Guide

How to get a 90+ in General Business: Advice from a high-achieving student

By Brittney - 8 minute read

In this guide, Brittney goes through her top tips and tricks for getting a 90+ in General Business.

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Introduction

Imagine a world without shops or factories. Where would we work? Who would supply us with goods and services? How would we survive? It’s difficult to imagine what a world without businesses would look like. Business has shaped our world to be what it is today. Business contributes to human survival, improves quality of life, creates jobs and supports our economy.

Business as a subject provides students with the opportunity to develop business knowledge and skills to contribute meaningfully to society, the workforce and the marketplace. It also prepares students as potential employees, employers, leaders, managers and entrepreneurs. I hope the tips and tricks within this study guide will effectively prepare you for the General Business subject.

How to prepare for your IAs

Summative internal assessment 1 (IA1)

This is an examination and contributes to 25% of your final grade. The examination
includes a combination of short-response, interpretive and extended response items
relating to Unit 3 Topic 1: Competitive markets. I would prepare for this internal exam in the following ways:

Know the assessment objectives

To ensure you cover all the content for the internal exam – know the answers to the assessment objectives off by heart and in great detail. The assessment objectives for IA1 are shown below and can be found on the QCAA website under the Business General Senior Syllabus.

Do practice questions

More exposure to different questions will reduce the possibility of the exam having a question type you’ve never seen before. You will find that the majority of the questions will be related to some kind of stimulus. The stimulus can include words, graphs and diagrams. Therefore the more familiar you are with analysing and interpreting a stimulus, the more prepared you will be. The best way you can practice this is by:

  • Completing both short and extended response questions found in your Business textbook. This will also give you an idea of the type of questions they might ask on your external examination.

  • Finding articles on Google about mature businesses that have
    transformed and generating different business questions in response to the article that you can answer.

  • Using Kahoot! I suggest you find Kahoots that people may have already made for this subject by searching ‘QCE General Business Unit 4 Topic 2’ or ‘Transformation of a business’.

  • Completing the QCE General Business quizzes on Studyclix. 

Summative internal assessment 2 (IA2) and summative internal assessment 3 (IA3)

These assessment items are both worth 25% of your final subject grade. IA2 represents a business report relating to Unit 3 Topic 2: Strategic development for an authentic business in the maturity stage of the business life cycle. IA3 represents a feasibility report relating to Unit 4 Topic 1: Repositioning a business. I would prepare for both of these assessment items in the following way:

  • Use the marking criteria

    Strictly follow the marking criteria, as this is the only thing that your assignment will be marked against! I would recommend aiming for the highest mark on each criterion. You can do this by first understanding what each criterion is asking you to do then make a checklist. At the end, check off the list to ensure you have done everything on the criterion. 

  • Use the correct layout

    For example, if you are asked to create a business report for the assessment item, then make sure you have included all the correct elements of a business report in your assignment. If you are unsure on the correct layout, then ask your teacher for
    assistance.

  • Use evidence

    Ensure you have a sufficient range of sources and use both primary and secondary if you are asked to. Also make sure to cite the sources correctly using in-text referencing.

  • Use your teacher

    Your teacher is your number 1 resource. If you are unclear on something and need clarification on the assessment task or the content that was taught in class, I would recommend you arrange a meeting with your teacher to go over what you are
    confused about.

  • Use business terminology

    Ensure your write ups and assignments contain a sufficient amount of business terminology. This will often make you stand out as a business student. It will also help you achieve high results in the communicating criterion.

How to revise for exams

The summative external assessment for General Business is an exam worth 25% of
your final result. The exam relates to Unit 4 Topic 2: Transformation of a Business
and has a number of short response items along with an extended response item.


Know the assessment objectives

To ensure you cover all the topics, know the answers to the assessment objectives
off by heart and in great detail. The assessment objectives are shown below and
can be found on the QCAA website under the Business General Senior Syllabus.

Make summaries

Note taking & summarised dot points help you remember your assessment topics & act as a reference point for study throughout the year. While creating your summaries, try using:

  • Headings & subheadings

  • Use of colour/highlighting

  • Detailed/annotated diagrams

  • Bolding and underlining

  • Concise explanations

  • Flowcharts

Do practice questions

More exposure to different questions will reduce the possibility of the exam having a
question type you’ve never seen before. You will find that the majority of the questions will be related to some kind of stimulus. The stimulus can include words, graphs and diagrams, therefore the more familiar you are with analysing and interpreting a stimulus, the more prepared you will be. The best way you can practice this is by:

  • Completing both short and extended response questions found in your Business textbook. This will also give you an idea of the type of questions they might ask on your external examination.

  • Finding articles on Google about mature businesses that have
    transformed and generating different business questions in response to the article that you can answer.

  • Using Kahoot! I suggest you find Kahoots that people may have already made for this subject by searching ‘QCE General Business Unit 4 Topic 2’ or ‘Transformation of a business’.

  • Completing the QCE General Business quizzes on Studyclix.

Practice exams

They are a godsend when you’re studying for the exam, At the end of the day, your external assessment item for business is a closed-book examination, so what better way to study for this exam than by doing exams yourself.

  • I would recommend doing practice exams a month or two out from the actual exam as this will allow for plenty of time to revise. It will also allow you to know which topics you are less familiar with and need to revise.

  • Try and do them under timed conditions. This is so you are really stimulating the exam environment and can help to reduce test anxiety when you sit the actual exam.

  • I would recommend doing at least 10 practice exams. I would start by completing past QCE papers, followed by the practice exams found on the QCAA website and finally the mock exam from QCAA.

Focus on the topics you’re less confident with first

The table shows the first four dot points for subject matter from unit 4, topic 2 found
on the QCAA website under the Business General Senior Syllabus. The second
column in the table measures how confident you are in answering/explaining the
subject matter.

Use a red, yellow and green colour-coding system to highlight topics you are very familiar with and those you struggle to explain.

I would then prioritise the topics that you marked yellow/red and read notes, watch videos or go through the textbook until you can explain the topic off by heart and in great detail.

Teaching others

Explaining everything you know to others is a great way to memorise your notes and
make the content stick! After revising the subject matter, I would suggest you teach
others everything you have learned.

Know the analytical tools

A variety of analytical tools including SWOT, STEEPLE, and force field analyses, Porter’s five forces and power interest grind are used to analyse and interpret transformation of a business. I would be familiar with ALL of these analytical tools as you can be assessed on any of them in the exam!

Know the evaluation criteria

The evaluation criteria of competitiveness, effectiveness, efficiency and stakeholder
satisfaction are used to make decisions and recommendations to transform businesses.

Exam Day

How to approach the exam

  • Take note of how many marks each question is worth. Ensure you have answered the questions in response to the marks. For example, if a question is worth 3 marks, ensure you have 3 facts or points in your answer.

  • Spend more time on questions worth more marks than those with fewer.

  • During the 15 minutes of planning time, I would begin reading the stimulus as this will save time after planning to complete the exam questions, as you will already know/have an indication of what the stimulus is about.

Stimulus

Use highlighters to identify the important notes in the given stimulus. If a question asks you to develop a SWOT analysis for the business described in the stimulus, I recommend colour coding the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that you find in the stimulus.

Short-response questions

For the short response items, each paragraph response should range from 50-250 words – as shown in the conditions section on the QCAA website under them summative external assessment heading within the BG Senior Syllabus.

Extended-response questions

The exam includes one extended-response item which includes a business report.
The business report should range from 400-600 words – as shown in the conditions
section on the QCAA website under the summative external assessment heading
within the BG Senior Syllabus

For the short response items, each paragraph response should range from 50-250 words – as shown in the conditions section on the QCAA website under them summative external assessment heading within the BG Senior Syllabus.

Some final tips

1
2
3
4

Know your cognitive verbs

The cognitive verbs define how the exam questions should be answered and the
degree of detail that is needed in the response. Common ones used in the Business
subject include:

  • Describe
  • Explain
  • Analyse
  • Synthesise
  • Evaluate
  • Communicate

Make sure you are familiar with the definitions of these verbs, as this will help you
understand how the question should be answered.

1

Be familiar with business terminology

The correct list with all the business terminology and definitions can be found on the
QCAA website under Business General Senior Syllabus.

2

When to start studying for your exams?

Start revising at the start of the year, as soon as you’ve had your first class and don’t wait until the month of your exam! Revising everyday for 30 minutes – 1 hour will ensure you understand everything you have learned that day and will help you remember all the content by the time you’re ready to sit your final exam.

Create acronyms!

Acronyms help you remember the first letters of items in a list and in turn this helps
you remember the list itself. I would recommend making acronyms for the following:

  • Kotter’s eight step model
  • Drivers of change
  • Reviewing performance cycle
  • Management strategies

Final Tips

Here are some final tips from Brittney on how to get a 90+ in General Business.

Know your cognitive verbs

The cognitive verbs define how the exam questions should be answered and the
degree of detail that is needed in the response. Common ones used in the Business
subject include:

  • Describe
  • Explain
  • Analyse
  • Synthesise
  • Evaluate
  • Communicate

Make sure you are familiar with the definitions of these verbs, as this will help you
understand how the question should be answered.

Be familiar with business terminology

The correct list with all the business terminology and definitions can be found on the
QCAA website under Business General Senior Syllabus.

When to start studying for your exams?

Start revising at the start of the year, as soon as you’ve had your first class and don’t wait until the month of your exam! Revising everyday for 30 minutes – 1 hour will ensure you understand everything you have learned that day and will help you remember all the content by the time you’re ready to sit your final exam.

Create acronyms!

Acronyms help you remember the first letters of items in a list and in turn this helps
you remember the list itself. I would recommend making acronyms for the following:

  • Kotter’s eight step model
  • Drivers of change
  • Reviewing performance cycle
  • Management strategies

By Brittney

Brittney graduated with a 91+ ATAR performing well in Chemistry, Biology and General Maths. She is now studying a Bachelor of Nursing at James Cook University.

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