Has anyone done AS/A2 (A Level) Business Studies?

86JR

86JR

86JR

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What did you think of it and what age were you? I signed up to sit AS exams in June, now I already have 7 GCSE's + 3 A levels + a Degree, however I am hoping to learn bits that I do not encounter running my LTD, such as risk analysis and HR. I just wondered what people think of it? It is with AQA.

I am hoping to do another degree when I move to Chester:
http://www.chester.ac.uk/undergraduate/bme
 
twoblacklines said:
What did you think of it and what age were you? I signed up to sit AS exams in June, now I already have 7 GCSE's + 3 A levels + a Degree, however I am hoping to learn bits that I do not encounter running my LTD, such as risk analysis and HR. I just wondered what people think of it? It is with AQA.

I am hoping to do another degree when I move to Chester:
http://www.chester.ac.uk/undergraduate/bme
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What do you do at the moment? Run a company? You already have a degree, why bother doing another lengthy undergrad? You will be much better off doing a masters course in the subject.


The A-level is probably a waste of time.
 
I'm not sure how it compares but I did a GNVQ in Business Studies in 1999/2000 and frankly it was absolute crap. I'm not sure how an AS/A2 would compare to that.

The curriculum was dull as hell, most of it was writing reports about how companies 'invest in their futures' and deal with accountants. The most interesting bit was the economics side, but that lasted about 2 weeks. From what I remember there was nothing covering risk analysis or HR.

If you already have a degree I don't see what more an AS is going to give you.
 
I have a degree in Media Production from (IMO) one of the worst "Universities" in the UK. In fact, I don't even bother to put it on the CV I rate it that bad.

I run a company but it is an SME and I don't deal with half the things covered in the AQA syllabus...but I will have to due to future expansion and would rather learn now academically than have to learn it (and make mistakes) in actual practice.
 
twoblacklines said:
I have a degree in Media Production from (IMO) one of the worst "Universities" in the UK. In fact, I don't even bother to put it on the CV I rate it that bad.

I run a company but it is an SME and I don't deal with half the things covered in the AQA syllabus...but I will have to due to future expansion and would rather learn now academically than have to learn it (and make mistakes) in actual practice.
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You didn't go to Wolverhampton as well did you :p
 
No, one in Plymouth, and not the actual Plymouth one (well I went there first but it is a long, terrible story).
 
I did A-Level Business and my degree is in it. A level, it's all very basic, to be honest I question what you're going to learn from it. You could get more detailed and relevent info on the internet if you know where to look.
 
Yes, and very interesting it was but it's not the sort of thing you'd do to further yourself in your own company. It's something you do becuase you need A levels to get into Uni and its an interesting subject. In your position I wouldn't bother at all.

Most of the HR stuff is either irrelevent to somebody in your position (blah blah Maslow blah blah etc) or common sense anyway :p

It's not going to cover the important stuff such as the mechanics of your small business, payroll, HMRC, etc
 
I actually enjoyed A level business studies, and still think about some of the stuff I learned back then. But I was 17/18 which is when you should take that course. It is designed to give school leavers a very basic exposure to how some elements of businesses work.

I found it quite amusing at the time, using what i'd learned to evaluate my managers at my part time job.

If you have a degree, or can't imagine ever working in an office, I wouldn't bother. Perhaps just buy the course text if you are interested.
 
You can probably pick up one of the A Level AQA (or whatever awarding body do it) revision books for Business Studies and just have a look through that.

You'll learn about the different types of businesses and markets, then the governing bodies that regulate those markets. The coursework was just essays mainly, so once you have learnt/memorized the definitions and key points of the curriculum, it's all based on how well you can write and produce a well structured essay.

For example, one of our ones was to pick a local business, interview them, and then discuss what you think they could do to improve their competitive advantage.

Edit: I also enjoyed Business Studies, it was much better than ICT (spent the entire time doing Access databases - waste of time) and Music Technology (was an absolute doss, really fun, but had no real worth as degrees in Music Tech are similar to media studies nowadays). Also I got an A :D
 
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Gayjin said:
I actually enjoyed A level business studies, and still think about some of the stuff I learned back then. But I was 17/18 which is when you should take that course. It is designed to give school leavers a very basic exposure to how some elements of businesses work.
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I echo this. I did it when I was at College as an A-Level. I really enjoyed it and it probably helped that I was good at it and found it easy. It teaches you fairly basic concepts and techniques such as the difference between a sole trader, partnership and limited liability companies, the 4 p's for marketing, etc.

I'm not sure it would give you much of a grounding for running a real world business.
 
I found A level Business very basic.

If you are undergraduate level, then there are better options out there. Pick a certain business aspect you want to focus on and study that. Could you use your current degree to apply for a masters in a business related field?
 
Did AS level when I was in year 10. Even doing it 2 years earlier than normal it was very easy and stupidly basic, the only people who didn't pass (most did and got A's or B's) were pretty stupid.

Don't bother wasting your time.
 
It was a joke and flawed.

The exams were based on your answers set in Levels 1-4. To get to Level 4 only required 2-3 sentences and if they saw evidence of Level 4 they were forced to give your marks of 75-100%.

So the theory was, you say a sentence for level 3 and a sentence for level 4. EG I can see this and I can justify because of this.

That's straight to Level 4, aka top marks and you only needed to write 4-5 sentences.

Extremely flawed and an easy A.
 
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