Honours Business

DEmeant0r

So how's everyone set for this exam? Does anyone have any tips on the topics to go over before the exam?

Agent Smith

set ok, lot of business is just genreal Knowlage, ie.vat and the like.....

DS

Lazy ass teacher, who'd have a look on his face every class that screamed "I hope you ****ing fail because I think you're all wasters, I've been in this job far too long", so naturally enough, I never did any business (he never gave homework, once), until about 3 weeks ago. I ate the Rapid Revision book, which although skimpy is excellent. Went through it 2 or 3 times, but I don't know how much info stuck. I think a good bit did, I find a principle of insurance or a ratio popping into my head every now and again. Plan to do the whole course tomorrow.

DEmeant0r

Originally posted by agent smith
set ok, lot of business is just genreal Knowlage, ie.vat and the like.....

Yeah, I know it's general knowledge, but even general knowledge slips out of my mind at important times. :dunno:

subway_ie

Got probably one of thebest teachers in the country... maybe a bit too good though. Goes into so much detail it's unbelievable. Problem is, I don't know most of it. It's all very well when you're going through the papers and can say "oh, I know that", but then I try and actually *do* the questions and I don't have a feckin clue. I'm not a big fan of bullet-point answers either... far too transparent.

DEmeant0r

Does anyone have a table of what came up in what question in what year? My friend has one made up, too lazy to get it off him though.

subway_ie

It's on the first page of the Folens exam papers... I'd scan it for you, but I can't find my papers anywhere. I'm sure www.Skoool.ie have a table done out though.

subway_ie

There's a nice past paper analysis here... maybe a little vague on some parts, but it gives you the general idea of what came up. Just remember to concentrate on units 1,2,3 and 6,7 since they're both guaranteed to come up (1,2,3 in the ABQ and Question 1 and 6,7 in one question in section A - possibly the only question which is always based on just two sections). Know your practical stuff - cash flow forecasts, memos, notices, reports, break-even, tax calculations, ratios, basically everything in the communications chapter. An EU question is big possibility this year, generally not very nice questions. The details of the parliament/decision making processes can be quite long and tedious.

Business must be *the* most boring subject to revise. Ever. And I've got about 6 hours of it ahead of me today....

elle

spent entire yr dreading history exam ,now its done i really cant bring myslef to study business, it just feels like a joke, i only took it coz didnt want sciece and it is sooooo boring goddamit! Think i'll trek through the books for a little while though just in case my "vast"(yeah right)business knowledge fails me tomorrow!

Suaimhneach

Am I the only one that likes buisness? I don't mind the exam at all.

Just hoping I don't forget terms and stuff. I have a bad habit of essay writing my answers rather than points and such.

subway_ie

Let the post-mortems begin:

Nice enough paper really, although the first short question through me a little... never knew there was any real difference between conciliation and arbitration. Rest of the short questions were nice, although I was a bit unsure about the safety margin of the break even analysis...

ABQ was nice - liked the little "and/or" part in the first section. Although I did run out of things to say - only managed about 4 distict points for each question. And I really let myself down with the references to the text.

Long questions weren't too bad. From What I remember I did 2,3,4,5. Not too sure. Found the one about "changing business structures" a bit ambiguous - a few people in my year did business structure as in from sole trader to private limited to public limited, where as others did functional strucutre to matrix, delayering, etc. Not too sure which they wanted.

Generally, a nice paper overall. Would've liked a bit more on Europe/Insurance/Finance though, but I'd say I got maybe a B3 with all my little mess ups, which are a running theme through my leaving cert.

Suaimhneach

Agh, I don't know what any of that means because I do it though Irish and know NONE of those terms. I think it went alright. Got everything done in the time I had. Was a bit sketchy on two of the (c) parts, but I made up for it in other places I hope.

Agent Smith

god i was so happy with the higher paper today....


answered every question on the paper, except 1 of the short questions,

ABQ was very nice, the and\or bit really helped,

my teacher predicted everything that came up.... he is 1337!



ah, classical studies and thats that!



agent smith

DS

answered every question on the paper

I hope you're taking the piss. That's what? 7 long questions? How can you possibly give full answers when you're doing 3 extra questions?

Anyway, yeah it was a nice paper, probably would have settled for that performance beforehand. B2 at least I'm pretty sure. I was pretty impressed with the coherency of my answers. I have never ever done a business exam question outside of 5th year summer tests, mocks, and today, so I wasn't too sure how good I'd be. That said, the examiner probably won't like me at all. For doing nothing all year though I'm sure I got more than I deserved.

Agent Smith

i'm good at business perhaps?

subway_ie

Originally posted by agent smith
i'm good at business perhaps?

Have you ever seen a business marking scheme.... you need detail. And lots of it. Most people are stuck for time doing the bare minimum of questions. Maybe you're some kind of business genius who can write fast enough to do all the questions. As a rough guide, you should be writing at least 1 page (some of which would be in point format) for every 15 mark question. Most are 20 marks, so youll be writing just over 1.5 pages on average per section. Averaging 11 words per line. Given that you answered all questions, you should have written between 27 and 32 pages... seems a bit much for a 3 hour exam... plus there are only 24 pages in the answer booklets.

Agent Smith

sorry i didnt make myself clear,

i did all the required amout of question's....

subway_ie

Originally posted by agent smith
sorry i didnt make myself clear,

i did all the required amout of question's....

Ok, well that makes a *bit* more sense. You didn't by any chance work on making the french aural tape, did you?

Agent Smith

when i find that funny, i'll laugh......




































































































































yawn.....

subway_ie

Originally posted by agent smith
when i find that funny, i'll laugh......

yawn....

Ouch. :rolleyes:

Suaimhneach

Ah come on lads. It's over with now. Happiness, not anger.

dub_dan

Originally posted by subway_ie
Given that you answered all questions, you should have written between 27 and 32 pages... seems a bit much for a 3 hour exam... plus there are only 24 pages in the answer booklets.

a guy in my class wrote 28pages..................

Suaimhneach

Feckin hell!! I think I wrote 17 all together.

I'm really worried now that I didn't write enough, I mean, I did detail...but was it enough??

This is gonna haunt me all summer....

subway_ie

Originally posted by Jesjes
Feckin hell!! I think I wrote 17 all together.

I'm really worried now that I didn't write enough, I mean, I did detail...but was it enough??

This is gonna haunt me all summer....

That's about as much as I wrote. You just need a balance between detail and quantity, they don't want padding, but they'd probably be a bit harsh with marks if you gave *everything* in point format. I think 15-20 is definetly enough, but I suppose it all depends on how small your writing is...

DEmeant0r

I wrote 10 pages. That was a lovely do-able paper, C2/C1 hopefully.

Suaimhneach

It might have been 19. Yeah, there was six pages left, and you said there is 24 in a booklet. So about that. My writing is adverage. Hmm *worries*

mayordenis

i wrote 21 and im ****ten it

subway_ie

Originally posted by Jesjes
It might have been 19. Yeah, there was six pages left, and you said there is 24 in a booklet. So about that. My writing is average. Hmm *worries*

Well it doesn't seem like you've got anythin' to worry about. As long as what you wrote is logical and correct, then it should be fine. Especially if you're doing it through Irish.

DS

I had something like 6 pages left in the answer book too. For the long questions I was nearly getting a page in 10 minutes for 20 marks. I was going military style on the watch, had my eye on it the whole time, cause I ran over time in the mocks. I know I wasn't writing the whole time, but I know I physically wouldn't be able to finish those answer books in 3 hours, a page in 10 mins is me pushing myself to the very edge.

DEmeant0r

Originally posted by Discharger Snake
I had something like 6 pages left in the answer book too. For the long questions I was nearly getting a page in 10 minutes for 20 marks. I was going military style on the watch, had my eye on it the whole time, cause I ran over time in the mocks. I know I wasn't writing the whole time, but I know I physically wouldn't be able to finish those answer books in 3 hours, a page in 10 mins is me pushing myself to the very edge.

I had 3/4 page for a 20 marker, a page for 30 marker, but don't think what I wrote was full of bull****e though, so I'm pretty sure I got a C2/C1

DEmeant0r

In the long question 7, it asked about Marketing concept, is that the 5 P's (product place price etc.)? I bull****ed on for 3/4 page on it :dunno:

subway_ie

Originally posted by Demeant0r
In the long question 7, it asked about Marketing concept, is that the 5 P's (product place price etc.)? I bull****ed on for 3/4 page on it :dunno:

No, that's the marketing mix. The marketing concept is all about being customer-orientated, trying to please the customer and all that crap.

subway_ie

The paper is available online now, at www.examinations.ie, since you couldn't take it with you.

DEmeant0r

Originally posted by subway_ie
No, that's the marketing mix. The marketing concept is all about being customer-orientated, trying to please the customer and all that crap.

Er... That's not even in the book, what a load of crap is this?

subway_ie

Originally posted by Demeant0r
Er... That's not even in the book, what a load of crap is this?

What book are you using?

DEmeant0r

Hmmm... actually, It's in my book, "Business A dynamic world". But it's 5 fuking lines long, how are you supposed to write a half page to a page on something only 5 lines long?

subway_ie

Explain the advantage for a business enterprise of adopting the marketing concept

Basically, what I did was define the marketing concept, say how it ultimately increases profits, how TQM and empowerment are key elements, how they get great PR, increased sales, all the usual crap. THey only said one advantage, so I concentrated on increased sales and as a result profits due to the increased customer satisfaction.

Suaimhneach

I forgot what TQM was, which really annoyed me, because I had tried to learn it, but my teacher...blah blah, it doesn't matter, right! I knew the rest of the question.

Ah, I've decided not to care. I'm so tired from these exams I'm gonna sleep for a day or two.

subway_ie

Originally posted by Jesjes
I forgot what TQM was, which really annoyed me, because I had tried to learn it, but my teacher...blah blah, it doesn't matter, right! I knew the rest of the question.

Hmmm.I'd have thought TQM would be pretty easy - the name usually gives it away - TOTAL QUALITY management. But I know what it's like to forget something in the exam - happened to me with all the ratios. Just went totally blank. Feckin easy question too. :mad:

Suaimhneach

In irish though, its "bainistíocht lán cailláithe" which made me think Fully trained or something. When I raed the english I remembered something about it. I jusw wrote some waffle on how it helps the manager and worker get closer, to achieve a better working atmosphere. It sounds better with technical terms, but I dun know em in english.

elle

ah I thought it was an ok paper, but was bit pissed off at lack of insurance/tax qs as well as one on management. Answered enough though. However I don't understand how anyone could have answered all of the long qs, i write relatively fast and I only barely finished it in time!

subway_ie

Originally posted by elle
However I don't understand how anyone could have answered all of the long qs, i write relatively fast and I only barely finished it in time!

Apparently he meant that he answered all the *required* long questions on the paper, ie. 1 from part 1, two from part 2 and 1 from either part 1 or part 2.

DEmeant0r

Writing business in irish? That'sreally hard, did u learn off all the fancy terms in irish?

Suaimhneach

I didn't learn them off, I just learned them through irish. I don't know the english terms you see! There are some words I know in irish for buisness that I wouldn't recognise in english.

It's the same as doing it through english when your doing it six years like. Not a big deal.

DEmeant0r

Ah right, so how much extra points do you get for doing it in Irish?

Suaimhneach

I get 5% or 10% of whatever I score, IF its below 75%.

Hopefully it'll be around that mark anyway.

subway_ie

Did anybody else hear that guy on the 2FM exam programme say that the business paper wasn't nice? What was all that bout? It's practically the same as last years. And the year befores. And... well, you get the idea.

DEmeant0r

I can't listen to the recorded 2fm extracts about the reviews of the exams, keeps saying it can't find the file or something. Any ideas where else I can get it?

subway_ie

I just listen on the radio... I could never find them anywhere online. Ok, just found the links for the archive. They're all working for me (well, the 3 I tried anyway).

DEmeant0r

Originally posted by subway_ie
I just listen on the radio... I could never find them anywhere online. Ok, just found the links for the archive. They're all working for me (well, the 3 I tried anyway).

Ok, yesterday's one didn't work. Did you listen to it yesterday? What did they say about Biology?

subway_ie

Nah, I missed it yesterday. Wanted to get the business review awell. If yesterdays isn't working, try e-mailing them, or maybe just give it a day or two.