INTERNATIONAL AS BUSINESS BU02 Unit 2 Managing Operations, Human Resources and Finance Mark scheme January 2021 Version: 1.0 – Final Mark Scheme

INTERNATIONAL AS

BUSINESS

BU02

Unit 2 Mana ging Operations, Human Resources and Finance

Mark scheme

January 2021

Version: 1.0 – Final Mark Scheme

*211xBU02/MS*

MARK SCHEME – INTERNATIONAL AS BUSINESS – BU02 – JANUARY 2021

2 Mark schemes are prepared by the Lead Assessment Writer and considered, together with the relevant questions, by a panel of subject teachers. This mark scheme includes any amendments made at the standardisation events which all associates participate in and is the scheme which was used by them in this examination. The standardisation process ensures that the mark scheme covers the students’ responses to questions and that every associate understands and applies it in the same correct way.As preparation for standardisation each associate analyses a number of students’ scripts. Alternative answers not already covered by the mark scheme are discussed and legislated for. If, after the standardisation process, associates encounter unusual answers which have not been raised they are required to refer these to the Lead Examiner.

It must be stressed that a mark scheme is a working document, in many cases further developed and expanded on the basis of students’ reactions to a particular paper. Assumptions about future mark schemes on the basis of one year’s document should be avoided; whilst the guiding principles of assessment remain constant, details will change, depending on the content of a particular examination paper.

Further copies of this mark scheme are available from oxfordaqaexams.org.uk

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MARK SCHEME – INTERNATIONAL AS BUSINESS – BU02 – JANUARY 2021

3 How to mark

Aims

When you are marking your allocation of scripts your main aims should be to:

• recognise and identify the achievements of students • place students in the appropriate mark band and in the appropriate part of that mark band (high, low, middle) • record your judgements with brief notes, annotations and comments that are relevant to the mark scheme and make it clear to other examiners how you have arrived at the numerical mark awarded • put into a rank order the achievements of students (not to grade them – that is done later using the rank order that your marking has produced) • ensure comparability of assessment for all students, regardless of question or examiner.

Approach

It is important to be open-minded and positive when marking scripts.

The specification recognises the variety of experiences and knowledge that students will have. It encourages them to study business in a way that is relevant to them. The questions have been designed to give them opportunities to discuss what they have found out about business. It is important to assess the quality of what the student offers.

Assessment Objectives

This component requires students to:

AO1 Demonstrate knowledge of terms, concepts, theories, methods and models to show an understanding of how individuals and organisations are affected by and respond to business issues.AO2 Apply knowledge and understanding to various business contexts to show how individuals and organisations are affected by and respond to issues.AO3 Analyse issues within business, showing an understanding of the impact on individuals and organisations of external and internal influences.AO4 Evaluate quantitative and qualitative information to make informed judgements and propose evidence-based solutions to business issues.

MARK SCHEME – INTERNATIONAL AS BUSINESS – BU02 – JANUARY 2021

4 The marking grids

The specification has generic marking grids for each Assessment Objective that is customised with indicative content for individual tasks. These have been designed to allow assessment of the range of knowledge, understanding and skills that the specification demands.

Within each Assessment Objective there are three or four broad levels representing different levels of achievement. Do not think of levels as equivalent to grade boundaries.

The indicative content gives examples of the kind of things students might do that would exemplify the level. They are neither exhaustive nor required – they are simply indicative of what would appear at this level. You will find that they sometimes indicate areas of content that can be handled with increasing sophistication and subtlety. You will also find statements which only characterise work at the bottom or top of the range.

Depending on the part of the examination, the levels will have different mark ranges assigned to them.This will reflect the different weighting of Assessment Objectives in particular tasks and across the examination as a whole. You may be required to give different marks to bands for different Assessment Objectives.

Using the grids

These levels of response mark schemes are broken down into levels, each of which has descriptors.The descriptors for the level show the performance characteristics of the level. There is the same number of marks in each level for an individual Assessment Objective. The number of marks per level will vary depending upon the number of marks allocated to the various Assessment Objectives covered by a particular question.

Having familiarised yourself with the descriptors and indicative content, read through the answer and annotate it (as instructed below) to identify the qualities that are being looked for and that it shows. You can now check the levels and award a mark.

Step 1 Determine a level

Start at the lowest level of the mark scheme and use it as a ladder to see whether the answer meets the descriptors for that level. The descriptors for the level indicate the different qualities that might be seen in the student’s answer for that level.

When assigning a level you should look at the overall quality of the answer and not look to pick holes in small and specific parts of the answer where the student has not performed quite as well as in the rest.If the answer covers different aspects of different levels of the mark scheme you should use a best fit approach for defining the level and then use the variability of the response to help decide the mark within the level; eg if the response fulfils most but not all of level 3 with a small amount of level 4 material, it would be placed in level 3 but be awarded a mark near the top of the level because of the level 4 content.