How should my child study for HSC Business Studies in Year 12?
Business Studies is often chosen as a manageable subject, then marked on business reports, case studies and judgement. What the paper asks for and how to prepare.
Business Studies is often chosen because it feels familiar. Students know what marketing and finance are, the content reads easily, and the first assessments go well. The HSC paper then asks for something harder than familiarity: a business report written to a format, judgements about which strategies work, and evidence from real businesses. Students who prepared by reading notes find that they know the content and still cannot write it in the form the marks are attached to.
NESA examination specifications for the Business Studies Stage 6 Syllabus (2010). 3 hours plus 5 minutes reading time.
The four topics are Operations, Marketing, Finance and Human Resources. Section III is the distinctive part of the paper: a single business report, written in report format, drawing on more than one topic and usually built around a business scenario. It is worth a fifth of the paper, and the format is a skill in itself. Section IV is a more familiar extended response, and both reward specific examples from real businesses over general statements.
Finance deserves early attention. Short answer questions often include ratios or financial calculations, and they are among the most reliable marks on the paper for a student who has practised them. They are also among the easiest to lose through one arithmetic slip, so working should always be shown.
- 1Collect case studies by topicTwo or three real businesses for each topic, with specific facts: what they did, why, and what happened. Specific evidence is what lifts a response above the middle bands.
- 2Practise the report formatOne business report a fortnight from Term 1, timed and set out with headings, an introduction, recommendations and a conclusion.
- 3Learn the ratios properlyEach financial ratio with its formula, what it measures and what a change in it would mean for the business.
- 4Answer the verbShort answers that explain, analyse or evaluate as the question asks, with a judgement where one is needed.
- 5Sit full papers in one goFrom Term 3, papers in 3 hours and 5 minutes, marked against the marking guidelines before reading sample answers.
Your child's business report has accurate content but is written as one long essay. What is the most likely problem?
See the HSC Business Studies notes and free sample pages.
Edward MaDirector, MA99 Education
