Leaving Cert business: A ‘lovely’ paper with plenty of choice

Today’s higher level Leaving Cert business exam was a “lovely” paper with enough choice to give prepared students a chance to play to their strengths and make smart choices to maximise marks, according to one teacher.

Keith Hannigan, a business teacher with the Institute of Education, said the questions were accessible, topical and rooted in the real world of the modern student.

“Every section of this paper had something that was absolutely lovely. Those familiar with past papers will have seen familiar questions reappear and nothing that would disconcert them,” he said.

“While in the past some papers had been spoiled by awkward, abstract, or curveball questions, this paper was pure syllabus and thus very fair to those who put in the work to revise.”

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Ruairi Farrell, a teacher at Greystones Community College, Co Wicklow and Teachers Union of Ireland representative, said the level of choice would have allowed most students to avoid some of the tougher questions.

However, some compulsory questions will have challenged even the strongest of students.

- Leaving Cert Business (higher) section 1

- Leaving Cert business (higher) sections 2 & 3

He said the short answer questions will have been received positively with a mix of topics and good choice available.

“Elements of the short questions would have also challenged higher level students with some questions focusing on liquidity, invisible exports and indigenous business,” he said. “Students would have needed to be well prepared to do well but the choice would have enabled them to avoid some of the tougher questions.”

Mr Hannigan said short questions at the beginning were clear and topical.

“Issues relevant to the modern teenager like minimum wage, GDPR, calculations of pay, and the EU meant that many students will have found themselves growing in confidence as they progressed,” he said.

“For those who were potentially a little uncertain there were some lovely rapid response questions. The true or false answers would reward those who were willing to take a chance. This is a section that would have pleased a lot of students.”

Sections 2 & 3

One of the most challenging sections, Mr Farrell said, was the applied business question which “would have challenged even the most capable students”.

“Students were challenged to contrast the use of issued share capital with the use of debentures and grants as sources of long-term finance for a construction company,” he said.

“Furthermore, students had to discuss the impact of economic variables on the company along with the benefits and challenges of entering international markets.

“There is no doubt the ABQ was challenging and needed careful consideration and a well-structured answering approach to be specific to identify the key areas of learning required from the areas of the course that students find more difficult to grasp. The ABQ is a compulsory part of the paper and students cannot avoid answering it.”

Mr Hannigan agreed that applied business may have caused a few moments of pause, but said it “very fair in how it presented its surprises”.

It was the first appearance of economic variables in the regular June exams, he said, so many students might not have prepared for it.

“However, the answers were very conveniently embedded and clearly communicated so that it should have been attemptable by most students.”

The anticipated appearance of unit 7′s Challenges and Opportunities in International Trade will have delighted many students, he said, while the question on unit 5 might have caught a few students who had been too narrow in their preparation.

“The final ABQ on finance verged more on unit 4 material. This was a paper that really rewarded range,” he said.

Mr Hannigan said the final long questions were “fantastic”.

“Again, the topics were relevant and allowed students to apply their own general understanding of the world to smooth over any surprises,” he said,

For example, he said question one was a straightforward piece on sale of goods and elements of a contract, but the final part asked about “cooling off periods”, something which was not emphasised in the units.

But from context, he said most will have been able to tackle this effectively if they gave themselves a moment to think.

“Students will have found contemporary talking points throughout his section. For example, environmentalism in question 2 and flexible work in Question 6. For a year group whose secondary school experience was defined by the Covid era the latter was very relevant to their experiences,” he said.

Students who anticipated an emphasis on the EU, given the 50th anniversary of its formation, will have been “richly rewarded” with some “fantastically approachable” questions, he said.

“A welcome surprise will have been the appearance of both Maslow’s and McGregor’s theories of motivation. Most students are happy to see just one of those but will be over the moon with both,” he said.

Ordinary level

Ruairi Farrell said the ordinary level paper had no compulsory applied business question and therefore presented a wide variety of choice.

“This was very much welcomed by students across the board but would have provided an additional challenge in question selection as students had to reflect on many questions before finalising those they are best placed to answer,” he said.

“Reference was made to prominent companies that students would be familiar with such as Apple iPhone, TikTok, Insomnia and SweetKing. These well-known brands would have made the students feel at ease,” he said.

“There were some challenging questions however for the ordinary level student on areas such as inflation, balance of payments and the role of assessors and actuaries in insurance.”

- Leaving Cert business (ordinary) section 1

- Leaving Cert business (ordinary) sections 2 & 3