Set Yourself Apart In Business Studies Exams Like A State Ranker
With just over 25% of all HSC students taking Business Studies, it can be easy for your answers to get lost in the crowd. As such, I’ll be going through some of my best tips to set yourself apart from other students doing Business Studies and shining in your exam to get that Band 6!
Post written by Tanmayi Kundap (12th in the state Business Studies 2015). See all articles first and personally get in touch with our state rankers here
Tip 1: Add to the basic report structure
Being one of the most flexible sections in the paper, reports for Section III and Section IV present the perfect opportunity for you to go beyond the traditional report structure and show the marker your extra skills. As mentioned in the past, the normal structure for reports in terms of headings are:
- Executive summary
- Idea 1
- Idea 2
- Idea 3 and so on
- Conclusion/summary of recommendations
With great usage of headings and sub-headings for the ideas, you can add a few other sections beyond the basic structure above to show the marker that you know more than just the basics and that you can also look at the bigger picture.
You might say that this isn’t necessary, that it doesn’t add to your report or give you extra marks but I would argue against this.
In the HSC Business Studies syllabus, the students should demonstrate the skills to “organise and evaluate information for actual and hypothetical business situations”.
This doesn’t say specific to a topic or question- it’s a skill you need to demonstrate and one that I think fits perfectly into Section III and IV.
In Section III, for example, I like to include a SWOT analysis after the Executive Summary.
Not only does this help you to show the marker your ability to identify the internal and external context of the business (their main resources, constraints and problems), but further helps you to clarify exactly what is relevant in the stimulus.
This section should only take 4–6 sentences; an opening statement, one sentence for each of the SWOT and a (optional) closing statement.
The information for this part will mostly come from the actual stimulus (such as stats and qualitative statements) but can also be realistic/viable assumptions you make. Ensure that you quote phrases if you’re writing them word for work or start your structure with “As the stimulus specifies…”.
A sample response for the 2015 Business Studies Section III might look like:
Situational Analysis (SWOT)
Fit Fast Bikes (FFB) has some significant strengths which they can utilise to overcome problems faced in their internal and external business environments and capitalise on opportunities.FFB’s main strengths are great quality control policies (“full refund” if customers are not 100% satisfied) and existing customer base as they are making sales.
However, FFB’s poor product quality and misleading advertising statement (“guaranteed” weight loss) has resulted in “many customer complaints”; presenting a huge weakness as they lose money through refunds.
This forms an opportunity for FFB to increase their market share in the bicycles industry.
The main threat would be the competition faced by FFB; as businesses that sell reliable, good quality bicycles can lead Sally’s newly-acquired business to close down.
Through this, I have identified the key parts of information in the stimulus, helping me structure my response much more clearly.
Get Alex Luo’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
My last note on writing additional sections is to ensure you integrate the information in that section throughout your response.
For example in Section III if you’re going to do a SWOT analysis, then when get to the point of recommending strategies, ensure you use phrases such as:
“As identified above, (business)’s (strength) can assist in the implementation of this strategy”.
Each section of the report has to add value to the whole. Ensure you keep these sections short and succinct because they are additional parts and you need to spend a majority of your time writing the content specified in the marking criteria
Tip 2: Looking at the business holistically
Another recommendation is to look at each problem holistically by trying to apply as many business functions as you can to it.
What do I mean by this?
HSC Business Studies obviously aims at covering all 4 topics (marketing, operations, finance and HR), with some years focusing more on one topic.
Regardless, the interconnectedness of all the 4 key business functions leads to an inevitable overlapping of content.
As such, when you answer short-responses and report questions, ensure that you focus on the required topic but use terminology of other (relevant) topics in your responses.
The idea is to look at the business holistically, or look at “management strategies and their impact on businesses”.
When revising your notes, particularly the strategy dot points, try to see which ones complement one another.
For example, think about which Profitability Management strategy matches with the Promotions Strategy or which Global strategies will align best etc. Not that there’s anything wrong in just writing exactly what’s in one topic, but often questions will cover more than one topic so you have to be holistic in your approach to questions.
Doing this can push your responses to stand out from the crowd.
Tip 3: Terminology and structure
As I have mentioned in my past posts, structure and terminology is important in Business Studies.
Whilst the stress in the exam can take over, remember to spend some time planning each response even if it’s pausing for a couple of seconds to figure out how you’re going to write it.
Go into your exam with clarity, start each question with a clear mind and if a question is too hard, move onto the next and come back to it at the end.
Because structuring is so important, when I plan out my long responses, I like to underline and make a few dot points under each key phrase so I can see exactly how my response is going to be.
When a marker sees a well-structured, logical response, they are instantly impressed and yours is bound to be the cream of the crop.
Post written by Tanmayi Kundap (12th in the state Business Studies 2015)
To get in touch with our talented state rankers and access all articles first, just join our community by clicking the picture below:
