Crashing Higher Business Management or Administration?

Admin - Half of it is theory and the other half is practical (at least as far as I can remember they are equal). Theory includes things like strategies to be effective (action plans, targets, monitoring, time management, team working etc), working environment, working practices, legislation in the workplace, recruitment, selection and training, customer service stuff, meetings in the workplace, etcetc. Then there is other theory stuff related to practical for example types of information, uses, sources, impact of ICT, etcetc. The practical side involves word processing (layouts, tables, forms, mail merges), emails, e-diary, internet, powerpoints, spreadsheets (several functions, charts, sorting, etc) and databases (creating reports/queries, designing forms, etc). The practical exam will only include (I think) and usually in this order a database, then a spreadsheet and a word processing. I know when I was doing admin the vast majority of people really struggled with the practical side but were ok with the theory side.

Business management - all theory. You have business enterprise which is made up of business in contemporary society (types of business, objectives, stakeholders, etc), business information and ICT (basically the same as the ICT theory in admin), decision making (mainly decision making models and analytical tools) and internal organisation which I think, for some reason, isn't tested in NABs (grouping activities, structures and other things I can't remember). Then you have other functions/areas including marketing (the marketing mix, pricing strategies, product, etc), operations (inputs, process and output, quality, etc), HRM (recruitment, selection and training, legislation, etc) and finance (cash flow, budgets, ratios, etc).


If you did end up going to do a business degree, business management would be more useful I think (depending on the nature of the course) but not by much as university is obviously completely different but it would give you a very basic foundation.

I think I'm swinging more over to Business Management. It seems less 'common sense' than Administration so I would probably feel more 'fulfilled' in terms of knowledge. I take it there's a LOT to remember then yeah?

If anyone else has their opinion to offer, do tell

I'm considering crashing one of these in 6th year. Obviously that means I never took either as Standard Grades but I think a Business qualification may be handy considering I have NO IDEA what I want to do in life yet: no idea in terms of career or university course.

So I was just wondering if you guys think they are useful qualifications to have and of course, which one you think is best/most useful. Also what kind of things are involved in each?

Much thanks

Business management is definitely better, administration is just a bit of common sense really.

Some universities have MBA degrees, which stands for "Master of Business Administration" which can be confusing. I'd choose Business Management to study in School/College instead of Admin. Admin can be boring.

If i'm correct, and correct if im wrong, that course id only available as a postgraduate degree, you can only so it if you have passed a undergraduate hounours degree?

You're correct, I only stated that degree to explain that it can be confusing between "Business Management" and "Administration" names.

You can do an MBA if you have an undergraduate degree, or a Diploma but only when combined with some managerial experience.

Yes, technically, both of the courses should be named " Business management" and "Business Administartion" which some school schools actuall do beacuse they both contain aspects of buesiness in it , so to speak. Im personally quite interested in that course but obviously as you said, a hounours degree is needed and with that 4-5 highers

I think I'm swinging more over to Business Management. It seems less 'common sense' than Administration so I would probably feel more 'fulfilled' in terms of knowledge. I take it there's a LOT to remember then yeah?

If anyone else has their opinion to offer, do tell

I know i may not be of any use but i am doing both of yoyr mentioned subjects for standard grade . I find Business Managment really interesting to be honest, everyone in my class thinks its boring beacuse its all thoery but its actually really good learning about the 4 functional areas.

Admin is a little bit different, it may have practical but i heard from others that the practical side is quite difficult and quite advanced. Whereas the thoery, is more boring, office ergonomics and stuff like that is good at start but a few lessons in you'll be thinking, when will i need this in the future

hope this helped

Both have a certain amount of common sense to it but a lot of people will say the whole thing is common sense. I'd like to see them take the exam as the marking instructions can sometimes be quite specific and being brief and using your common sense isn't enough. Yeah, there is a lot to remember (in both subjects).


A lot of the theory in the 2 courses overlaps and I don't know what you're talking about as you also do the 4 functional areas in admin (particularly in SG). The practical in higher admin is quite hard though (not in my opinion though, I found it relatively easy).

If you have any questions about any of the business subjects then ask away I basically lived in the business dept in my school and am currently hoping to become a business ed teacher

Highers that are need for an Honours in Business degree are very average, e.g. BBBB, AABB, AAAB, etc Some Universities will let you enter with even lower grades.

There isn't much different from an Honours Business and an MBA degree, apart from the level being studied at.

So basically, concetrate on your Standard Grades and Highers, and don't worry about MBA just yet.

By the way, I'm from Glasgow.

Hi , I'm from glasgow aswell

hehe, lol, what school you from? coz I might know some people......

i doubt it but .. Kings Park Secondary, u?

Admin does have 4 functional areas but not alot (even in SG)if im correct in higher. what i mean is you dont do the Marketing Mix and production in Admin do you, i may be really wrong so plaese correct me

Correct but I got the impression you were saying there is no sign of the areas in admin at all.

I crashed higher admin last year having taken int 2 business in 3rd/4th year and gotten an A. I'm taking higher business this year and the course is pretty much exactly the same which is boring me slightly.
I enjoyed admin last year and I'd say the practical side of it was useful for applying for jobs/university now etc because of the skills gained. It's not as advanced as you might think, I had basic knowledge of office packages last year because I use a mac but I found the practical easy enough. Finished my final practical exam in about 35 mins and got an A so it's not that hard.
However, I would say for a business degree, business management will probably be of more use to. In admin it was mainly HR and the the roles of departments we focussed on whereas business includes marketing and operations as well as HR which are probably more likely to come up in a business degree. Business is easy if you take the marking schemes and learn the terms they're looking for then mix them with your common sense to get marks. At least that's what I did. You could always take both?

You did every single question in 35 minutes?

And the courses aren't 'pretty much exactly the same' as business management does include finance, marketing, operations and many other small things as you've already mentioned which admin doesn't in the same way that admin theory includes quite a lot that business management doesn't.