Teachers and students have reacted positively to this year’s higher-level business paper, praising it for providing wide choice and approachable questions.
Vincent Murray, ASTI subject representative for business and a teacher at CBC Cork, said that it was a very accessible paper.
“The questions were familiar to students,” he said. “There was scope for them to demonstrate their knowledge on enterprise, stock control and human resource management, while the questions were well-presented and not too wordy.”
Although some questions, including those on tax and ratio analysis, required some maths, students could have avoided them due to the wide choice on the paper, he said.
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Claire O’Brien, Studyclix.ie subject expert and business teacher at Coláiste Muire in Crosshaven, Cork, said that students in her school were happy with the paper, but found some of the questions tough.
“There were a lot of short questions focused on units six and seven, including questions on inflation, taxation, the European Union, global business and international trade,” she said.
“This highlights that global current topics are always related to the business course and exam.”
Leaving Cert business, higher level, section 1
Keith Hannigan, a business teacher at the Institute of Education, said that the applied business question (ABQ) can often be a source of stress for students - but not this year.
“There is no choice in questions for the ABQ, and previous years have included some tricky takes on the material, so this is where some will have anticipated an upset,” he said.
“Thankfully, upon opening the second booklet, they were greeted with an array of standard questions that anyone who spent time working over the past papers will recognise.
“The skills and characteristics of the entrepreneur turned up for a second year, so hopefully students didn’t overlook this when trying to trim down their revision, but the question was accessible, in that they easily could have spotted a dozen examples in the text,” Mr Hannigan said.
Leaving Cert business, higher level, sections 2 and 3:
Gavin Duffy, author of Leaving Cert business textbook and a teacher with Grinds360.ie, said that the long questions were well-balanced and offered students a broad range of options. “Overall, I think most students will have been very satisfied with the questions and the topics covered,” said Mr Duffy.
“The examiner tied in plenty of current issues, such as the benefits and challenges of high employment and barriers to free trade. Stimulus materials were accessible and relevant, including a hotel that hosts debs events and Glanbia’s acquisition of the whey protein brand Optimum Nutrition.”
Ordinary level
In the ordinary-level paper, Mr Murray said that wide-ranging questions across all areas of the syllabus gave students a chance to demonstrate their learning.
“There were student-friendly questions on teamwork, promoting a product, brand names, franchising and the high price of tickets for the Oasis concert, which takes place in August,” he said.
“These were all areas that students could relate to from their own experiences.”
Ms O’Brien said that the ordinary paper had a nice mix of questions.
“Different techniques were used, including ticking the box, giving definitions, labelling diagrams and matching the terms,” she said.
Leaving Cert business, ordinary level, section 1 :
Leaving Cert business, ordinary level, section 2 :
TRY THIS ONE AT HOME: LEAVING CERT BUSINESS, ORDINARY LEVEL, SECTION 2, Q1(c)
“Complaints made over high price of Oasis tickets charged by Ticketmaster”
-RTE news headline.
Q. Many consumers were unhappy with how the overpricing of tickets by Ticketmaster was managed. Outline two steps (non‐legislative) a consumer might take to resolve this issue.
