How to answer 20 mark Questions for Business Studie

Hi,

I am having trouble answering 20 markers for Business Studies. Could anyone please help me and give me some tips as to how to answer these questions??

Reply 1

CoolAj

ohh and the exam board is AQA

Reply 2

Ben_K

Definition (Always start with a definition),
1 point for (Evaluate at end, it depends on..)
1 point against (Evaluate at end, it depends on..)
1 point for (Evaluate at end, it depends on..)
Conclude - Make decision
Evaluate (It depends on...)

Can also do this way dependent on your opinion.

Definition (Always start with a definition),
1 point against (Evaluate at end, it depends on..)
1 point for (Evaluate at end, it depends on..)
1 point against (Evaluate at end, it depends on..)
Conclude - Make decision
Evaluate (It depends on...)

Also if you are running out of time, you can do the following (but the points have to be even more detail)

Definition (Always start with a definition),
1 point against (Evaluate at end, it depends on..)
1 point for (Evaluate at end, it depends on..)
Conclude - Make decision
Evaluate (It depends on...)

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 3

cdoyle

Original post by Ben_K

Yep. A few years ago I could write an essay ranging from 10-40 marks with no bother at all. Now I struggle- mind goes blank. I have 60 mark History of Art essays this year. joy.

Reply 4

Ben_K

Original post by cdoyle

Yep. A few years ago I could write an essay ranging from 10-40 marks with no bother at all. Now I struggle- mind goes blank. I have 60 mark History of Art essays this year. joy.

I was in a similar position myself in July. My mind kept going blank, but I kept at it and got a very high A in the end. Keep up the work and you'll get there.

Reply 5

ledi...

What does PEACH stand for?
Point Make your first point clear to the examiner
Effect What effect does this point have on the business? What does it change: increasing revenues? Reducing costs? Improving reputation or market share?
Apply Using quotes / data from the extract to allow for application to the business in the question. This could be used to help you decide on your point or to support it. Without this application, you won’t answer the question fully (the question explicitly asks for you to talk about that business)
Context Is your analysis so far affected by the context the business operates in? Who is the target market? Which market does the business operate in? How will different stakeholders feel?
However Finally, once the point is made, analysed and supported, it’s important to consider the other side of an argument. Start the sentence with “However” to demonstrate that you’re considering the counterbalance, as the mark scheme asks for it specifically

How to answer 8, 10 and 20-mark questions using PEACH
8-mark questions
You would provide two PEACH paragraphs for an 8 mark question. One for each reason / factor, depending on what the question asks for.

10-mark questions
For a 10 mark question, two PEACH paragraphs could be used - one to provide an argument “for the importance” of the key term in the question, and another to provide an argument “against the importance”.
With a 10 marker, as was explained in How to answer a 10-mark question, a justified conclusion would be required in addition to your two PEACH paragraphs.

20-mark questions
This structure could also be used in a 20 mark question, with three PEACH paragraphs showing the impact the key term has on the business in question.
Again, a conclusion would be required, offering the same justification as in the 10 marker, as well as providing a potential recommendation / solution.

Example answer to an 8-mark Edexcel AS Business exam question using PEACH
This is a real-life question and answer taken from the sample assessment material recently released by Edexcel.
Question - Assess 2 factors that might cause a decrease in the demand for YOTEL’s cabins (8)
Answer
The first factor that could cause the demand for YOTEL’s cabins to decrease is the price that they charge consumers. (Point) They will have increased costs (Effect), as they are opening more hotels around the world (with plans to expand in Singapore and airports worldwide) (Apply) which could cause them to have to increase prices for their cabins in order to gain more revenue to fund this expansion. This increase in price will likely cause demand to fall. However, since the majority of their customers are corporate travellers (Context), they may be less affected by a slight increase in price, therefore the effect of this price increase may not have as significant an impact. (However)

Reply 6

Pchukwuma

Do you recommend this for Edexcel A Level Business as well ?

Reply 7

devianen

Paragraph 1:
- Define the business term that is the cause in the question
- Build a logical line of argument that is fully developed.- Paragraph should start with cause and finish with the effect. This should be done in minimum 4-6 steps using connectives such as this means, therefore, leading to, which will result in.
- Answer needs to be in context and therefore should have a minimum of two lines of contextualised analysis i.e. within your line or argument there should be at least be 2 steps which are in context.
-At the end of your argument add a counterbalance e.g. what does your argument depend on or why might the argument be flawed e.g. the analysed outcome might not actually happen.

Paragraph 2:
- Repeat the structure from paragraph 1 but without the definition for the second argument. This should be from a different angle e.g. an argument against or a second factor.

Paragraph 3:
- State the conclusion e.g. How important is training?
- Prioritise the main reason as to why this conclusion has been reached for the business.
- Explain why this is more significant than the opposing argument.
- Summarise what business lesson can be learn based upon this.
- State and fully justify a recommendation that addresses the question.

A level 4 conclusion would include:
- Rephrase the question to offer an answer
- The main reason for reaching this conclusion - with development
- why is this argument more significant than the counter argument- with development
- what actions could be taken to ensure further success.

Hey Pchukwuma I hope this helps as this is how I did my 20 markers in year 12 and I'm still following the same structure in year 13 for Edexcel A Level Business. If you follow this structure you're bound to do well by getting anything above a 16 in these 20 markers. I hope this has helped you. :smile:

Reply 8

swifty999

How do you make sure your answers are in context?

Reply 9

swifty999

Can anyone help with an easy way to ensure the answer is put in context of the Question?

Reply 10

Willlxz

When you're applying your answers, don't fall into the trap of thinking that just stating the business' name will count as application, this is not the case, to get your marks for application you have to write about the business in context to the question. The best way to do it is read your answer and try and replace the name of the business with a completely different company and see if the answer is still in context, if the answer still makes sense when talking about a different business then your answer isn't in context, but if it doesn't make sense for the new business then your answer is well applied.

For example, if the question was concerning Cadbury and the price of raw materials increasing and you wrote:
'The price of raw materials increasing would have a negative impact on Cadbury because it would increase their costs and therefore lower their profit margins'
This would not be in context because you could replace Cadbury, with for example Apple, and it would still make perfect sense:
'The price of raw materials increasing would have a negative impact on Apple because it would increase their costs and therefore lower their profit margins'

So what you need to do instead is to use information you know about Cadbury to apply the answer in context so that it would only make sense for Cadbury. The question is asking about the price of raw materials, so using your own knowledge, you know that Cadbury is a chocolate producer so you could say that the price of milk or cocoa beans are increasing:
'The price of milk increasing would have a negative impact on Cadbury because it would increase their costs and therefore lower their profit margins'
And now if we use Apple as a replacement, it wouldn't make sense because the price of milk wouldn't concern a technology company such as Apple and this is how you know you have applied your answer correctly:
'The price of milk increasing would have a negative impact on Apple because it would increase their costs and therefore lower their profit margins'

Make sure you apply throughout, in all of the paragraphs, also try and use data that is written in the text such as numbers as this will show examiners that you're reading the case study and this is crucial because these pieces of data also cannot be applied to anyone else because if the business has a 13.4% market share, another business won't.

I hope this helps you, I can't guarantee that this will help you get full marks for application but this is at least how I was taught and it puts the answer into context.