Business A Level

Applications open: 10 November 2025

Application deadline: 13th February 2026

Entry Requirements: - 5 x GCSEs Grade 4-9 including English. Maths desirable. Please see individual courses for subject entry requirements. Please visit our website for more information https://www.maplesden.kent.sch.uk/830/welcome

Subject Choices: - You will need to select a minimum of 3 subjects to study and these can be a mixture of A Levels and BTECs with SEFA and MWBA in addition to your full time studies.

How to Apply: - Please apply via KentChoices

Students of this course will study business in a variety of contexts (e.g. large/small, UK focused/ global, service/manufacturing) and consider:

•• the importance of the context of business in relation to decision making

•• the interrelated nature of business activities and how they affect competitiveness

•• the competitive environment and the markets in which businesses operate

•• the influences on functional decisions and plans including ethical and environmental issues

•• the factors that might determine whether a decision is successful e.g. the quality of data and the degree of uncertainty

•• how technology is changing the way decisions are made and how businesses operate and compete

•• the impact on stakeholders of functional decisions and their response to such decisions

•• use of non-quantitative and quantitative data in decision making (including the interpretation of index numbers and calculations such as ratios and percentages).

The topics lend themselves to studying and engaging with the business world. The specification and assessment will encourage students to follow business developments and think critically about contemporary business issues. Most of the assessment material is based on real business situations.

By examining and thinking critically about real business situations as they study the subject, students will gain an insight into different contexts which will help them to understand the key issues in any situation and compare and contrast this with other situations and apply their understanding.

An introduction to key business areas: marketing, operations, finance and human resource management. This includes a special focus on decision-making – particularly how decisions made in one area can affect the rest of the business.

Topic 1 – What is business?

Topic 2 – Managers, leadership and decision-making

Topic 3 – Decision making to improve marketing performance

Topic 4 – Decision making to improve operational performance

Topic 5 – Decision making to improve financial performance

Topic 6 – Decision making to improve human resource performance

Topic 7 – Analysing the strategic position of a business

Topic 8 – Choosing the strategic direction

Topic 9 – Strategic methods: how to pursue strategies

Topic 10 – Managing strategic change

A-level assessment consists of three x 2 hour written exams taken at the end of the two year course.

Each exam will be worth a third of the A-level. All three papers will draw on material from the whole course, and will feature a range of question styles including multiple choice questions, short answer questions, essay questions, data response questions and case studies.