GCSE Business Studies Revision Guide - Richard Parsons

...we had to take for GCSE (as well as maths , English , Science and Welsh). I knew that I wanted to take catering , PE and History , but couldn't decide on my fourth subject. After discussing my options with my teachers , I decided that I wanted to do Business Studies.

I had never really been interested in business before but the course looked really interesting and past students had told me that it was a good subject ; one which I would ...
...to help me with my GCSE business studies exam) , I can't remember much of it now (although it helped me remember A LOT for my exam) , I still find it quite interesting to have a flick through! Even if you havn't got an exam ahead of you , you might find it interested if you'd like to know the basics of how the business world works!

If you are currently studying for your GCSE Business Studies exam , then I would definately reccommend ... more

At the end of year nine , in high school , we had to choose four subjects which we had to take for GCSE (as well as maths , English , Science and Welsh). I knew that I wanted to take catering , PE and History , but couldn't decide on my fourth subject. After discussing my options with my teachers , I decided that I wanted to do Business Studies.

I had never really been interested in business before but the course looked really interesting and past students had told me that it was a good subject ; one which I would enjoy. It was also 'new to me' because all the other subjects were ones that we had already studied for the last three years , such as Geography , Art and Music (and I was already doing music outside of school , what with singing and piano lessons) and so I wanted to try something different , and so I am glad that I chose Business Studies.

If I remember correctly , all my other exams were taken through the Welsh Joint Education Comittee (WJEC) exam board , however my business studies one was taken through AQA.

A few months before my business studies exam my teacher told us that she had ordered some 'revision guides' for us , which if we bought them from her , we would get them cheaper because she was 'bulk buying' for the school , and so in the end I think I only ended up having to pay about £3 for this book , whereas it's recommended retail price is £4.50 which I think is excellent value for money considering the degree of information it contains. I also bought a revision workbook which had exam questions , which was exactly like the book I am reviewing , with the exact same information on the exact same pages although you had to 'fill in the blanks' and answer questions etc. using the other book to help you with your answers. This was the book that my teacher chose for us , and being a business studies teacher , she certainly knew her stuff , and so this must have been , in her opinion the best book out there.

Looking at the cover , the book does look quite 'serious' compared to the 'fun looking letts' ones which I bought to help me with my other subjects. The cover consists of a black background with the CPG logo of a 'cool guy' sitting , wearing a hat and shades whilst reading a CPG revision guide. If I'm honest this book doesn't really look like the kind of book a sixteen year old would find interesting , but if it was going to help me with my studies , I didn't care!

The topics my particular business studies course covered were :

Business Environment
Business Structure
Finance
Production
People In Business
Marketing
Business Communication

This book covers ALL of my topics as well as loads of other topics which are covered under GCSE. This book is suitable for students taking their business studies exam with the following exam board : AQA , Edexcel and OCR.

The book is split into nine sections :
1) Business Basics
2)Marketing
3)Production
4)People
5)Finance
6)Growth Of Firms
7)External Influences
8)Business and Change
9)Exam Tips

Each page represents a differnt topic. On first 'look' at the page , it may appear quite daunting at first , as the pages do contain a lot of information , although once you start reading the writing , you can see how easy it can be. I love how interesting each page looks ; they certainly helped me with my revision. The use of colour , bullet points , images and highlighted words really helped me to remember important facts! Everything is explained so clearly ; the sentences contain all the necessary information , yet are simple and easy to 'absorb' and remember too.

At the bottom of each page , the 'author' has a little box where they give their comment on the that particular page such as 'Well , that's an easy enough page to start with' ,as well as helpful tips such as 'try covering everything up - then scribble down what you remember'. I found these kind of tips particulary helpful , because I remember when I was about thirteen or fourteen and at school , the teacher would say 'You've got exams coming up - you need to revise!' and so we'd all be like 'But we don't know how to revise'. So these tips really helped me when I really need them.

I like how friendly these books are. They're serious , yet hand out the information in such a warm and friendly way , which just makes you want to keep reading on and on. They certainly know how to get a sixteen year old revising! They also use a fair amount of humour in this book , which I think is essential as it not only makes you remember certain imformation because it made you laugh , but also makes the whole revision process fun and entertaining for the student.

At the end of each section there is a list of around twenty questions about what you have just revised in the previous twenty pages or so. I found these questions to be helpful because if I couldn't answer them all then I would go back and go over the ones I couldn't answer , and so when I could answer all of the questions confidently , that's when I would move on to the next section.

Looking back through this book now (two years after I used it to help me with my GCSE business studies exam) , I can't remember much of it now (although it helped me remember A LOT for my exam) , I still find it quite interesting to have a flick through! Even if you havn't got an exam ahead of you , you might find it interested if you'd like to know the basics of how the business world works!

If you are currently studying for your GCSE Business Studies exam , then I would definately reccommend this book! I considered it an essential source to do well in my exams! However , I will give you a tip ; It's best to find out exactly what you need to know for your course so that you can revise the specific information you need , otherwise it would be a waste to revise the WHOLE book , only to find out that you only need to know 1/3 of what's in your actual exam! So find out the name of your exam board and have a look at what you need to revise!

If your about to take your Business Studies exam ; Good Luck and use this book , it will help you so much!

Thanks For Reading!
October 27th 2009
xdonzx (also posted on dooyoo under xd-o-n-z-x)
 

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