The course is essentially concerned with the management of businesses in all its aspects.  The central theme is the decision making process common to all areas of business activity.  You will soon become aware that business activity is an integrated process and that decisions made in one area always have an impact on other areas.  There is a strong element of numerical work in developing your understanding of the quantitative methods which businesses use to research and measure future objectives and actual performance.

Business activity is diverse and so is what happens in lessons.  You will be involved at various times in discussion of current and topical business issues, group decision making and research exercises and presentations to the class, individual problem solving and the study of business techniques.

This subject will help you develop a variety of skills including problem solving, decision making, managing your own learning, using numerical techniques with confidence, effective communication, working with others, judgment and evaluation.

This is a new-style linear A level course.  In the second year of the course, you will take three external exams that assess content covered in the first and second year.  These exams will determine your A level grade.  Please note that there is no coursework element in this course; the assessment is entirely exam based.

• Use of Business News to develop students’ curiosity and awareness of current affairs in business, politics and the economy: students are set research tasks & questioned on their findings;
• Students are encouraged to sign up and read the Business Review magazine;
• The Business A level site includes ‘Stretch and Challenge’ resources where students can learn more/in more depth about a specific subject e.g. BBC Radio 4 podcasts: The Bottom Line, Tutor2U presentation clips, Taking the Biz clips, etc.
• The course handbook recommends and suggests ‘Stretch and Challenge’ resources;
• The Year One and Year Two packs include ‘Stretch and Challenge’ activities.

It could be argued that business is of value whichever subjects you are doing since everyone will encounter the commercial aspects of their job at some point in their career.  For those keen to pursue a career in business, accounting, languages and mathematics are popular choices, but in recent years students have combined business with most other subjects on offer at the College.

Business has equal status with other A levels as an entrance qualification to higher education and is highly desirable for business/management degree courses.  There is an enormous variety of courses with business or management content ranging from French to forestry, manufacturing to marketing and tourism to textile design.  It also provides practical skills and knowledge of value to most employment opportunities.

Please see below for careers and labour market information for business - use the refresh buttons to find out about different courses and careers, and use the left and right arrows to view more detailed information.

You can find the prep work for this course at prepwork.farnborough.ac.uk. 

Q: What is the difference between A level and BTEC business?
A: The A level business course is assessed under exam conditions.  There is no coursework and no resit.  The BTEC business course is mainly coursework based.  Some units are assessed under exam conditions and can be re-sat.

Q: What is the difference between economics and business?
A: Economics attempts to explain how the actions and decisions of firms, individuals and governments affect the economy.  It has links to international affairs and politics, and includes topics such as supply and demand, growth, inflation, globalisation and exchange rates.

Business is concerned with the actions and decisions taken by firms and focuses on topics such as marketing, staff in the organisation, accounting and finance, production and quality, management and strategy.  Business is less theoretical than economics but requires more problem solving skills.

Q: Do I need to have studied business at GCSE?
A: No you don’t.  Having studied the subject at GCSE is an advantage only in the first year of the course.  Some of the content of the first year A level programme is similar to what is covered on the GCSE course.

Q: Do I need to be good in maths to study business?
A: You need to be comfortable with numbers.  Examples of Maths used in Business are: expressing a change as a percentage, calculating the breakeven point, calculating financial ratios and manipulating formulae (basic algebra). 

Q: Are there overlaps between business, economics and accounting?
A: The syllabus covers some economics, as it affects how businesses adapt to changes in their external environments.  There is also some analysis of accounting data to assess businesses financial performance.  The theory is taught in a lesser depth than on either the economics or accounting course.