Business A-level at St Anne's Sixth Form College

The gateway in supporting university entries and all aspects of employment. Students will need to understand key terminology (learning Business is like learning another language).

Entry requirements

5 in GCSE Business or equivalent Level 2 Business qualification.

If GCSE Business Studies has not been taken, the student must have a grade 5 in GCSE English Language.

Assessment

AQA A-level qualification

Paper 1: What is business, managing marketing and finance - Written exam: 2 hours, 33.3%

Paper 2: Managing operations and people - Written exam: 2 hours, 33.3%

Paper 3: Business and society, business and the external environment, and business strategy - Written exam: 2 hours, 33.3%

Study A-level Business to:

Learn essential skills to succeed in business
Develop your analytical thinking and problem solving
Develop your quantitative and qualitative skills
Build a solid foundation for further study, apprenticeship, employment or to support you on your way to become an entrepreneur.

Year 1: 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.

Year 2: Strategic decision making – the study of strategic decision making should build on the study of decision making in the functional areas of a business. These investigations will include topics such as the current position of a business, choosing its strategic position, methods of pursuing strategic implementation and managing change.

Examination Board - AQA

Themes in the Course:

What is a business?
Managers, leadership and decision making
Decision making to improve market performance
Decision making to improve operational performance
Decision making to improve financial performance
Decision making to improve Human Resource performance
Analysing the strategic direction
Choosing strategic position of a business
Strategic methods: How to pursue strategies
Managing strategic change

Beyond Sixth Form

An A-level in Business can support your application to university or an apprenticeship in the following areas: Accountancy, Business, Citizenship Studies, Economics, Film Studies, Hospitality, Law, Travel and Tourism, Media Studies, Psychology, Sociology and many more. It also provides a firm grounding to anyone wanting to pursue a career in business and management.

Students are encouraged to engage with the real world around them. This includes watching topical television programmes with business themes in. Shows such as The Apprentice, Dragons Den and Gordon Ramsey’s Hells Kitchen cover themes such as Health & Safety, Customer Service, Accountancy, Entrepreneurialism, Human Resources, money management and merchandising. Business students need to be aware of their surroundings - students are encouraged to watch the news and read good quality news items.

Apply to study here