Why choose A-Level Business?

Students will be expected to have met St Paul’s entry requirements of 2 Grade 5’s and 4 Grade 4’s. A minimum of grade 4 in English and Maths is essential for all courses.

Specification for Year 12 – An introduction to key business areas: marketing, operations, finance and human resource management. This includes a special focus on decision making – particularly how decisions made in one area can affect the rest of the business.

Topic 1 – What is business?
Topic 2 – Managers, leadership and decision making
Topic 3 – Decision making to improve marketing performance
Topic 4 – Decision making to improve operational performance
Topic 5 – Decision making to improve financial performance
Topic 6 – Decision making to improve human resource performance

Specification for Year 13 – An investigation of the strategic decisions that all businesses have to make.

Topic 7 – Analysing the strategic position of a business
Topic 8 – Choosing the strategic direction
Topic 9 – Strategic methods: how to pursue strategies
Topic 10 – Managing strategic change

A-level Business introduces you to all you need to know about working in business, providing a solid foundation for further study. If you interested in current affairs and in the financial world then this is the course for you. Your course of study will help you understand how contemporary businesses operate in a dynamic global marketplace. You will develop valuable key skills such as being able to present and evaluate arguments, and make judgments based on statistical analysis and the manipulation of mathematical data. This highly academic course will enable you to focus on the dynamic nature of today’s business world. You will consider the major challenges facing business start-ups and the major functions of a business including people, operations, finance and marketing. It encourages the practical application of business concepts by exploring events in the business world and relating these to theories and practice.

What does the course combine well with?

Business related careers usually involve numerical work, computer skills, economics and often, foreign languages and so additional A levels in these subjects make good choices. However, most subjects including other humanities subjects fit in well with Business.

Assessment Board: AQA

At A Level there are 3 x 2-hour examinations:
• Paper 1 – 3 compulsory sections including multiple choice, short answer questions and a choice
of two essay questions
• Paper 2 – 3 data response compulsory questions
• Paper 3 – One compulsory case study followed by approximately 6 questions

Podcasts:

  • The Dairy of a CEO (DOCEO)
  • The high performance podcast
  • FT news briefing
  • The property podcast
  • Girls that invest
  • The rest is money
  • The rest is politics

Books:

  • Intelligent Investor: The Definitive Book on Value Investing
  • Girls That Invest
  • Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before?
  • The Psychology of Money: Timeless lessons on wealth, greed, and happiness
  • Property Investment for Beginners: A Property Geek guide
  • 101 Essays That Will Change The Way You Think
  • Thinking, Fast and Slow: Daniel Kahneman
  • The Economist Guide To Investment Strategy
  • Four Thousand Weeks
  • Never Split the Difference
  • Happy Sexy Millionaire

A Level Business Studies opens up many options for students at university, and there are many courses available with permutations of Business/Management/Administration/Accounting and Finance.

A business-related degree opens the door to an array of career opportunities such in financial services, human resource management, data analyst, project manager, marketing consultancy, investment banking and the retail sector.

For more information, please contact:

Mrs. Bhana (fbhana@st-pauls.leicester.sch.uk)