Reaction to 2024 Leaving Certificate Business (Higher Level) by Keith Hannigan, Business teacher at The Institute of Education.
- Students will recognise the majority of the questions from previous papers and be pleased with those questions that took a more desirable approach to topics.
- However, the occasional new question would have challenged students to think on their feet and maybe alter their plan for how to approach the later sections.
Section 1’s short questions mostly drew from the last 4 units of the course and offered a nice selection of approachable material. The insurance calculation was familiar and straightforward while the four rapid response questions would allow uncertain students to gather a few marks early on. The rest of this section was demanding as it touched on lots of specifics ranging from the European Parliament to Community Development to Teamwork. But if you had really drilled those areas and looked at past papers, you would be happy with the selection.
Many students worry about the Applied Business Question (ABQ) but will have been relieved by the approach the question setter took. Question A is one of the most common questions, appearing a dozen times previously. Question B on “Elements of the Contract” took a clear and desirable approach to what could have been a very complicated topic. As always, the prep work was essential but those who did it will feel rewarded.
As they were departing Section 2 many students will have been pleased but would find themselves pausing as they weighed up parts 1 and 2 of Section 3. Part 1 has a reputation as being harder and thus less popular, but I suspect many students will favour it on this paper. It was essentially a compendium of past papers and those who included the deferred paper in their revision will find little new here. For example Question 1 saw a reappearance of the contract and Question 4 asked on the CCPC, an old favourite having appeared eight times recently. Students who study Economics as well as Business will have been thrilled by Question 3 on Unit 7 as the topical discussion of the impact of interest rates overlaps the two courses.
In contrast, Part 2 had a few moments that students won’t have seen before as the middle questions had twists that some might find nasty. Question 5 on technology took something very topical but narrowed the scope by dictating the areas for discussion in a very specific way. The material wasn’t any harder but students needed to be agile to restructure the information in their own minds. Question 6 on Cash Flow had been absent for 6 years until it recently reappeared on last year’s deferred paper. Again proving that students need to focus on every paper, not just the June sittings for their insights. Question 7 would be many students anticipated choice, but most will have reassessed this in the hall. Part B was strange in this context and the Theory of Ratios was reminiscent of concepts from Accounting. The same was true for Question 8, a staple “go to” for many that will have been ditched in favour of the unexpectedly accessible Part 1.
This was a good paper for those who really focused on preparing the past papers and drilled themselves on grasping the key concepts of the course.