I am a year 11 currently doing 3 4 Business management. Last year I was able to average 90s and felt I had a good understanding of the content however This year I am averaging a bit below an 80. I still feel I have a good understanding of the content and task words but I am constantly losing marks due to “Needs more detail” or “Needs a stronger link to the case study”. I am fully meeting the needs of the task words and I am understanding them and how to break down questions but I commonly lose marks on evaluate and justify questions for as said by my teacher not explaining why my points are disadvantages or advantages or not explaining how a piece of theory achieves that advantage or disadvantage.

I have also lost marks on linking to the case studies which I find very confusing because sometimes I feel I have include specific characteristics and components of the business and do not receive marks however in high scoring responses in examiner responses they sometimes mention the business name twice and get high marks.

I have met once with my teacher to go over my questions on when to explain my points and ask about linking to the case study. She said I need to explain why my pros and cons are advantageous and disadvantageous for the business and I need to write my answer so the business name couldn’t be switched for another business. I have tried to do this and have also submitted multiple practice SACs but I continue to lose marks on the same things.

Any advice would be really appreciated as I am trying to increase my grades for my last sac and the exam to be able to get a 40

TLDR:

Basically I know the task words and the content but I am loosing marks on not providing enough detail and explanation on my points such advantages disadvantages and justifications. I am also confused on what to do to get marks for linking to case studies as I feel like I am linking significantly but still losing marks. Any advice would be really appreciated.
here are some of my practice questions for reference
[https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1xeQKD08fLdMm9NfLPAsPGnB2Cf6WtSuG](https://)
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1xeQKD08fLdMm9NfLPAsPGnB2Cf6WtSuG

    It's past pumpkin time, so I'll probably swing back past this later today with more targeted responses;

    In the interim, read through Jigsaw's guide from a few years ago, it might just clear some things up

    a month later

    Hi Ben , this issue you have come across means that you understand the content and the questions which is great, but are not 100% in the application of your answers. This is a very general problem that most students may come across as they most definitely know the content and the answer, but struggle to show that understanding in your writing.

    The Atar notes lectures are definitely a resource you can use as mentioned already.

    As you come across questions which 'need more detail' or needs a 'stronger link' to the case study, a good starting point is to look at high scoring or upper-responses for these questions and ask yourself what is the difference between my answer and theirs? What sets the sampled answer from the rest and why? Usually some of these reasons are:

    1. They use 'signpost' words such as 'one advantage, another disadvantage, in comparison, it involves..." Practicing using these same kinds of sentence starters for certain task words can help stabilise how you construct your responses and identify what is required. I know you have said you understand the tasks words, but is your approach to a certain task word the exact same as the previous ways you have answered it? Make sure that you are clearly and directly showing what you are talking about in your response! It seems you are doing this in the examples I see, well done!

      *similar to signposts, using the specific name of the business or manager names is important too

    2. I am not entirely sure what marks you have obtained (e.g 3 out of 4) from the images previously but usually the lines provided in the test papers can signify how much approximately you may write for the answer. Obviously, some people's handwriting is smaller or larger and in some cases that many lines for the question is actually not needed. But this point is good to keep in mind.

    3. For questions where you must propose or justify the use of a strategy, theory or type of plan, you can always approach this by thinking about (1) - what it the benefit/advantage (of theory/strategy) for the business and why, and (2) - what is the outcome if there was a lack of or failure to use this kind of strategy (technically if they don't use strategy A/B)

    4. Have you gone in depth and explained? Especially in study cases, you may have identified and briefly explained the theory applied to the business. But have you very clearly shown how it is applied to the business? Apologies if I am not explaining this well enough.

    For example, the questions about customers having an effect of the change at the mentioned business. You have provided a clear identification that the range of products (beverages) has increased and therefore that is why it will support the business's change. But why? Make this clear to the examiner and go further another step such as "The increase of options will broaden the targeted consumers/customers and thus be able to expand the number of purchases, supporting the change at [name of business]. I hope this makes sense?

    1. Do you understand how many disadvantages/advantages/points explained will get you the full marks? There may be a 4 or 6 mark questions for things such as benefits or costs of something. This may mean (for a 4 marker) that you need two disadvantages and 2 advantages with brief explanations, OR 1 of both which have in-depth explanations. This is similar to a definition questions which is not just 1 mark, but 2. This means you may identify a certain characteristic in addition to simply just the definition.

    These kinds of decisions can affect how you respond to questions. A very helpful strategy my teacher got us to do was create a checklist which showed how each mark would be awarded for different questions and mark values. I think this would be a great study task to do for you.

    If there are any students in your class or other resources you can see high-scoring responses which required an in-depth written answer, ask them as well and if you can, get them to explain their thought process too! Good luck!

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