Leaving Cert business: Good mix of questions, but tougher than last year

The higher-level business paper had a good mix of questions but was more challenging than last year’s exam, teachers have said.

Keith Hannigan, a business teacher at the Institute of Education, said the short questions were tougher this year, while students needed an in-depth knowledge of the entire syllabus to perform well in the long questions.

“A reduced focus on marketing questions on this paper would have disappointed students,” said Mr Hannigan.

“On the short questions, students had to answer four out of twelve; normally, they answer eight out of twelve. There were some nice calculation and true or false questions, but some other questions had a lot of economics jargon that students may not have been familiar.”

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Ruairi Farrell, a teacher at Greystones Community College. Co Wicklow, said that students had more choice than usual, reducing the usual time pressures.

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“There was a great choice on the section Al; the short questions which would have had something for everyone,” said Mr Farrell, a spokesperson for the Teachers’ Union of Ireland on the Leaving Cert business exam.

“The applied business question, which is often the more challenging component of the paper, was accessible but needed careful consideration and a well-structured answering approach to be specific to identify the key areas of learning required,” he said.

The fact that the question was “not too text heavy” will have been welcomed by many, he said.

Mr Hannigan said there were “very awkward” parts in long questions 1b and 4a.

“If students were intending to answer two questions from Unit 1, then they really needed to know every aspect of that unit,” he said.

“Question 1b focused on solving a strike in a non-legislative way. Students may have found this difficult. Section c focused on discrimination in the WRC, which was recycled from the 2020 paper. This was a very tough question.”

“The massive changes facing businesses in today’s climate were well encapsulated in the paper with a focus on businesses having to adapt to changing circumstances,” said Mr Farrell.

“The questions that featured examined students on trends currently impacting businesses, the necessity to move to the online space and role of the government in creating a positive climate for business.

“These areas would have presented students with an opportunity to showcase their knowledge as they would have been discussed at length in classrooms, given the impact of Covid 19, Brexit and inflation would have been familiar territory for students.”

On the ordinary level paper, Mr Farrell said it also presented lots of choice.

“Reference was made to prominent companies that students would be familiar with such as Cadbury, Aldi, Glenisk and Kellogs and this would have made the students feel at ease. There were some challenging questions however for the Ordinary Level student such as wage calculations with commission and corporation tax.

“Question 5 profiled an exciting Tik Tok viral business from Mayo which is based on a sustainable business model. This was a lovely way to examine enterprise characteristics and risks and rewards for entrepreneurs,” Mr Farrell said.

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Try this one at home:

Leaving Cert business, higher level

“Public service unions affiliated to the Irish Congress of Trade Unions overwhelmingly endorsed the new public service agreement.” (Adapted from Independent.ie).

(A) (i) Explain the term trade union.

(ii) Illustrate the impact of trade disputes on any three stakeholders.

B (i) Outline the non‐legislative methods of resolving industrial relations disputes. (i)

(ii) Define the term discrimination as set out in the Employment Equality Act 1998‐2015.

C (i) List five grounds on which discrimination is banned under the Employment Equality Act. (ii) Outline the role of the Workplace Relations Commission in resolving cases of discrimination.