[ATCAdam]

Hi I have made two practise papers for AS OCR Business Studies exam a week on Monday. They are intended for my own personal use but I thought I may as well upload them!

http://ge.tt/99p3SaH

Hope someone finds them useful

[SkrillaGB]

(Original post by ATCAdam)
Hi I have made two practise papers for AS OCR Business Studies exam a week on Monday. They are intended for my own personal use but I thought I may as well upload them!

http://ge.tt/99p3SaH

Hope someone finds them useful

Quality, cheers. You seem like an A grade student, got any tips for the exam in terms of how to answer them and any guidelines? I've received a case study pack from my school containing loads of probable questions and a complete analysis of the case study but I'm still really unsure about how to approach the exam in terms of answering Section B questions. I know Section A is just theory knowledge so I should be alright with that but with this F292 exam I have no idea what structure to use to answer the questions.

For example, do you plan out your answers using a brainstorm of ideas before answering or do you jump straight into answering? Also, how do you structure your answers because we have been taught to use the Level's system or EIO (Evidence, Impact, Outcome). And one last note, do you have any resources for F292 Section A in terms of revision? Just in case, not been taught too well this year...

[frannnn_x]

(Original post by ATCAdam)
Hi I have made two practise papers for AS OCR Business Studies exam a week on Monday. They are intended for my own personal use but I thought I may as well upload them!

http://ge.tt/99p3SaH

Hope someone finds them useful

Thankyou so much for those practice papers! Must have took you ages to make them! They have helped me so much so thankyou!

Just wondering, would you have like a simple mark scheme for the section b questions like bullet points containing the content you would need to gain marks in the essay questions?

No worries if not, i was just wondering that's all, its been a big help!

[ATCAdam]

I would plan. Personally I bullet point relevant ideas, issues and answers rather then brainstorming.

For example if the question was on Matthew's leadership and management style a few of my bullets would be:

• Autocratic with Staff L105 "Hear Matt's plans for the future"
• Democratic with Managers L42 "I will leave you to it" to Hamza
• Motivational effects on staff; Herzberg
• Wide Span of control not congruent with Taylor scientific style of management

Planning helps ensure I don't repeat myself, stay on track and include all points I need to.

The top link is the specification, if you search for "Business Functions" you will find everything you need to know for Section A.

http://www.ocr.org.uk/download/kd/oc...d_gce_spec.pdf
http://www.ocr.org.uk/download/sm/oc..._unit_f292.doc

The link below that is the Lesson plans so you can see if your teacher has missed anything. Other than that I'd recommend doing Section A past papers. As they are not case study specific you can literally do as many as you need to feel comfortable. Give yourself about 20 minutes to do Sec. A.

Answering questions I go through Define, Apply, Analyse and Evaluate.
e.g. define span of control, relate it to TSL (TSL has a wide span of control as evident from Appendix 2), This is good because and bad because, the most important factor is and long term/short term effects of this are.

What revision pack do you have APT or Tutor2u??

[ATCAdam]

(Original post by frannnn_x)
Thankyou so much for those practice papers! Must have took you ages to make them! They have helped me so much so thankyou!

Just wondering, would you have like a simple mark scheme for the section b questions like bullet points containing the content you would need to gain marks in the essay questions?

No worries if not, i was just wondering that's all, its been a big help!

Not got an exact one sorry but here is a rough guide:

Candidates are expected to demonstrate the following in the context of the content described:

AO1 Demonstrate knowledge and understanding
•demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the specified content;

AO2 Apply knowledge and understanding
• apply knowledge and understanding to problems and issues arising from both familiar and unfamiliar situations;

AO3 Analyse
• analyse problems, issues and situations;

AO4 Evaluate
• evaluate: distinguish between, and assess appropriateness of, fact and opinion, and judge information from a variety of sources

At AS more marks are allocate to demonstration of understanding, application and analysis then evaluation.

I don't have a teacher I could go to, to get a specific one but that would be my suggestion if you have a teacher who could mark it.

[SkrillaGB]

(Original post by ATCAdam)
I would plan. Personally I bullet point relevant ideas, issues and answers rather then brainstorming.

For example if the question was on Matthew's leadership and management style a few of my bullets would be:

• Autocratic with Staff L105 "Hear Matt's plans for the future"
• Democratic with Managers L42 "I will leave you to it" to Hamza
• Motivational effects on staff; Herzberg
• Wide Span of control not congruent with Taylor scientific style of management

Planning helps ensure I don't repeat myself, stay on track and include all points I need to.

The top link is the specification, if you search for "Business Functions" you will find everything you need to know for Section A.

http://www.ocr.org.uk/download/kd/oc...d_gce_spec.pdf
http://www.ocr.org.uk/download/sm/oc..._unit_f292.doc

The link below that is the Lesson plans so you can see if your teacher has missed anything. Other than that I'd recommend doing Section A past papers. As they are not case study specific you can literally do as many as you need to feel comfortable. Give yourself about 20 minutes to do Sec. A.

Answering questions I go through Define, Apply, Analyse and Evaluate.
e.g. define span of control, relate it to TSL (TSL has a wide span of control as evident from Appendix 2), This is good because and bad because, the most important factor is and long term/short term effects of this are.

What revision pack do you have APT or Tutor2u??

Fantastic thanks! Regarding those links to the resources I've been through pretty much everything on the OCR website recently and I've got like 5-6 past papers with just Section A so hopefully I should be alright there and it's not really an area I'm that concerned with anyway considering the fact 72 marks out of the 90 is purely just TSL applied questions.

I did the F291 paper today and found that planning out answers using simple bullet points was far easier than doing a mind map because it was more efficient and I think like you said I'll be doing the same with the F292 exam next week.

I have the APT case study pack, I do think it's very helpful and a lot of my main focus will be concentrated on throughly reading through this and highlighting any key points and literally answering every single question which relates to TSL. And obviously, I'll be going through the practise papers you posted above too, cheers for that!

[ATCAdam]

http://www.hodderplus.co.uk/ocrbusin.../Marketing.pdf
http://www.hodderplus.co.uk/ocrbusin...anisations.pdf
http://www.hodderplus.co.uk/ocrbusin...andfinance.pdf
http://www.hodderplus.co.uk/ocrbusin...management.pdf

Don't know how useful you will find those

[SkrillaGB]

(Original post by ATCAdam)
http://www.hodderplus.co.uk/ocrbusin.../Marketing.pdf
http://www.hodderplus.co.uk/ocrbusin...anisations.pdf
http://www.hodderplus.co.uk/ocrbusin...andfinance.pdf
http://www.hodderplus.co.uk/ocrbusin...management.pdf

Don't know how useful you will find those

Considering the exam's like 5 days away I don't think I'll have enough time to go through all those. Thanks anyway though, and good luck in the exam!

[al0]

Really, really, really helpful! +rep, I'm really nervous about this exam--purely because it's so difficult to predict questions (unlike F291)

[SkrillaGB]

(Original post by al0)
Really, really, really helpful! +rep, I'm really nervous about this exam--purely because it's so difficult to predict questions (unlike F291)

Exactly my concerns really, it's a bigger course in terms of content as well.

[al0]

(Original post by SkrillaGB)
Exactly my concerns really, it's a bigger course in terms of content as well.

And finance is a major bitch. I have to go over ARR and payback urgently

[psychobabble]

Thanks you so much for those practice questions. I have been trying to work out what may come up with the TSL case study. I thought something on motivating workforce and maybe something on manufacturing process of sweets.....

I shall definately look at the market segmentation idea. Our teacher refuses to suggest anything. Do other people get possible suggestions for areas to consider from their teachers? If so please tell me what hey think could come up as long question.

[seanaffleck]

I was wondering if you guys had any model answers on how to structure essays such as your inputs for the above mock exams provided by ATCAdam (thanks by the way they're awesome (: )

I'm having slight difficulty in deciding how to structure essays; normally I just went for a L1, L2, L3, L4 approach and kept repeating that cycle throughout the whole paper for essays. It seemed to work in F291 resulting in a B, however i've had 2 attempts at F292 and for the life of me I can't seem to get higher than a U!
I'm re-sitting F292 again on monday (21st May) and really need help on essay structure

[SkrillaGB]

(Original post by ATCAdam)
I would plan. Personally I bullet point relevant ideas, issues and answers rather then brainstorming.

For example if the question was on Matthew's leadership and management style a few of my bullets would be:

• Autocratic with Staff L105 "Hear Matt's plans for the future"
• Democratic with Managers L42 "I will leave you to it" to Hamza
• Motivational effects on staff; Herzberg
• Wide Span of control not congruent with Taylor scientific style of management

Planning helps ensure I don't repeat myself, stay on track and include all points I need to.

Answering questions I go through Define, Apply, Analyse and Evaluate.
e.g. define span of control, relate it to TSL (TSL has a wide span of control as evident from Appendix 2), This is good because and bad because, the most important factor is and long term/short term effects of this are.

This is how you structure your answer as ATCAdam said, the simplest way around answering the essay questions in this exam which is absolutely pivotal to this exam because 72 out of 90 marks are from just Section B alone which is 80%! You only want to spend probably like 20 minutes on this section so you can fully focus on the Section B content.


It's my first ever attempt at this exam so whether my guidance is reliable or not I don't know but this is how I will be negotiating the Section B of this paper, let's say the question is this which I think is almost certain to come up (or close to it):

"With reference to Table 3 & Appendix 2, discuss how the addition of a Human Resource manager could boost performance at TSL."

1. Read carefully and highlight any key words in the question. You MUST strictly relate to the question when answering the questions in the paper.
So when responding to the question, constantly use the phrase "The addition of a Human Resource manager could boost performance at TSL because..." and "This would impact TSL's performance because..." and so on. Constantly link your response to the question.

2. Briefly plan out your response by bullet pointing any relevant points, these can be from the case study and from your own knowledge if in context with the question. Consider both sides of the question in terms of benefits AND drawbacks which is vitally important for a high grade.

Remember, Level 3 can only be achieved by relating to the context from the case study in response to the question, for Level 4 it is required you consider both sides of the argument in terms of benefits and drawbacks to TSL to balance the argument along with obviously, a decisive conclusion. I won't bother structuring the whole question out for you but don't forget to introduce the question by defining any key words to show an understanding and then go straight into writing the main content of the answer using the structure ATCAdam suggested which is Apply, Analyse and Evaluate.

e.g. A human resource manager could boost performance at TSL because (Apply knowledge from case study). This would impact TSL's performance because (Back up your initially applied knowledge from the case study with your own knowledge and why this would impact TSL).

Then at the end, using the question's phrasing again, the evaluation needs to consider both the benefits and drawbacks of how the Human Resource Manager could have an impact on TSL's performance before ultimately coming to an opinionated judgment on whether a human resource manager would improve performance within TSL.


Now that's just how I'll be going about answering the questions using the Define, Apply, Analyse & Evaluate which can be split up into Define (Introduction), Apply & Analyse (Main section of the answer) and Evaluate (Conclusion)... good luck!

[seanaffleck]

I've adopted the bullet pointing of relevant ideas to the question being asked, I agree it's really useful.
I was just wondering how you guys structured the actual essays? such as having a small introduction, a body and a final conclusion to each essay?
or whether you just literally start the essay with a level 1 mark, then a level 2 mark, then level 3, then level 4 mark and then repeat the cycle, L1, L2, L3, L4 throughout all the essays.

I've used the second technique; the L1, L2, L3, L4 and repeat approach for the whole of my business studies so far and it's resulted in getting 2 U's in a row for F292. I even got the marked paper back for my January 2012 attempt which scored 27/90 :/ It seemed like the examiner just wasn't giving me marks for my whole attempt at an essay and I'm not sure where I'm going wrong at all.
I have the returned paper as a PDF if anyone could look at it and maybe help me out a bit?

[SkrillaGB]

(Original post by seanaffleck)
I've adopted the bullet pointing of relevant ideas to the question being asked, I agree it's really useful.
I was just wondering how you guys structured the actual essays? such as having a small introduction, a body and a final conclusion to each essay?
or whether you just literally start the essay with a level 1 mark, then a level 2 mark, then level 3, then level 4 mark and then repeat the cycle, L1, L2, L3, L4 throughout all the essays.

I've used the second technique; the L1, L2, L3, L4 and repeat approach for the whole of my business studies so far and it's resulted in getting 2 U's in a row for F292. I even got the marked paper back for my January 2012 attempt which scored 27/90 :/ It seemed like the examiner just wasn't giving me marks for my whole attempt at an essay and I'm not sure where I'm going wrong at all.
I have the returned paper as a PDF if anyone could look at it and maybe help me out a bit?

Read above, it could be that you are possibly straying from the question and not relating to the question enough or even including non-relevant knowledge in response to the question. Always remember this is different to F291 in that the questions are phrased differently and marked more strictly.

The main part is obviously the most important which involves the applying and analysing. Firstly, phrase your answer in response to the question like I showed above, then apply knowledge from within the case study which may seem like spoonfeeding but its a way of showing albeit an obvious understanding of what the question is asking. Once you have applied knowledge from within the case study with relevance to the actual question analyse the impact this will have on TSL using your OWN knowledge considering both sides of the argument.

Make it as obvious as possible that you are showing a thorough understanding of what the question is asking for. If you show this understanding and can apply knowledge from both the case study and externally providing that it is relevant to the question and is in depth and shows an understanding of the impact this will have on TSL, you have a level 3. Also, remember you must always balance your answer in response to the question by showing a balanced argument with both benefits and drawbacks.

[seanaffleck]

Thank you so much Skrilla!
This will change a lot from my last 2 years of writing essays which aren't getting me anywhere. You've really helped me understand how the essays are supposed to be structured out and i'm going to write up some more practice/predicted essay questions with this approach to see how they turn out
I'll let you know how i get on

[SkrillaGB]

(Original post by seanaffleck)
Thank you so much Skrilla!
This will change a lot from my last 2 years of writing essays which aren't getting me anywhere. You've really helped me understand how the essays are supposed to be structured out and i'm going to write up some more practice/predicted essay questions with this approach to see how they turn out
I'll let you know how i get on

Good luck, obviously I can't promise anything but thats pretty much how I've been taught and how I have assumed OCR's marking scheme to be. Make sure you know your knowledge as well though as it's absolutely vital due to the massive course content for the F292 unit compared to F291 theres a lot more to cover. Most of my revision is purely going through the whole of the topic's content.

[Pollybb]

Hey, thanks so much for these papers, big help Do you have the answers for section A? Just want to make sure i got them right, no worries if you don't. Again, thankyou!

[ATCAdam]

Section A paper 2 mark scheme: http://www.ocr.org.uk/download/ms_11..._uf292_jun.pdf

Sec. A paper 1 mark scheme: http://www.ocr.org.uk/download/ms_11...1_gce_f292.pdf