared in previous exam papers and may therefore differ slightly from those you will experience in your upcoming examinations

Flow

Preparing for exams can be stressful. One of the approaches recommended by educational psychologists to help with this stress is to improve behaviours around exam preparation. This involves testing yourself in manageable chunks, accompanied by self-evaluation. You should avoid cramming, and build in more preparation time. This book is structured to help you do this.

Increasing your ability to recognise the signs of exam-related stress and working through some techniques for how to cope with it will help to make your exam preparation manageable.

REFLECTION

This feature asks you to think about the approach that you take to your exam preparation, and how you might improve this in the future. Reflecting on how you plan, monitor and evaluate your revision and preparation will help you to do your best in your exams.

SELF-ASSESSMENT CHECKLIST

These checklists return to the Learning intentions from your coursebook, as well as the Exam skills focus boxes from each chapter. Checking in on how confident you feel in each of these areas will help you to focus your exam preparation. The ‘Show it’ prompts will allow you to test your rating. You should revisit any areas that you rate ‘Needs more work’ or ‘Almost there’.

Increasing your ability to recognise the signs of exam-related stress and working through some techniques for how to cope with it will help to make your exam preparation manageable. The Exam skills chapter will support you with this.

Syllabus assessment objectives for IGCSE and O Level Business

You should be familiar with the Assessment Objectives from the syllabus, as you will need to show evidence of these requirements in your responses. The assessment objectives for this syllabus are:

We are working towards endorsement for the Cambridge Pathway.

Digital questions

Extra digital questions, in the form of Multiple choice and Flip cards, for all chapters can be found online at Cambridge GO. For more information on how to access and use your digital resource, please see inside the front cover.

• Provides lots of additional practice to reinforce knowledge and understanding

• Gives instant feedback to support autonomy over your own learning

• Encourages self-assessment to understand your strengths and weaknesses

• User-friendly design to help with easy navigation

PLACESCREENSHOTHERE PLACESCREENSHOTHERE PLACESCREENSHOTHERE

Exam skills

by Lucy Parsons

What’s the point of this book?

Most students make one really basic mistake when they’re preparing for exams. What is it? It’s focusing far too much on learning ‘stuff’ – that’s facts, figures, ideas, information –and not nearly enough time practising exam skills.

The students who work really, really hard but are disappointed with their results are nearly always students who focus on memorising stuff. They think to themselves, ‘I’ll do practice papers once I’ve revised everything.’ The trouble is, they start doing practice papers too late to really develop and improve how they communicate what they know.

What could they do differently?

When your final exam script is assessed, it should contain specific language, information and thinking skills in your answers. If you read a question in an exam and you have no idea what you need to do to give a good answer, the likelihood is that your answer won’t be as brilliant as it could be. That means your grade won’t reflect the hard work you’ve put into revising for the exam.

There are different types of questions used in exams to assess different skills. You need to know how to recognise these question types and understand what you need to show in your answers.

So, how do you understand what to do in each question type?

That’s what this book is all about. But first a little background.

Meet Benjamin Bloom

The psychologist Benjamin Bloom developed a way of classifying and valuing different skills we use when we learn, such as analysis and recalling information. We call these thinking skills. It’s known as Bloom’s Taxonomy and it’s what most exam questions are based around.

If you understand Bloom’s Taxonomy, you can understand what any type of question requires you to do. So, what does it look like?

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Bloom’s Taxonomy of thinking skills

Evaluation

Synthesis

Analysis

Application

Understanding

Knowledge

The key things to take away from this diagram are:

Passing judgement on something

Putting together knowledge, understanding, application and analysis to create something new

Taking apart information or data in order to discover relationships, motives, causes, patterns and connections

Using knowledge and understanding in new and different circumstances

Distinguishing between two similar ideas or things by using knowledge to recognise the difference

Recalling, memorising and knowing

• Knowledge and understanding are known as lower-level thinking skills. They are less difficult than the other thinking skills. Exam questions that just test you on what you know are usually worth the lowest number of marks.

• All the other thinking skills are worth higher numbers of marks in exam questions. These questions need you to have some foundational knowledge and understanding but are far more about how you think than what you know. They involve:

• Taking what you know and using it in unfamiliar situations (application).

• Going deeper into information to discover relationships, motives, causes, patterns and connections (analysis).

• Using what you know and think to create something new – whether that’s an essay, long-answer exam question, a solution to a maths problem or a piece of art (synthesis).

• Assessing the value of something, e.g., the reliability of the results of a scientific experiment (evaluation).

SAMPLE

In this introductory chapter, you’ll be shown how to develop the skills that enable you to communicate what you know and how you think. This will help you achieve to the best of your abilities. In the rest of the book, you’ll have a chance to practise these exam skills by understanding how questions work and understanding what you need to show in your answers.

Every time you pick up this book and do a few questions, you’re getting closer to achieving your dream results. So, let’s get started!

Exam preparation and revision skills

What is revision?

If you think about it, the word ‘revision’ has two parts to it:

• re – which means ‘again’

• vision – which is about seeing.

So, revision is literally about ‘seeing again’. This means you’re looking at something that you’ve already learned.

Typically, a teacher will teach you something in class. You may then do some questions on it, write about it in some way, or even do a presentation. You might then have an end-of-topic test sometime later. To prepare for this test, you need to ‘look again’ or revise what you were originally taught.

Step 1: Making knowledge stick

Every time you come back to something you’ve learned or revised you’re improving your understanding and memory of that particular piece of knowledge. This is called spaced retrieval. This is how human memory works. If you don’t use a piece of knowledge by recalling it, you lose it.

Everything we learn has to be physically stored in our brains by creating neural connections – joining brain cells together. The more often we ‘retrieve’ or recall a particular piece of knowledge, the stronger the neural connection gets. It’s like lifting weights – the more often you lift, the stronger you get.

However, if you don’t use a piece of knowledge for a long time, your brain wants to recycle the brain cells and use them for another purpose. The neural connections get weaker until they finally break, and the memory has gone. This is why it’s really important to return often to things that you’ve learned in the past.

Great ways of doing this in your revision include:

• Testing yourself using flip cards – use the ones available in the digital resources for this book.

• Testing yourself (or getting someone else to test you) using questions you’ve created about the topic.

• Checking your recall of previous topics by answering the Recall and connect questions in this book.

• Blurting – writing everything you can remember about a topic on a piece of paper in one colour. Then, checking what you missed out and filling it in with another colour. You can do this over and over again until you feel confident that you remember everything.

• Answering practice questions – use the ones in this book.

• Getting a good night’s sleep to help consolidate your learning.

The importance of sleep and creating long-term memory

When you go to sleep at night, your brain goes through an important process of taking information from your short-term memory and storing it in your long-term memory.

This means that getting a good night’s sleep is a very important part of revision. If you don’t get enough good quality sleep, you’ll actually be making your revision much, much harder.

Step 2: Developing your exam skills

We’ve already talked about the importance of exam skills, and how many students neglect them because they’re worried about covering all the knowledge.

What actually works best is developing your exam skills at the same time as learning the knowledge.

What does this look like in your studies?

• You learn something at school and your teacher sets you questions from this book or from past papers. This tests your recall as well as developing your exam skills.

• You choose a topic to revise, learn the content and then choose some questions from this book to test yourself at the same time as developing your exam skills.

The reason why practising your exam skills is so important is that it helps you to become skilful at communicating what you know and what you think. The more often you do that, the more fluent you’ll become in showing what you know in your answers.

Step 3: Getting feedback

The final step is to get feedback on your work.

If you’re testing yourself, the feedback is what you got wrong or what you forgot. This means you then need to go back to those things to remind yourself or improve your understanding. Then, you can test yourself again and get more feedback. You can also congratulate yourself for the things you got right – it’s important to celebrate any success, big or small.

Whether you’re doing past paper questions or the practice questions in this book, you will need to mark your work. Marking your work is one of the most important things you can do to improve. It’s possible to make significant improvements in your marks in a very short space of time when you start marking your work.

Why is marking your own work so powerful? It’s because it teaches you to identify the strengths and weaknesses of your own work. When you look at the mark scheme and see how it’s structured, you will understand what is needed in your answers to get the results you want.

This doesn’t just apply to the knowledge you demonstrate in your answers. It also applies to the language you use and whether it’s appropriately subject-specific, the structure of your answer, how you present it on the page and many other factors. Understanding, practising and improving on these things are transformative for your results.

The most important thing about revision

The most important way to make your revision successful is to make it active.

SAMPLE

Sometimes, students say they’re revising when they sit staring at their textbook or notes for hours at a time. However, this is a really ineffective way to revise because it’s passive. In order to make knowledge and skills stick, you need to be doing something like the suggestions in the following diagram. That’s why testing yourself and pushing yourself to answer questions that test higher-level thinking skills are so effective. At times, you might actually be able to feel the physical changes happening in your brain as you develop this new knowledge and these new skills. That doesn’t come about without effort.

The important thing to remember is that whilst active revision feels much more like hard work than passive revision, you don’t actually need to do nearly as much of it. That’s because you remember knowledge and skills when you use active revision. When you use passive revision, it is much, much harder for the knowledge and skills to stick in your memory.

Repeat this process until you feel conﬁdent

Step 1

Making knowledge stick

Revision techniques include:

• ﬂipcards

• mind maps

• blurting

• revision notes

• teaching someone else

• testing yourself

• asking someone else to test you.

Step 2

Developing your exam skills

To practise exam skills:

• do past paper questions

• answer some questions from this book.

Step 3

Getting feedback to improve

Get feedback by:

• marking your own work using the mark scheme

• seeing where you could improve

• completing the selfassessment checklists in this book

• ﬁlling in your knowledge and skills gaps

• trying again.

How to improve your exam skills

This book helps you to improve in eight different areas of exam skills, which are divided across three categories. These skills are highlighted in this book in the Exam skills focus at the start of each chapter and developed throughout the book using targeted questions, advice and reflections.

1 Understand the questions: what are you being asked to do?

• Know your question types

• Understand command words

• Work with mark scheme awareness

2 How to answer questions brilliantly

• Understand connections between concepts

• Keep to time

• Know what a good answer looks like

3 Give yourself the best chance of success

• Reflection on progress

• How to manage test anxiety

Understand the questions: what are you being asked to do?

Know your question types

In any exam, there will be a range of different question types. These different question types will test different types of thinking skills from Bloom’s Taxonomy.

It is very important that you learn to recognise different question types. If you do lots of past papers, over time you will begin to recognise the structure of the paper for each of your subjects. You will know which types of questions may come first and which ones are more likely to come at the end of the paper. You can also complete past paper questions in the Exam practice sections in this book for additional practice.

You will also recognise the differences between questions worth a lower number of marks and questions worth more marks. The key differences are:

• how much you will need to write in your answer

• how sophisticated your answer needs to be in terms of the detail you give and the depth of thinking you show.

Types of questions

1 Multiple-choice questions

Multiple-choice questions are generally worth smaller numbers of marks. You will be given several possible answers to the question, and you will have to work out which one is correct using your knowledge and skills.

There is a chance of you getting the right answer with multiple-choice questions even if you don’t know the answer. This is why you must always give an answer for multiple-choice questions as it means there is a chance you will earn the mark.

Multiple-choice questions are often harder than they appear. The possible answers can be very similar to each other. This means you must be confident in how you work out answers or have a high level of understanding to tell the difference between the possible answers.

Being confident in your subject knowledge and doing lots of practice multiplechoice questions will set you up for success. Use the resources in this book and the accompanying online resources to build your confidence.

This example of a multiple-choice question is worth one mark. You can see that all the answers have one part in common with at least one other answer. For example, palisade cells is included in three of the possible answers. That’s why you have to really know the detail of your content knowledge to do well with multiple-choice questions.

Which two types of cells are found in plant leaves?

A Palisade mesophyll and stomata

B Palisade mesophyll and root hair

C Stomata and chloroplast

D Chloroplast and palisade mesophyll

2 Questions requiring longer-form answers

Questions requiring longer-form answers need you to write out your answer yourself. With these questions, take careful note of how many marks are available and how much space you’ve been given for your answer. These two things will give you a good idea about how much you should write and how much time you should spend on the question.

A rough rule to follow is to write one sentence, or make one point, for each mark that is available. You will get better and better at these longer form questions the more you practise them.

In this example of a history question, you can see it is worth four marks. It is not asking for an explanation, just for you to list Lloyd George’s aims. Therefore, you need to make four correct points in order to get full marks. What were Lloyd George’s aims during negotiations leading to the Treaty of Versailles? [4]

3 Essay questions

Essay questions are the longest questions you will be asked to answer in an exam. They examine the higher-order thinking skills from Bloom’s Taxonomy such as analysis, synthesis and evaluation.

To do well in essay questions, you need to talk about what you know, giving your opinion, comparing one concept or example to another, and evaluating your own ideas or the ones you’re discussing in your answer.

You also need to have a strong structure and logical argument that guides the reader through your thought process. This usually means having an introduction, some main body paragraphs that discuss one point at a time, and a conclusion.

Essay questions are usually level-marked. This means that you don’t get one mark per point you make. Instead, you’re given marks for the quality of the ideas you’re sharing as well as how well you present those ideas through the subject-specific language you use and the structure of your essay.

Practising essays and becoming familiar with the mark scheme is the only way to get really good at them.

Understand command words

What are command words?

Command words are the most important words in every exam question. This is because command words tell you what you need to do in your answer. Do you remember Bloom’s Taxonomy? Command words tell you which thinking skill you need to demonstrate in the answer to each question.

Two very common command words are describe and explain

SAMPLE

When you see the command word describe in a question, you’re being asked to show lower-order thinking skills like knowledge and understanding. The question will either be worth fewer marks, or you will need to make more points if it is worth more marks.

The command word explain is asking you to show higher-order thinking skills. When you see the command word explain, you need to be able to say how or why something happens.

You need to understand all of the relevant command words for the subjects you are taking. Ask your teacher where to find them if you are not sure. It’s best not to try to memorise the list of command words, but to become familiar with what command words are asking for by doing lots of practice questions and marking your own work.

How to work with command words

When you first see an exam question, read it through once. Then, read it through again and identify the command word(s). Underline the command word(s) to make it clear to yourself which they are every time you refer back to the question.

You may also want to identify the content words in the question and underline them with a different colour. Content words tell you which area of knowledge you need to draw on to answer the question.

In this example, command words are shown in red and underlined while content words appear in blue and bold:

1 a Explain four reasons why governments might support business start-ups [8]

Adapted from Cambridge IGCSE Business Studies (0450) Q1a Paper 21 June 2022

Marking your own work using the mark scheme will help you get even better at understanding command words and knowing how to give good answers for each.

Work

with mark scheme awareness

The most transformative thing that any student can do to improve their marks is to work with mark schemes. This means using mark schemes to mark your own work at every opportunity.

Many students are very nervous about marking their own work as they do not feel experienced or qualified enough. However, being brave enough to try to mark your own work and taking the time to get good at it will improve your marks hugely.

Why marking your own work makes such a big difference

Marking your own work can help you to improve your answers in the following ways:

1 Answering the question

Having a deep and detailed understanding of what is required by the question enables you to answer the question more clearly and more accurately. It can also help you to give the required information using fewer words and in less time, as you can avoid including unrelated points or topics in your answer.

2 Using subject-specific vocabulary

Every subject has subject-specific vocabulary. This includes technical terms for objects or concepts in a subject, such as mitosis and meiosis in biology. It also includes how you talk about the subject, using appropriate vocabulary that may differ from everyday language. For example, in any science subject you might be asked to describe the trend on a graph. Your answer could say it ‘goes up fast’ or your answer could say it ‘increases rapidly’. You would not get marks for saying ‘it goes up fast’, but you would for saying it ‘increases rapidly’. This is the difference between everyday language and formal, scientific language. We

SAMPLE

When you answer lots of practice questions, you become fluent in the language specific to your subject.

3 Knowing how much to write

It’s very common for students to either write too much or too little to answer questions. Becoming familiar with the mark schemes for many different questions will help you to gain a better understanding of how much you need to write in order to get a good mark.

4 Structuring your answer

There are often clues in questions about how to structure your answer. However, mark schemes give you an even stronger idea of the structure you should use in your answers.

For example, if a question says:

‘Describe and explain two reasons why…’

You can give a clear answer by:

• Describing reason 1

• Explaining reason 1

• Describing reason 2

• Explaining reason 2

Having a very clear structure will also make it easier to identify where you have earned marks. This means that you’re more likely to be awarded the number of marks you deserve.

5 Keeping to time

Answering the question, using subject-specific vocabulary, knowing how much to write and giving a clear structure to your answer will all help you to keep to time in an exam. You will not waste time by writing too much for any answer. Therefore, you will have sufficient time to give a good answer to every question.

How to answer exam questions brilliantly

Understand connections between concepts

One of the higher-level thinking skills in Bloom’s Taxonomy is synthesis Synthesis means making connections between different areas of knowledge. You may have heard about synoptic links. Making synoptic links is the same as showing the thinking skill of synthesis.

Exam questions that ask you to show your synthesis skills are usually worth the highest number of marks on an exam paper. To write good answers to these questions, you need to spend time thinking about the links between the topics you’ve studied before you arrive in your exam. A great way of doing this is using mind maps.

How to create a mind map

To create a mind map:

1 Use a large piece of paper and several different coloured pens.

2 Write the name of your subject in the middle. Then, write the key topic areas evenly spaced around the edge, each with a different colour.

3 Then, around each topic area, start to write the detail of what you can remember. If you find something that is connected with something you studied in another topic, you can draw a line linking the two things together.

This is a good way of practising your retrieval of information as well as linking topics together.

Answering synoptic exam questions

You will recognise questions that require you to make links between concepts because they have a higher number of marks. You will have practised them using this book and the accompanying resources.

To answer a synoptic exam question:

1 Identify the command and content words. You are more likely to find command words like discuss and explain in these questions. They might also have phrases like ‘the connection between’.

2 Make a plan for your answer. It is worth taking a short amount of time to think about what you’re going to write in your answer. Think carefully about what information you’re going to put in, the links between the different pieces of information and how you’re going to structure your answer to make your ideas clear.

3 Use linking words and phrases in your answer. These types of words and phrases include ‘therefore’, ‘because’, due to’, ‘since’ or ‘this means that’.

Here is an example of an English Literature exam question that requires you to make synoptic links in your answer. Content words are shown in blue; command words are shown in red.

Discuss Carol Ann Duffy’s exploration of childhood in her poetry.

This question is asking you to explore the theme of childhood in Duffy’s poetry. You need to choose two of her poems to refer to in your answer. This means you need a good knowledge of her poetry, and to be familiar with her exploration of childhood, so that you can easily select two poems that will give you plenty to say in your answer. We

Refer to two poems in your answer. [25]

Keep to time

Managing your time in exams is really important. Some students do not achieve to the best of their abilities because they run out of time to answer all the questions. However, if you manage your time well, you will be able to attempt every question on the exam paper.

Why is it important to attempt all the questions on an exam paper?

If you attempt every question on a paper, you have the best chance of achieving the highest mark you are capable of.

Students who manage their time poorly in exams will often spend far too long on some questions and not even attempt others. Most students are unlikely to get full marks on many questions, but you will get zero marks for the questions you don’t answer. You can maximise your marks by giving an answer to every question.

Minutes per mark

The most important way to keep to time is knowing how many minutes you can spend on each mark.

For example, if your exam paper has 90 marks available and you have 90 minutes, you know there is 1 mark per minute.

Therefore, if you have a 5 mark question, you should spend five minutes on it. Sometimes, you can give a good answer in less time than you have budgeted using the minutes per mark technique. If this happens, you will have more time to spend on questions that use higher-order thinking skills, or more time on checking your work.

How to get faster at answering exam questions

The best way to get faster at answering exam questions is to do lots of practice. You should practise each question type that will be in your exam, marking your own work, so that you know precisely how that question works and what is required by the question. Use the questions in this book to get better and better at answering each question type.

Use the ‘Slow, Slow, Quick’ technique to get faster.

Take your time answering questions when you first start practising them. You may answer them with the support of the textbook, your notes or the mark scheme. These things will support you with your content knowledge, the language you use in your answer and the structure of your answer.

Every time you practise this question type, you will get more confident and faster. You will become experienced with this question type, so that it is easy for you to recall the subject knowledge and write it down using the correct language and a good structure.

Calculating marks per minute

Use this calculation to work out how long you have for each mark:

Total time in the exam ÷ Number of marks available = Minutes per mark

Calculate how long you have for a question worth more than one mark like this:

Minutes per mark × Marks available for this question = Number of minutes for this question

What about time to check your work?

It is a very good idea to check your work at the end of an exam. You need to work out if this is feasible with the minutes per mark available to you. If you’re always rushing to finish the questions, you shouldn’t budget checking time. However, if you usually have time to spare, then you can budget checking time. To include checking time in your minutes per mark calculation:

(Total time in the exam – Checking time) ÷ Number of marks available = Minutes per mark

Know

what a good answer looks like

It is much easier to give a good answer if you know what a good answer looks like.

Use these methods to know what a good answer looks like.

1 Sample answers. You can find sample answers in these places:

• from your teacher

• written by your friends or other members of your class

• in this book.

2 Look at mark schemes. Mark schemes are full of information about what you should include in your answers. Get familiar with mark schemes to gain a better understanding of the type of things a good answer would contain.

3 Feedback from your teacher. If you are finding it difficult to improve your exam skills for a particular type of question, ask your teacher for detailed feedback. You should also look at their comments on your work in detail.

Give yourself the best chance of success

Reflecting on progress

As you prepare for your exam, it’s important to reflect on your progress. Taking time to think about what you’re doing well and what could be improved brings more focus to your revision. Reflecting on progress also helps you to continuously improve your knowledge and exam skills. We

How do you reflect on progress?

Use the ‘Reflection’ feature in this book to help you reflect on your progress during your exam preparation. Then, at the end of each revision session, take a few minutes to think about the following:

What went well? What would you do the same next time?

What didn’t go well? What would you do differently next time?

Your subject knowledge

How you revised your subject knowledge – did you use active retrieval techniques?

Your use of subject-specific and academic language

Understanding the question by identifying command words and content words

Giving a clear structure to your answer

Keeping to time

Marking your own work

Remember to check for silly mistakes – things like missing the units out after you carefully calculated your answer.

Use the mark scheme to mark your own work. Every time you mark your own work, you will be recognising the good and bad aspects of your work, so that you can progressively give better answers over time.

When do you need to come back to this topic or skill?

Earlier in this section of the book, we talked about revision skills and the importance of spaced retrieval. When you reflect on your progress, you need to think about how soon you need to return to the topic or skill you’ve just been focusing on.

For example, if you were really disappointed with your subject knowledge, it would be a good idea to do some more active retrieval and practice questions on this topic tomorrow. However, if you did really well you can feel confident you know this topic and come back to it again in three weeks’ or a month’s time.

The same goes for exam skills. If you were disappointed with how you answered the question, you should look at some sample answers and try this type of question again soon. However, if you did well, you can move on to other types of exam questions.

Improving your memory of subject knowledge

SAMPLE

Sometimes students slip back into using passive revision techniques, such as only reading the coursebook or their notes, rather than also using active revision techniques, like testing themselves using flip cards or blurting.

You can avoid this mistake by observing how well your learning is working as you revise. You should be thinking to yourself, ‘Am I remembering this? Am I understanding this? Is this revision working?’

If the answer to any of those questions is ‘no’, then you need to change what you’re doing to revise this particular topic. For example, if you don’t understand, you could look up your topic in a different textbook in the school library to see if a different explanation helps. Or you could see if you can find a video online that brings the idea to life.

You are in control

When you’re studying for exams it’s easy to think that your teachers are in charge. However, you have to remember that you are studying for your exams and the results you get will be yours and no one else’s.

That means you have to take responsibility for all your exam preparation. You have the power to change how you’re preparing if what you’re doing isn’t working. You also have control over what you revise and when: you can make sure you focus on your weaker topics and skills to improve your achievement in the subject.

This isn’t always easy to do. Sometimes you have to find an inner ability that you have not used before. However, if you are determined enough to do well, you can find what it takes to focus, improve and keep going.

What is test anxiety?

Do you get worried or anxious about exams? Does your worry or anxiety impact how well you do in tests and exams?

Test anxiety is part of your natural stress response.

The stress response evolved in animals and humans many thousands of years ago to help keep them alive. Let’s look at an example.

The stress response in the wild

Imagine an impala grazing in the grasslands of East Africa. It’s happily and calmly eating grass in its herd in what we would call the parasympathetic state of rest and repair.

Then the impala sees a lion. The impala suddenly panics because its life is in danger. This state of panic is also known as the stressed or sympathetic state. The sympathetic state presents itself in three forms: flight, fight and freeze.

The impala starts to run away from the lion. Running away is known as the flight stress response.

The impala might not be fast enough to run away from the lion. The lion catches it but has a loose grip. The impala struggles to try to get away. This struggle is the fight stress response.

However, the lion gets an even stronger grip on the impala. Now the only chance of the impala surviving is playing dead. The impala goes limp, its heart rate and breathing slows. This is called the freeze stress response. The lion believes that it has killed the impala so it drops the impala to the ground. Now the impala can switch back into the flight response and run away.

The impala is now safe – the different stages of the stress response have saved its life. We

What has the impala got to do with your exams?

When you feel test anxiety, you have the same physiological stress responses as an impala being hunted by a lion. Unfortunately, the human nervous system cannot tell the difference between a life-threatening situation, such as being chased by a lion, and the stress of taking an exam.

If you understand how the stress response works in the human nervous system, you will be able to learn techniques to reduce test anxiety.

FIGHT

anger

shaking doubting yourself

dgeting insomnia racing thoughts racing heart beat

sweating frequent urination telling yourself you’re going to fail avoiding tests and revision nausea / diarrhoea giving up entirely fainting going blank − forgetting everything extreme tiredness / fatigue feeling depressed or sad

FLIGHT FREEZE

The role of the vagus nerve in test anxiety

The vagus nerve is the part of your nervous system that determines your stress response. Vagus means ‘wandering’ in Latin, so the vagus nerve is also known as the ‘wandering nerve’. The vagus nerve wanders from your brain, down each side of your body, to nearly all your organs, including your lungs, heart, kidneys, liver, digestive system and bladder.

If you are in a stressful situation, like an exam, your vagus nerve sends a message to all these different organs to activate their stress response. Here are some common examples:

• Heart beats faster.

SAMPLE

• Kidneys produce more adrenaline so that you can run, making you fidgety and distracted.

• Digestive system and bladder want to eliminate all waste products so that energy can be used for fight or flight.

If you want to feel calmer about your revision and exams, you need to do two things to help you move into the parasympathetic, or rest and repair, state:

1 Work with your vagus nerve to send messages of safety through your body.

2 Change your perception of the test so that you see it as safe and not dangerous.

How to cope with test anxiety

1 Be well prepared

Good preparation is the most important part of managing test anxiety. The better your preparation, the more confident you will be. If you are confident, you will not perceive the test or exam as dangerous, so the sympathetic nervous system responses of fight, flight and freeze are less likely to happen.

This book is all about helping you to be well prepared and building your confidence in your knowledge and ability to answer exam questions well. Working through the knowledge recall questions will help you to become more confident in your knowledge of the subject. The practice questions and exam skills questions will help you to become more confident in communicating your knowledge in an exam.

To be well prepared, look at the advice in the rest of this chapter and use it as you work through the questions in this book.

2 Work with your vagus nerve

The easiest way to work with your vagus nerve so it knows that you’re in a safe situation is through your breathing. This means breathing deeply into the bottom of your lungs, so that your stomach expands, and then breathing out for longer than you breathed in. You can do this with counting.

Breathe in deeply, expanding your abdomen, for the count of four; breathe out drawing your navel back towards your spine for the count of five, six or seven. Repeat this at least three times. However, you can do it for as long as it takes for you to feel calm.

The important thing is that you breathe out for longer than you breathe in. This is because when you breathe in, your heart rate increases slightly, and when you breathe out, your heart rate decreases slightly. If you’re spending more time breathing out overall, you will be decreasing your heart rate over time.

3 Feel it

Anxiety is an uncomfortable, difficult thing to feel. That means that many people try to run away from anxious feelings. However, this means the stress just gets stored in your body for you to feel later.

When you feel anxious, follow these four steps:

1 Pause.

2 Place one hand on your heart and one hand on your stomach.

3 Notice what you’re feeling.

4 Stay with your feelings.

What you will find is that if you are willing to experience what you feel for a minute or two, the feeling of anxiety will usually pass very quickly.

4 Write or talk it out

If your thoughts are moving very quickly, it is often better to get them out of your mind and on to paper.

You could take a few minutes to write down everything that comes through your mind, then rip up your paper and throw it away. If you don’t like writing, you can speak aloud alone or to someone you trust.

Other ways to break the stress cycle

Exercise and movement

• Run or walk.

• Dance.

• Lift weights.

• Yoga.

Anything that involves moving your body is helpful.

Have a hug

• Hug a friend or relative.

• Cuddle a pet, e.g., a cat.

Hug for 20 seconds or until you feel calm and relaxed.

Being

friendly

• Chat to someone in your study break.

• Talk to the cashier when you buy your lunch.

Releasing emotions

It is healthy to release negative or sad emotions.

Crying is often a quick way to get rid of these difficult feelings so if you feel like you need to cry, allow it.

Laughter

• Watch or listen to a funny show on TV or online.

• Talk with someone who makes you laugh.

• Look at photos of fun times.

Creativity

• Paint, draw or sketch.

• Sew, knit or crochet.

• Cook, build something.

If you have long-term symptoms of anxiety, it is important to tell someone you trust and ask for help.

We are working towards endorsement for the Cambridge Pathway.

Your perfect revision session

Intention 1

Revision 3

What do you want to achieve in this revision session?

• Choose an area of knowledge or an exam skill that you want to focus on.

• Choose some questions from this book that focus on this knowledge area or skill.

• Gather any other resources you will need, e.g., pen, paper, ﬂashcards, coursebook.

Set your focus for the session

• Remove distractions from your study area, e.g., leave your phone in another room.

• Write down on a piece of paper or sticky note the knowledge area or skill you’re intending to focus on.

• Close your eyes and take three deep breaths, with the exhale longer than the inhale.

Revise your knowledge and understanding

• To improve your knowledge and understanding of the topic, use your coursebook, notes or ﬂashcards, including active learning techniques.

• To improve your exam skills, look at previous answers, teacher feedback, mark schemes, sample answers or examiners’ reports.

Answer practice questions

• Use the questions in this book, or in the additional online resources, to practise your exam skills.

• If the exam is soon, do this in timed conditions without the support of the coursebook or your notes.

• If the exam is a long time away, you can use your notes and resources to help you.

Mark your answers

• Use mark schemes to mark your work.

• Reﬂect on what you’ve done well and what you could do to improve next time.

What have you learned about your progress from this revision session? What do you need to do next?

• What did you do well? Feel good about these things, and know it’s safe to set these things aside for a while.

• What do you need to work on? How are you going to improve? Make a plan to get better at the things you didn’t do well or didn’t know.

Take a break

• Do something completely different to rest: get up, move or do something creative or practical.

• Remember that rest is an important part of studying, as it gives your brain a chance to integrate your learning.

Unit 1 Understanding business activity

1 Business activity

KNOWLEDGE FOCUS

In this chapter you will answer questions on:

• 1.1 Understanding business activity

EXAM SKILLS FOCUS

In this chapter you will:

• be introduced to the command word ‘define’

• gain an awareness of the skills required to answer questions using the command word ‘define’.

An important part of understanding exam questions is knowing what command words are and what they mean. Command words are words that tell you how to answer an exam question or complete an assessment task. Knowing how to identify command words and recognising what they mean will help you interpret what you are being asked to do, and give you guidance on how to answer the question to best show your knowledge.

In this chapter, you will be introduced to the command word ‘define’ and will start to gain an understanding of the skills required to answer this question type. To define means to ‘give precise meaning’.

1.1 Understanding business activity

1 What is meant by ‘business activity’?

2 What is the difference between a need and a want?

3 Do you think people around the world have different needs and wants? Explain your answer.

4 Make a list of ten wants that a person might have. Can you find examples of businesses that satisfy these wants?

5 All businesses need resources to operate. These are often referred to as the ‘factors of production’. What are the four factors of production? Give an example of each.

6 Junior’s mobile phone cases

Three years ago, Junior was given a 3D printer and realised that he could make mobile phone cases quickly and at a low price using this machine. Junior started making personalised cases as gifts for his friends, then realised that he could sell them at his local market.

a The concept of adding value is an important one for firms. What is meant by ‘added value’?

b Describe three ways that Junior could add value to the mobile phone cases he sells. Make sure to apply your answer.

7 Fatima’s cakes

Fatima currently works in a bakery but is unhappy working there. Fatima’s grandfather has given her $5000, and she is going to use this money to start her own business. She plans to make cakes for special occasions such as birthdays and weddings. Fatima plans to use her kitchen at home to make the cakes as she has plenty of equipment such as bowls and a large oven. She will employ two friends to help decorate the cakes.

a Methods of adding value can differ between businesses. Describe three ways Fatima could add value to the cakes she sells. Make sure to apply your answer.

b Why might it be easier for Fatima to add value to the cakes she sells than it would be for Junior to add value to the mobile phone cases? Explain your answer.

8 Jaz Fashion Design

SAMPLE

Jaz completed a course in fashion design at college two years ago and is working at a clothing shop in a local shopping centre. Jaz has always enjoyed designing clothes and feels it is the right time for her to leave her job and launch her own clothing business, which will be focused on the design and production of handmade prom dresses. However, Jaz knows that the chances of new businesses failing are high, so she is concerned about the opportunity cost involved in this decision. Jaz is also unsure about how to set her business apart from the competition.

Define ‘opportunity cost’. [2]

For a question using the command word ‘define’, you are expected to give an exact meaning of the key term in the question. To approach this type of question, you should ensure that your answer explains the meaning of the key term or concept clearly. You should try to include any key vocabulary that might be related to the concept, ensuring that the answer explains the meaning of the term clearly. You also need to make sure you have a clear understanding of the key term in your answer, as a partial definition will only be awarded one mark.

For example:

An opportunity cost is something that is given up [1 – AO1 Knowledge and understanding].

This answer does have some understanding of what an opportunity cost is, but it does not fully define the term as there needs to be a reference to a choice being made. As there are two marks available for a ‘define’ question, you should try to include two relevant aspects in your definition.

For example:

An opportunity cost is the next best alternative given up [1 – AO1 Knowledge and understanding] when a different option is chosen [1 – AO1 Knowledge and understanding].

Try to answer the following questions yourself.

9 Define ‘added value’. [2]

10 Define ‘factors of production’. [2]

REFLECTION

How did you feel when you were answering these questions? How would you explain to another student how the marks were allocated? How can you improve your confidence with short-answer questions?

RECALL AND CONNECT 1

Before you continue to work through this book, it is important that you have an understanding of the syllabus you are following. Go to the Cambridge International website and find the syllabus for this course (the course code is 0264), then answer the following questions.

a How many exams will you take for your IGCSE Business course?

b What are the titles of the six units you will study in this course?

c What are the four assessment objectives you will be assessed on for this course? We are

UNDERSTAND THESE TERMS

• factors of production

• added value

• opportunity cost

SAMPLE

SELF-ASSESSMENT CHECKLIST

Let’s revisit the Knowledge focus and Exam skills focus for this chapter. Decide how confident you are with each statement.

Now I can Show it

define and provide examples of the four factors of production

explain the importance of different factors of production

state what ‘added value’ means

explain the different ways to increase added value

Using examples, define each of the four factors of production.

Explain why each factor of production is important to the success of a business activity.

Define ‘added value’.

Find three different realworld businesses and explain how they use the factors of production and how they can increase their added value.

Needs more work Almost there Confident to move on

understand the concept of opportunity cost

understand the command word ‘define’

identify the skills required to answer questions using the command word ‘define’.

Give an example of the opportunity cost of a recent decision.

Explain what is meant by the command word ‘define’.

Explain to another student what they would need to do to gain full marks on a question using the command word ‘define’.

2 Economic sectors

KNOWLEDGE FOCUS

In this chapter you will answer questions on:

• 2.1 Primary, secondary and tertiary sectors

• 2.2 Private and public sectors

EXAM SKILLS FOCUS

In this chapter you will:

• be introduced to the assessment objective of ‘knowledge and understanding’ (AO1)

• be introduced to the command word ‘identify’.

For your IGCSE Business exams you will be assessed on four assessment objectives (AOs). In this chapter, you will be introduced to AO1 Knowledge and understanding. You will also be introduced to the command word ‘identify’. To identify means to ‘name/select/recognise’. Questions using this command word may only require you to write a few words, but you need to make sure that the point you make in your answer is clearly relevant to the question.

2.1 Primary, secondary and tertiary sectors

The assessment objective of ‘knowledge and understanding’ (AO1) means that you need to ‘demonstrate knowledge and understanding of business concepts, terms and theories’. You also need to use business terminology in your responses. Each of the following questions will assess your knowledge and understanding. In Paper 1, approximately 40% of the marks will be awarded for the skill of AO1 Knowledge and understanding. In Paper 2, this skill is worth approximately 30%.

To demonstrate the skill of knowledge and understanding, make sure you are using the correct business terminology for the business concept in the question.

Let us look at the following question as an example:

A farm is an example of a business that operates in the primary sector of an economy. Define ‘primary sector’. [2]

The primary sector involves selling things to another sector and making a profit from this, such as a maize farm.

This answer suggests that the primary sector is involved in selling things – does this also apply to the secondary sector or the tertiary sector? Yes, it does, so it does not show sufficient knowledge. The answer is too vague. The example is correct, but marks cannot be awarded without relevant knowledge of the concept.

Let us look at a different answer:

The primary sector refers to any business activity that is involved in the extraction of natural resources [1 – AO1 Knowledge and understanding], such as a business that extracts crude oil from under the sea [1 – AO1 Knowledge and understanding]

In this answer, key terminology related to the primary sector is used (‘extraction of natural resources’). This term cannot be applied to the secondary sector or the tertiary sector, therefore it shows knowledge. The example of a crude oil extractor provides evidence that the student understands the concept of the primary sector.

Use these examples to help you answer Questions 1 and 2. You should take care to show knowledge and understanding of each sector of the economy. Part a will allow you to consider the terminology you might want to include in an exam answer on this topic. Part b is an exam-style question.

1 A car factory is an example of a business that operates in the secondary sector of an economy.

a If you could use only one word to indicate what business activity in the secondary sector does that could not apply to any of the other sectors of the economy, what would it be?

b Define ‘secondary sector’. [2]

2 A supermarket is an example of a business that operates in the tertiary sector of an economy.

a If you could use only one word to indicate what business activity in the tertiary sector does that could not apply to any of the other sectors of the economy, what would it be?

b Define ‘tertiary sector’. [2]

Utility Delivery Scooters (UDS)

Utility Delivery Scooters (UDS) manufacture a range of motorised scooters that are aimed at delivery riders in the food-delivery app market. The scooters have tyres that have been designed to cope with the different types of roads they may be used on, as well as a food storage box attached to the back of the scooter that keeps the food warm. As a manufacturer, UDS is classed as being in the secondary sector of the economy.

a Describe how UDS would rely on businesses in the primary sector.

b Would UDS rely on other businesses in the secondary sector? Explain your answer.

c Give three examples of tertiary businesses that UDS might use.

RECALL AND CONNECT 1

Which of the three sectors (primary, secondary, tertiary) do you think has the highest level of added value in the products they sell?

2.2 Private and public sectors

1 Describe what is meant by the term ‘private sector’.

2 What is the main objective of a business in the private sector?

3 Who makes the decisions in a business in the private sector?

4 Name four examples of business organisations that can be found in the private sector.

5 Describe what is meant by the term ‘public sector’.

6 How do the main objectives of a private sector business differ from those of a public sector business? Why do you think the objectives are different?

7 a What products and services are provided by the public sector in your country? Make a list of at least five of them.

b What might happen if the state did not provide these services?

8 Describe one advantage and one disadvantage of the public sector for an economy

9 South African Tourism (SAT) is an organisation that is controlled by the government and operates under the Minister of Tourism as part of the South African Department of Tourism. Its objective is to promote South Africa as a destination for leisure, business and events.

SAMPLE

Identify two advantages to the economy of South Africa if SAT increases the level of tourism in the country. [2]

In questions with the command word ‘identify’, you need to state a relevant point about a business term/concept, but you do not need to explain it in any depth. For example:

Job creation [1 – AO1 Knowledge and understanding] and better infrastructure [1 – AO1 Knowledge and understanding]

This answer does not go into any further detail about the advantages or explain why they are advantages, as this is not required. Two advantages are asked for, and two marks are awarded. There is one mark available for each advantage, indicating that only two pieces of knowledge need to be shown.

With a question that uses the command word ‘identify’, remember that each piece of information can be rewarded with one mark, so a question that asks you to ‘Identify two’ will have two marks, and a question that asks you to ‘Identify four’ will have four marks.

Try to answer the following questions yourself.

10 Identify two possible objectives of a private sector business.

11 Identify four business organisations often found in the public sector.

RECALL AND CONNECT 2

What is meant by the term ‘opportunity cost’? Why do you think it might be a very important concept for public sector businesses?

UNDERSTAND THESE TERMS

• primary sector

• secondary sector

• tertiary sector

• private sector

• public sector

REFLECTION

Look back over the section that explores the command word ‘define’. Reflecting on your learning from this chapter, how would you show knowledge and understanding (AO1) on a question that asks you to define ‘primary sector’?

SELF-ASSESSMENT CHECKLIST

Let’s revisit the Knowledge focus and Exam skills focus for this chapter. Decide how confident you are with each statement.

Now I can Show it Needs more work Almost there Confident to move on

explain the difference between the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors

SAMPLE

classify examples of the primary, secondary and tertiary sector activities

define what is meant by the private sector and public sector

identify examples of private sector and public sector organisations

identify what the assessment objective of ‘knowledge and understanding’ requires me to do

understand the command word ‘identify’.

Select a product you have purchased recently and create a poster to show how that product has moved through the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors to reach you.

Give three examples of types of businesses that can be found in each sector.

Write a definition for the terms private sector and public sector.

State two examples of businesses in each sector (public and private) in your country.

Explain to another student what you need to do in an exam to show knowledge and understanding.

Describe what you need to do in an answer to a question that uses the command word ‘identify’.

3 Enterprise, business growth and size

KNOWLEDGE FOCUS

In this chapter you will answer questions on:

• 3.1 Enterprise and entrepreneurship

• 3.2 The purpose and key elements of a business plan

• 3.3 Why governments support business start-ups

• 3.4 How governments support business start-ups

• 3.5 Ways to measure business size

• 3.6 Why some businesses grow and others remain small

• 3.7 Why some businesses are successful and others fail

EXAM SKILLS FOCUS

In this chapter you will:

• be introduced to the command word ‘calculate’

• gain an awareness of the skills required to answer questions using the command word ‘calculate’.

The development of numeracy skills is an important part of your IGCSE Business course. Do not assume that the only areas of the course with numerical content are the chapters related to financial topics. Numerical skills are often assessed in questions that use the command word ‘calculate’. To calculate means to ‘work out from given facts, figures or information’.

When answering exam questions using the command word ‘calculate’, it is not enough just to write the final answer. You need to show the process you used to arrive at your final answer.

3.1 Enterprise and entrepreneurship

1 What does an entrepreneur do?

2 Make a list of five characteristics that successful entrepreneurs might have.

3 What makes an entrepreneur successful? Research five famous real-world entrepreneurs and describe what you think is the main characteristic that makes them successful. Use no more than 100 words per entrepreneur. Some examples of entrepreneurs can be found in Chapter 3 of the Cambridge IGCSE Business coursebook.

4 A common mistake is confusing the roles of an entrepreneur and a manager in a business. What is the difference between these roles?

RECALL AND CONNECT 1

In Chapter 1, you looked at the command word ‘define’. It is important to apply new learning to the command words to gain experience of using the command words in different topics. Using your knowledge from Chapter 1, answer the following question:

Define ‘entrepreneur’.

3.2 The purpose and key elements of a business plan

1 Makoto Designs (MD)

Makoto has just completed a degree in fashion design at university. During his studies, he developed an interest in designing sports shoes and has decided that he wants to set up his own design studio. The concept seems straightforward –clients will bring a pair of sports shoes to Makoto, and he will work with the client to create a personalised design, which Makoto will paint onto the shoes. Makoto believes the process from the initial planning meeting with the client to the sports shoes being designed and ready to collect should take around five weeks. Makoto knows that he needs to write a business plan for his design studio before starting his business.

a What does Makoto need to include in his business plan? Suggest five elements that Makoto needs to include and explain why each of the elements needs to be included in the business plan.

b Why is it important for Makoto to write a business plan before he starts his business? Write a short report for Makoto that describes at least three reasons why writing a business plan is important for him to do.

3.3 Why governments support business start-ups

1 Governments want to encourage business start-ups because they can provide many advantages to the economy. For each of the following, explain what advantage it might bring to an economy:

a job creation

b increased competition

c provision of goods and services

d increased output

e potential for business growth.

2 Look at the advantages to an economy of a government supporting business start-ups in Question 1. Which of these advantages do you think is the most important to an economy? Explain your answer.

RECALL AND CONNECT 2

What are the main differences between businesses in the public sector and the private sector?

3.4 How governments support business start-ups

1 Makoto Designs (MD)

Whilst writing the business plan for his business, Makoto discovered a website that explains the ways the government might be able to offer him support for his business start-up. He has decided that he needs to do more research into the level of support available.

a Makoto is considering setting up his business in your country. What support does your government offer to support business start-ups? Make a list.

b Using your list from Question 1a, which type of government support do you think would be most helpful for Makoto? Explain your answer.

c Describe how Makoto would benefit from lower tax rates on his profits in the first two years of running his business.

3.5 Ways to measure business size

1 Why is it difficult to measure the size of individual businesses?

2 Businesses can be measured in many ways. Explain how each of the following can be used as a measure of business size, and provide one advantage and one disadvantage of each measure:

a number of employees

b value of output/sales

c volume of sales/volume of output

d value of capital employed.

In an exam, you may be given numerical data in many different forms, such as tables, graphs or even within a piece of text. You may be asked to calculate an answer where you are required to use a formula that you will learn as part of your IGCSE Business course. You may also need to use pre-existing mathematical knowledge from earlier in your school studies.

Table 3.1 shows business data relating to three different furniture retailers.

Table 3.1: Business data for three furniture retailers

3 Using the data in Table 3.1, identify which business is the largest based on revenue. [1]

4 Using the data in Table 3.1, identify which business is the largest based on number of employees. [1]

Questions 3 and 4 do not require you to do any calculations, but you need to work out the answers from given facts, figures or information, which does require a level of numerical skill. In questions using the command word ‘calculate’, you will be required to do a calculation to get your answer.

Table 3.2: Business data for all furniture retailers in the market

5 In Table 3.2, there are four firms in the same furniture retailer market: Business A, Business B, Business C and Business D. If the total value of all sales in the furniture retail market is $1.2 million, calculate the revenue of Business D. [2]

6 If the revenue of Business A is expected to increase by 15% in the next year, and the revenue of all the other furniture retailers is expected to remain the same, calculate the new total revenue of the furniture retail market. [2]

REFLECTION

Look at your answers to Questions 5 and 6. Show your work to another student. Can they follow your working-out process? Ask them to feed back to you on your answer.

3.6 Why some businesses grow and others remain small

1 Give four reasons why business owners might want to grow a business.

2 What is the difference between a merger and a takeover? Research some real-world examples to use in your answer.

3 Dina’s Diner (DD)

Dina’s Diner (DD) is a small restaurant in City A. It is owned and operated by Dina Sato. DD offers a variety of meals that reflect the local cuisine of City A. Dina purchases most of her cooking materials and food products from small local suppliers, who also supply most of the other restaurants in City A. DD is very popular in the local community, and Dina is considering whether she should grow her business or remain operating as she currently is.

a How could Dina use internal growth to grow DD? Give at least two examples of internal growth methods in your answer.

b What would be one advantage and one disadvantage to Dina and DD of growing internally?

c Dina is considering using external growth using backward vertical integration. Explain what this means, using examples from the case study in your answer.

d What would be one advantage and one disadvantage to Dina and DD of growing through vertical integration?

e What problems might Dina face when growing her business?

f Why might Dina decide not to grow and keep her business small?

g Do you think Dina should grow her business or not? Give reasons for your answer.

RECALL AND CONNECT 3

Describe the differences between business activity in the primary sector, secondary sector and tertiary sector. Describe, using examples, how a pizza dough manufacturer could be involved in forward vertical integration and how it could be involved in backward vertical integration.

3.7 Why some businesses are successful and others fail

1 Look at the case study for Dina’s Diner. Why do you think DD has been successful? Outline at least four reasons in your answer.

2 Dina is worried about her business failing in the future. Describe four reasons that might cause DD to fail.

RECALL AND CONNECT 4

What are the four factors of production? Give an example of each. Which of these do you think is the most important for business success?

UNDERSTAND THESE TERMS

• business plan

• entrepreneur

• merger

• takeover

• horizontal integration

• vertical integration

REFLECTION

How much knowledge from Chapters 1 and 2 have you used when answering the questions in this chapter? Go back over your answers in Chapter 3 and try to identify where you could have made links with the knowledge you gained from previous chapters. It is important to keep reviewing your new knowledge by applying it to earlier knowledge.

SELF-ASSESSMENT CHECKLIST

Let’s revisit the Knowledge focus and Exam skills focus for this chapter. Decide how confident you are with each statement.

explain the characteristics of successful entrepreneurs

List four characteristics of a successful entrepreneur. We