Should I take up Business outside of school now? Self-taught as well!

beaverfever

Hey guys I'm currently in 6th year and glad to say I'm keeping on top of things Have a bit of a problem however as I am now only doing 5 HL subjects (recently dropped to OL maths, just couldn't hack it in HL) and I'm aiming for 500 points....quite a difficult goal with only 5 HL subjects. Do you think it would be advisable to take up Business as an extra self-taught subject outside of school just for points? I know it's very late to be doing this but friends of mine who do Business say it's fairly manageable, mainly all learning. My plan would be to get a Business text book or revision book and exam papers and just work away like crazy at it....I reckon I'm bright enough to teach myself. My other subjects are English, Chemistry, Biology, French and History (all HL) and Maths and Irish (both OL). So what do you think, is it too late or should I go for it? I'd want at least a B3 in it as well!

decisions

Just focus on your best 6, it will be hard to get 500 points with only 5 HL subjects but its doable. If you put all the effort you are thinking about putting into business into the rest of your subjects you will see a much better result come June.

CBX

Go for it. It's probably one of the easiest subjects to teach yourself. Although others may disagree with me, I honestly don't think the course is that long and I believe it can be covered relatively quickly.

Know Units 1, 2, and 3 inside out as they are the units which the ABQ will be asked on this year. Also two full long questions always come from these units, along with a short question or two.

beaverfever

CBX wrote: »

Go for it. It's probably one of the easiest subjects to teach yourself. Although others may disagree with me, I honestly don't think the course is that long and I believe it can be covered relatively quickly.

Know Units 1, 2, and 3 inside out as they are the units which the ABQ will be asked on this year. Also two full long questions always come from these units, along with a short question or two.

Really? Sounds good! I find Business interesting enough too even though I have more of a scientific mind One other question, what book would you recommend? I was thinking of maybe just getting a Revise Wise and the exam papers?

thelad95

I'd actually recommend economics instead. It's wayyyyy shorter than business and you can limit it down even more for yourself. Business can be an utterly soul-destroying subject at times. Reams and reams of information to be learned off, coupled with vague questions and the biggest gobshíte of a marking scheme can make it very difficult to do well in.:mad:

Economics has a more reliable marking scheme and very repetitive exam questions.

beaverfever

thelad95 wrote: »

I'd actually recommend economics instead. It's wayyyyy shorter than business and you can limit it down even more for yourself. Business can be an utterly soul-destroying subject at times. Reams and reams of information to be learned off, coupled with vague questions and the biggest gobshíte of a marking scheme can make it very difficult to do well in.:mad:

Economics has a more reliable marking scheme and very repetitive exam questions.

Seriously? Most people who do Economics in my year seem to find half of it impossible, my best friend was actually just texting me in a bit of a state and telling me she has a test tomorrow and can't even understand the stuff she's supposed to be learning, she really hates it Whereas the crowd who do Business all seem to think it's by far their handiest subject!

beaverfever

decisions wrote: »

Just focus on your best 6, it will be hard to get 500 points with only 5 HL subjects but its doable. If you put all the effort you are thinking about putting into business into the rest of your subjects you will see a much better result come June.

The problem is I have been putting lots of effort into my other subjects but still find myself strongly worried that I won't achieve the points I need!

thelad95

beaverfever wrote: »

Seriously? Most people who do Economics in my year seem to find half of it impossible, my best friend was actually just texting me in a bit of a state and telling me she has a test tomorrow and can't even understand the stuff she's supposed to be learning, she really hates it Whereas the crowd who do Business all seem to think it's by far their handiest subject!

Some parts of it are mind-blowing but in terms of doing a subject in a year I think it would be better.

beaverfever

Maybe....will have to do more research

SaoirseDuggan

Hey, I was in the exact same situation until 3 weeks ago! I do 2 pass subjects, irish and maths and the rest honours ( french, history, art, English and biology) so I needed to do an extra subject as I need in the 490-500 range for applied languages at UL! I decide to take up business as two of my friends do it and said it's just learning off reems of theory, and in my opinion they were right! (I also did business at jc so this is an advantage) I go to one business grind a week but I basically teach myself but I just go to him incase of any difficulty with exam questions etc but it is so worth it, I've done nearly 3 units already ( the ABQ this year sorted ) and I hope to sit a mock in it in February! From my experience I would tell you to GO FOR IT! easy peasy points if your good at learning off theory!

beaverfever

SaoirseDuggan wrote: »

Hey, I was in the exact same situation until 3 weeks ago! I do 2 pass subjects, irish and maths and the rest honours ( french, history, art, English and biology) so I needed to do an extra subject as I need in the 490-500 range for applied languages at UL! I decide to take up business as two of my friends do it and said it's just learning off reems of theory, and in my opinion they were right! (I also did business at jc so this is an advantage) I go to one business grind a week but I basically teach myself but I just go to him incase of any difficulty with exam questions etc but it is so worth it, I've done nearly 3 units already ( the ABQ this year sorted ) and I hope to sit a mock in it in February! From my experience I would tell you to GO FOR IT! easy peasy points if your good at learning off theory!

Really? Yeah I did it for jc too and got a B in HL with very little study for it! I am good at learning things off so I think I'm gonna go for it Thanks so much!

Days 298

Economics is harder. There is understanding but there is way way less. You can pick and choose bits too

Business is "easy" but there is a lot of learning. Loads of learning. No real understanding, just learn and regurgitate but if you understand the subject you can take a good go at the question with learning it all off.

Check if any school is doing a Christmas or Easter revision course you can go to. It is possible with good planning and work ethic.

beaverfever

Days 298 wrote: »

Economics is harder. There is understanding but there is way way less. You can pick and choose bits too

Business is "easy" but there is a lot of learning. Loads of learning. No real understanding, just learn and regurgitate but if you understand the subject you can take a good go at the question with learning it all off.

Check if any school is doing a Christmas or Easter revision course you can go to. It is possible with good planning and work ethic.

Yeah I'm booking for an Easter course this weekend, getting the book and exam papers tomorrow as well so can start working on it from then. I definitely have the ability and work ethic to do it

partyatmygaff

Business is probably the most suitable subject for self-teaching.

It's pretty much common sense + reading the important parts of the textbook a few times + being articulate. I managed an A1 in the mock without having ever even written out an answer to an exam question.

Very glad I didn't do it in school. If I did, I would have had to endure two years of dull "Let's read the book in class" time and endlessly regurgitating the same old answers week in week out.

beaverfever

partyatmygaff wrote: »

Business is probably the most suitable subject for self-teaching.

It's pretty much common sense + reading the important parts of the textbook a few times + being articulate. I managed an A1 in the mock without having ever even written out an answer to an exam question.

Very glad I didn't do it in school. If I did, I would have had to endure two years of dull "Let's read the book in class" time and endlessly regurgitating the same old answers week in week out.

Cool thanks!

Aspiring

Leave a monkey with a business book long enough and he'll get an A1. Just kidding, the books actually aren't great usually for business. Leave a monkey with a book of marking schemes, that's a different story
You could probably do it if you put the time in. Our ABQ is on 1,2,3 which is probably the easiest possible. All past short questions could probably be learned off in a month, and anything new rarely comes up. The long questions are the real pain in the arse. But you'll manage it if you just learn say 1 part of a long question a day and after a while you'll notice the same thing keeps coming up.

Basically, get your hands on as many mock and SEC marking schemes as you can and learn them. My business teacher doesn't care that I don't use her notes really and just learn the marking schemes, because she knows how specific the marking schemes can be and if you don't have exactly what they say sometimes you'll lose marks.

Oh, and you'll need examples. For everything.

That's about it.

beaverfever

Aspiring wrote: »

Leave a monkey with a business book long enough and he'll get an A1. Just kidding, the books actually aren't great usually for business. Leave a monkey with a book of marking schemes, that's a different story
You could probably do it if you put the time in. Our ABQ is on 1,2,3 which is probably the easiest possible. All past short questions could probably be learned off in a month, and anything new rarely comes up. The long questions are the real pain in the arse. But you'll manage it if you just learn say 1 part of a long question a day and after a while you'll notice the same thing keeps coming up.

Basically, get your hands on as many mock and SEC marking schemes as you can and learn them. My business teacher doesn't care that I don't use her notes really and just learn the marking schemes, because she knows how specific the marking schemes can be and if you don't have exactly what they say sometimes you'll lose marks.

Oh, and you'll need examples. For everything.

That's about it.

Nice one, thank you very much! Would the examples be the kind of thing you could think up on the day or would you recommend learning them as you go along? Thanks again

robman60

beaverfever wrote: »

Nice one, thank you very much! Would the examples be the kind of thing you could think up on the day or would you recommend learning them as you go along? Thanks again

I think you can generally just make them up. It does show a depth of knowledge though if you can give some real life examples such as Ryanair in a hostile takeover bid with Aer Lingus etc. Theoretically it shouldn't make a difference giving real or fabricated examples I think, but the odd real one might give your answer a bit more panache.

beaverfever

robman60 wrote: »

I think you can generally just make them up. It does show a depth of knowledge though if you can give some real life examples such as Ryanair in a hostile takeover bid with Aer Lingus etc. Theoretically it shouldn't make a difference giving real or fabricated examples I think, but the odd real one might give your answer a bit more panache.

OK thanks!

Aspiring

Well some examples you can't make up like when talking about the EU stuff you'll need to know at least one directive, regulation and a few things each of the European institutions have helped set up. Then international youll need to know examples of trade blocs, quotas,embargoes, tariffs, regulations, subsidies limiting free trade. Other than that you can probably make them up a good bir like examples of entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs, etc, etc. Know examples for every definition.

beaverfever

Aspiring wrote: »

Well some examples you can't make up like when talking about the EU stuff you'll need to know at least one directive, regulation and a few things each of the European institutions have helped set up. Then international youll need to know examples of trade blocs, quotas,embargoes, tariffs, regulations, subsidies limiting free trade. Other than that you can probably make them up a good bir like examples of entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs, etc, etc. Know examples for every definition.

Alright thank you

SaoirseDuggan

only saw this now, no problem at all! good luck