Short questions

The applied business question (ABQ)

Long questions

Notes

When studying, it is important that you write out your own notes from the textbook. This is called 'active learning' and is far more efficient than just reading the book alone. Studies show that you remember 10% of what you read but 60% of what you write. When I had written out my notes, I closed the textbook and tried to write out the notes again afresh. This will show you what you know and don’t know.

Use colour

Highlight key words and write sections with different colour pens. The brain is more sensitive to different colours and this makes you more likely to remember the most important information.

Exam papers

Try and answer questions from exam papers or Studyclix as often as possible. This should only be done after a chapter has been studied as it will give you a taste of a real exam situation. Make sure to check the marking scheme afterwards as it will show you where marks are awarded and what the examiner is expecting from you. Similarly, if your teacher assigns you a question for homework, study the material first and then answer the question without your notes. I found that this is the most effective way of learning all the material.

Prioritise

As the applied business question (ABQ) will be asked on specific units (e.g. 4, 5 and 6), these units should be at the core of your studies because the material from them will appear in the short and long questions too.

Resources

Make good use of online resources such as Studyclix and examinations.ie. The Chief Examiner’s Report which was released this year on the examinations.ie website will show you exactly what the examiners are looking for. Likewise, keep an eye out on the discussion forum on Studyclix and feel free to answer any questions people may have there as explaining concepts to people who don’t understand them is always an effective form of study.

Current affairs

Listen to the news regularly as much of the news is relevant to the business course. Take for example the Volkswagen emissions scandal which was mentioned in last year’s paper. By knowing these topics, you will be more capable of thinking critically about them in an exam situation and coming up with advantages/disadvantages, etc. in an answer.

Timing 

You should spend no more than 25-30 minutes on this section. This leaves 3-4 minutes on average to answer each question.

Acronyms

Make of list of all the acronyms such as DIRT, PAYE, IDA, etc. as you make your way through the course. More often than not, there is a short question on these.

Definitions

Examiners are looking for clear and concise information in the short questions. Do not write longer than the lines provided as it means you are not being concise enough. By learning off definitions, you will get straight to the point. Try and offer an example when suitable as it shows the examiner that you understand what you are talking about.

Ratios

Ratios regularly appear in this section so it is worth learning them. Once you know them, they are very easy marks to pick up.

Practice, practice, practice

You should aim to complete a set of 10 short questions every week between now and the exam. A lot of the questions tend to reappear so if you have practiced them enough, you should have no problem here.

Using highlighters

I brought 3 different coloured highlighters into the exam for the ABQ. I assigned each highlighter a particular question in the ABQ and then proceeded to highlight all the content in the passage relevant to that question with that particular highlighter. This saved me a lot of time as I didn’t have to go looking for the information once I had found it.

Timing

You should not spend more than 40 minutes on this question. After 10:40 a.m. on the day of the exam, you should have completed both the ABQ and the short questions. In comparison to the long questions, there are fewer marks going for this question so you must move on if you have exceeded the time frame. Divide these 40 minutes up in accordance with the marks awarded for each individual question.

Marking scheme

The SEC tend to mark the ABQ in an un-traditional way. Usually in the long questions, you get 5 marks for every point made but this is not always the case, especially in the ABQ (see example below).

Timing and marking

Generally, every 5 marks means that you should make one relevant point. You should spend about 2 minutes making one point which means that you should spend 24 minutes on each long question (each is worth 60 marks).

Read every part of the question

Before choosing a particular question, read every part of it (there is no point in doing a question just because you know the answer for the first part). I recommend reading each question carefully twice to understand what is being asked and then briefly planning out your main points to avoid having to think on the spot when writing the answer. This will save you valuable time.

Mini ABQ questions

In recent years, there have been short business-related stories attached to the long questions. You are expected to reference these stories in your answers to obtain top marks.

Reverse questions

Sometimes a question may be asked in a different way to how you may have learned it. For example, if you learned about the advantages of teamwork, the question may ask about the disadvantages of having employees work alone. Here, you would be expected to apply what you know to the question.

State: a clear heading, e.g. "Manpower Planning".

Explain: explain what is meant by the heading, e.g. “Manpower planning is the process of estimating or projecting the number of personnel required for a project with different skillsets over a predefined period of time”.

Link to the text: this involves taking a direct quote from the text that demonstrates the particular business theory.

Outcome verb: you must answer the question that has been asked. For example, if the verb used was 'evaluate', you must give your own opinion of the business concept with reference to the text.