Applied Business Studies
There are two Business courses available in upper school. The first is the well established traditional GCSE Business Studies (OCR 1951) course which takes up one option choice and gains one GCSE grade. There is also the new Vocational Gcse Applied Business – Double Award (OCR 1491) which also takes up one option choice but gains two GCSE grades.
GCSE Business Studies – Single award
See pencil changes on sheet I gave you
GCSE Applied Business – Double award
This nationally recognised work-related (vocational) qualification is designed to give you a variety of progression routes into further education or the world of work and training. There are three units of work , two teacher assessed and one examination assessed that lead to a qualification equal to two GCSE’s. However, this course only takes up one option choice and if you opt to do this course you must be willing to put in extra commitment in your own time on a regular basis.
It will help if you have good analytical and evaluation skills and a good understanding of mathematics as well as a genuine interest in finding out how the world around you is run and controlled.
UNIT 1 – Investigating Business (33.3% of final marks)
In this unit you will learn about and investigate :-
The aims of business
Who owns businesses
Where and why businesses set up(location)
What do businesses actually do and how are they organised (includes applications of ICT in real business settings)
How businesses communicate (includes use of ICT)
How businesses are affected by the Government, laws and competitors.
This unit is assessed through Portfolio Assessment only (a large piece of investigative coursework).
UNIT 2 – People and Business (33.3% of final marks)
In this unit you will learn about and investigate :-
Stakeholders in business
Employee and employer rights and responsibilities
Different job roles and working arrangements
Resolving disputes at work (including trade unions, tribunals, EU)
Recruitment and Training
Customer Service (including consumer law).
This unit is assessed through Portfolio Assessment only.
UNIT 3 – Business Finance (33.3% of final marks)
In this unit you will learn about and investigate:-
Business documentation e.g invoices, credit notes, purchase orders etc)
Methods of payment
Financial planning (Budgets and Cash flow forecasts)
Break-even
Trading, profit & loss accounts
Balance sheets
The use of financial accounts
Sources of finance
This unit is assessed by a one and a half hour examination.
A GCSE in Applied Business will give an outstanding understanding of how the world works and will give you an excellent route into further education, a range of apprenticeships or full time employment.
For further information visit www.ocr.org.ukor talk to Mr. Bates.