ATAR Notes: Forum

VCE Stuff => VCE Business Studies => VCE Subjects + Help => VCE Business Management => Topic started by: vceme on February 03, 2019, 03:13:15 pm

Title: [48] Guide to acing Business Management
Post by: vceme on February 03, 2019, 03:13:15 pm
Hey everyone!
I've always been a huge fan of the guides that get publish on here. They were always a source of motivation for me! I know I wouldn't have of achieved the stuff that I did without all the amazing tips/advice given in this community. So to give back, I hope I can help the Business Management cohort out.

Business Management is definitely known as one of the easier subjects. While this is true in terms of the concepts, it definitely isn’t if you look to get a 40+ score. It’s a subject where throughout the year, you must work to build up your performance for the exam. This isn’t simply memorising information but also perfecting how to answer questions and your exam technique. During Year 12, I followed a strict routine that allowed me to lose only 2 silly marks out of 200! At the end of the year, I did only 4 timed exams unlike the usual 20+ exams. This is because I tried to master the principles that I believe will help you ace Business Management.

SACS
To have a top Business Management score, you must aim to achieve well on your SACS. In saying that, your rank really only matters. If you are getting 50-60% because of hard SACS, but you’re rank 1, you are still on the path to getting 40+. This also applies if you are getting 90-100% and have an overall rank of 1.

Detailed notes.

Writing detailed notes is essential in Business Management. It’s crucial that you save these notes because trust me, your november (very stressed out) self will thank you.

The first thing I would do is grab the study design, copy and paste each relevant point on a Google Doc. Underneath each point, I would begin to write my notes.

I personally have found that it is so easy to just type/write your notes without absorbing the information. Hence, for some points, I would structure my notes in question/ answer form. For example, if you are learning about communication in times of change, you might do:

Why is communication important in times of change?
“To implement a change successfully, communication is vital as it involves a transfer or exchange of information and feelings with people in an organisation.  Communication allows the vision of change, benefits and impacts of the change to be known by the affected stakeholders of the business. This would eradicate any fears or concerns due to the change, and position staff to be more accepting of the change.”

With every series of notes, you should always include advantages and disadvantages for each point you can apply evaluate questions on. I know there was a lack of ‘evaluate’ and ‘discuss’ questions on the 2018 exam but it is highly likely that your teacher will include them in SACS. In my opinion, they will probably be put in the 2019 exam. Now, not every textbook is perfect so you may find that some points, you are lacking in detail. You may think “Oh who cares, I  probably won’t need to know it in this detail’ but there was a 5 mark question just on redeployment of resources in the 2018 exam! (Story: I was writing notes and looked at the line ‘redeployment of resources’. I was getting lazy and told myself ‘it probably won’t be assessed on the exam nor my sac’. But I wanted my notes to have everything so I forced myself to write it out… boy am I glad). This means, you should expand to other textbooks if possible and even some research. By all means, your notes should not be 15,000 word long in length or look like a thesis. You should be concise but detailed.


2. Quizlet or Flashcards.
Now, it’s time to memorise! My favourite website is Quizlet! If you don’t know what Quizlet is, it’s basically a website that allows you to create online flashcards. What I love about this is that you don’t need to spend a billion hours on writing up the flashcards. Testing yourself is a more efficient way than writing things down. In year 12 (or 11), you don’t really have the luxury of time so be as efficient when it comes to studying!
I’m not really sure how people approach their flashcards but this is how did it:
For the first study design dot point:

I would have the following…
Define all relevant terms
Have discuss questions for relevant terms
‘What are the advantages and disadvantages for ____’
Features for relevant terms. You memorise this to add ‘meat’ to your answer.
So:
Define sole trader
Advantages and Disadvantages of being a sole trader
Features of a sole trader.

You might be thinking that this requires a LOT of effort. However, if you find a way to structure your notes into flashcard form, you can copy and paste it into Quizlet! It would take me ½ hr to a hour to create these flashcards.

EXAMS + QUESTIONS

Unfortunately due to some circumstances, I couldn’t do as many exams as I wished. In the end, I did around 4 full exams under timed condition. One at school, three at home. If I could go back, I would definitely do more timed exams. However, at that time, I knew I had to play the game smart. My exam was coming up in a few days and there was NO way that I could smash down 20 exams that are 2 hour long, with other exams that were also important to me. In my opinion, doing practice exams are important for two things:
Knowing how to answer questions
Time conditions
However, if you follow this guide, you have been practicing how to answer questions all year round! This is why I got away with doing very few exams and getting a 45+ score.

The second principle is why I even bothered to do practice exams under time conditions. For the 2017 exam, many students failed to complete the exam. So I knew throughout the year that I had to ensure I finished in time. Doing practice exams in timed condition allowed me to know whether I would be capable of finishing in time. If not, then I would have to adjust my pace or come up with strategies to finish on time.
In the 2018 exam, I manage to complete on time even though I used like 1-2 pages of the extra space. I ensured I wrote very fast! I know that some answers didn’t come to me immediately so I’d skip to the next question then wasting time by thinking. By the time you come back, you should hopefully know what exactly to answer.

A very useful business management strategy for exams is remembering your answers. For example, questions in regard to the motivational theories, Senge’s learning organisation, 3 step-change etc, you can remember how you will exactly write it. In the exam, you can focus more on how you can weave in the case-study provided by VCAA.

So after realising that I would be fine with the pace I wrote, what did I do? I would go through the questions on practice exams in my head, or on paper, and write out the points I would cover. I would then read all the sample answers given and note down any that I didn’t cover.

** IMPORTANT**
In the 2018 exam, it was evident that VCAA wanted students to know their content! There were many questions worth more than 5 marks! Anything worth 5 marks or more I consider a global question. This means you need to pack on as much relevant, and concise information as you can. Jot down some points that will allow you to get all those marks. Ideally, you want to do this during reading time in your head, and keep track with the amount of marks with your fingers !!!!


KEY PRINCIPLES

Knowing how to answer questions in business management is extremely important. You cannot afford to just know the information, but you must know how to correctly answer! For example, just because you read a book for english and know all the characters, it doesn’t necessarily translate to you being able to write an A+ essay. Hence, you should be able to identify task words. Task words basically tell you how to answer questions and can be identified at the front.

Secondly, you need to identify how much you need to write by the marks given. For example, a ‘Discuss’ question with 2 marks usually means 2 advantages and 2 disadvantages. During sacs, on the side I would write out a plan for my answer. I would see if each point would add up to all the marks available by the question.

Thirdly, you need to identify what key areas you need to cover. For some business management questions, you are expected to see the overlaps in the business study design. The way to do this is to highlight the keywords of each question.

RESOURCES
Edrolo-
I think Edrolo is perfect for revision or getting ahead of content! Wharton presents the content in pretty good detail for a summary. In particular, I really liked how Wharton placed emphasis on how to answer questions. Remember that how you answer the questions for business is very very important in maximising your marks. Often times, I would just skip the content and watch the exemplar answers for his questions. He isn’t as enthusiastic as the other Edrolo presenters but this certainly doesn’t affect the quality of his work.
Teachingbubble-
Basically Edrolo but free. In terms of the videos, they are great short summaries. In my opinion, I felt that John Mitchell’s videos lacked the depth that Wharton had. I highly encourage people to ask their teacher to get his content as they are quite useful. Additionally, his facebook page has examples of case studies you can use.
I prefer Edrolo over TeachingBubble due to the questions section. However, sooooo many people that I knew prefer Teachingbubble over Edrolo. If you have both resources available, I would try both of them out.
Checkpoints:
For the business checkpoints, it’s different to the science/maths subjects. There are 10-15 general questions and case study questions for each AOS, and practice exams at the back. While there are some questions with pretty obvious answers, there are also some good questions. I highly highly recommend looking at the answers of all questions. Wharton’s answers are A-M-A-Z-I-N-G, hence I would always adjust my notes after reading them. The case study questions also came in handy because I could make templates out of them and just substitute it for the case study I was studying. There are sample answers for the sample business exam which is beneficial considering the internet has nothing.

Title: Re: [48] Guide to acing Business Management
Post by: vceme on February 03, 2019, 03:14:54 pm
Yo. This guide is no way perfect. I have more stuff to add but I just wanted to get this out here because I know some of you are hit with sacs on the first week back. If something doesn't make sense, you want more detail, or any questions, please feel free to let me know. I'll try my best to add the stuff I want to add when I have the time!
Title: Re: [48] Guide to acing Business Management
Post by: Jigsaw on February 03, 2019, 10:39:35 pm
I agree with you 100% that a lot of busman comes down to how effectively you can write in the examination setting when you are pressed for time. Getting used to the time restriction and learning how much you physically can write in two hours is invaluable. Solid guide! Thanks for taking the time out to share it :)
Title: Re: [48] Guide to acing Business Management
Post by: Jimmmy on February 04, 2019, 04:15:55 pm
Good stuff vceme! A very good summary on what there is out there for BusMan students, that redeployment of resources question definitely got me in terms of the detail that was probably required, no way did I get all 5 marks  :'(

Congratulations on your score, losing only 2/200 marks in SACs is insane!
Title: Re: [48] Guide to acing Business Management
Post by: vceme on February 06, 2019, 04:52:43 pm
Good stuff vceme! A very good summary on what there is out there for BusMan students, that redeployment of resources question definitely got me in terms of the detail that was probably required, no way did I get all 5 marks  :'(

Congratulations on your score, losing only 2/200 marks in SACs is insane!

Thank you so much! Yeah, I remember first seeing the question and having a little heart attack, but I got there in the end.  :P
Title: Re: [48] Guide to acing Business Management
Post by: Ionic Doc on February 06, 2019, 05:49:51 pm
I agree with you 100% that a lot of busman comes down to how effectively you can write in the examination setting when you are pressed for time. Getting used to the time restriction and learning how much you physically can write in two hours is invaluable. Solid guide! Thanks for taking the time out to share it :)

Yo i know this relates nothing to the topic but is businnes management extremely hard and challenging ...would i be able to pick it up in year 12 without any past knowledge???

I already do Chemistry, Methods, Specialist , 3/4Psych, English , Religion and Society

but in year 12 i wanna do
Methods, Chemistry , English, Further Maths, (Businnes Management) - maybe .......aiming for a High 90+ ATATR for Medicine

can u tell me a bit moew about business management
Title: Re: [48] Guide to acing Business Management
Post by: vceme on February 06, 2019, 08:29:23 pm
Yo i know this relates nothing to the topic but is businnes management extremely hard and challenging ...would i be able to pick it up in year 12 without any past knowledge???

I already do Chemistry, Methods, Specialist , 3/4Psych, English , Religion and Society

but in year 12 i wanna do
Methods, Chemistry , English, Further Maths, (Businnes Management) - maybe .......aiming for a High 90+ ATATR for Medicine

can u tell me a bit moew about business management

You definitely do not need unit 1/2. To reference, I did exactly the same subjects you did in year 12. If you are able to do subject like Chemistry and Methods, you'll find Business Management pretty easy. If you know how to perform well in Business, you can get a high SS which will deffos help in getting you that high 90+. Business Management includes things like learning about businesses in change, management styles, motivating employees etc.
Title: Re: [48] Guide to acing Business Management
Post by: Gokart#5 on October 27, 2021, 12:54:58 pm
Is 2 advantages and 2 disadvantages really needed for a 2 mark discuss question?

I thought 1 advantage and 1 disadvantage was fine, 1 mark for each?
Title: Re: [48] Guide to acing Business Management
Post by: BIGLUU on October 28, 2021, 07:02:27 pm
Is 2 advantages and 2 disadvantages really needed for a 2 mark discuss question?

I thought 1 advantage and 1 disadvantage was fine, 1 mark for each?

There won't be a 2 mark discuss question, it's almost always 4 marks. However, I'd do 1 solid advantage and disadvantage if there WAS one.