A Level Business Tutoring, for Every Board
A Level Business is easy to understand and hard to score well in, because most marks are for applying theory to one particular business and then reaching a judgement about it. The boards ask for that in different formats — essays, data response, sources and full case studies — and two of them, AQA and OCR, are changing specification, so the right preparation depends on exactly which paper a student will sit.
Short answer
A Level Business is offered online, one-to-one.
A private lesson runs 90 minutes and starts at USD 95 per lesson; lessons are booked singly or in packages.
No group class runs for this exam.
From USD 95 per lesson
Your lessons are taught by Hakan Polat, who teaches A Level Business.
- Structure shown for AQA, OCR, Pearson Edexcel, Cambridge International
- Live online lessons of 90 minutes
- From USD 95 per lesson
How A Level Business is assessed, board by board
4 awarding bodies examine this subject, and they do not examine it the same way: different papers, different weightings, different practical arrangements. Find your board — it is printed on your school's timetable and on past papers — and read that block. Nothing on this page describes one board's paper as though it applied to all of them.
AQA
| Component | Share of grade | Length | Marks | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paper 1: Business 1 — 15 multiple choice, 35 marks short answer, two essays of 25 marks | 33.3% | 2 hours | 100 marks | multiple choice, short answer and essay |
| Paper 2: Business 2 — Three compulsory data response questions of roughly 33 marks each | 33.3% | 2 hours | 100 marks | data response |
| Paper 3: Business 3 — One compulsory case study followed by roughly six questions | 33.3% | 2 hours | 100 marks | case study |
- A new specification, 7138, is available to teach from September 2026. Both are live: confirm which one your school entered you for.
Checked on 22 September 2026
OCR
| Component | Share of grade | Length | Marks | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating in a local business environment (01) | 33.33% | 2 hours | 80 marks | data response and essay |
| The UK business environment (02) | 33.33% | 2 hours | 80 marks | data response and essay |
| The global business environment (03) | 33.33% | 2 hours | 80 marks | data response and essay |
- This specification is being withdrawn. H436 is available to teach from September 2026, so a student starting now and a student finishing now may be on different specifications in the same school.
Checked on 22 September 2026
Pearson Edexcel
Pearson Edexcel International A Level Business (YBS11)
| Component | Share of grade | Length | Marks | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit 1: Marketing and People | 25% | 2 hours | 80 marks | data response and essay |
| Unit 2: Managing Business Activities | 25% | 2 hours | 80 marks | data response and calculations |
| Unit 3: Business Decisions and Strategy | 25% | 2 hours | 80 marks | data response and essay |
| Unit 4: Global Business | 25% | 2 hours | 80 marks | data response and essay |
- This is a modular qualification: units are sat in January, June and October, can be taken in stages, and can be re-sat, with the best result counting. That changes how a two-year plan is built — and it is the main reason a Pearson student and a Cambridge student in the same class need different revision schedules.
Checked on 22 September 2026
Cambridge International
Cambridge International AS & A Level Business (9609)
| Component | Share of grade | Length | Marks | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paper 1: Business Concepts 1 — Section A four short answers, Section B one essay from two | 20% | 1 hour 15 min | 40 marks | short answer and essay |
| Paper 2: Business Concepts 2 — Two data response questions, six parts each | 30% | 1 hour 30 min | 60 marks | data response |
| Paper 3: Business Decision-Making — Five questions on one case study | 30% | 1 hour 45 min | 60 marks | case study |
| Paper 4: Business Strategy | 20% | 1 hour 15 min | — | case study and essay |
Checked on 22 September 2026
Specifications are revised periodically. Each block links to the specification it was read from and gives the date it was checked; if your school has moved to a newer specification, that document takes precedence.
What A Level Business covers
The syllabus areas most boards share. Which ones appear, in what order and on which paper differs by board and by specification code — your own specification is the final word. Topic names are left in English, as they appear on the paper.
Marketing and Operations
Market research and segmentation · Marketing mix: 4Ps and 7Ps · Quality management and lean production · Supply-chain management
Finance and HR
Income statement, balance sheet, cash flow · Break-even analysis and investment appraisal · Leadership styles and motivation theories · Organisational structure and corporate culture
Strategy and Global Business
SWOT, PESTLE and Porter's Five Forces · Mergers, acquisitions and strategic alliances · Globalisation and international markets · Business ethics and social responsibility
Where A Level Business marks are usually lost
An answer that would fit any company
Case-study and data-response questions reward application: using the named business, its figures and its circumstances. Students who write a sound general answer about motivation or pricing — one that would fit any firm — lose most of those marks. Every point needs a fact from the case attached to it: the firm’s market, its cash position, its workforce, or what the extract actually says.
Weighing everything and deciding nothing
Long answers at every board reward evaluation: weighing the arguments and reaching a supported judgement. Students lose marks with a balanced list of advantages and disadvantages that ends with “it depends” without saying on what. A strong conclusion makes a decision, names the factor it depends on most and explains why that factor matters for this business at this moment.
Small slips in the numbers
Business papers include quantitative work: ratios, break-even, investment appraisal, percentage changes and cash-flow forecasts. Errors are rarely in the method; they are in units, rounding, or misreading which figure the question wants. A wrong calculation also weakens the analysis built on it, so a single slip can cost marks twice. Showing the working protects at least part of the credit.
How we teach A Level Business
A tutor teaches business through real companies: each topic in marketing, operations, finance, people and strategy is learned alongside one or two businesses the student can describe in detail, including firms from African markets where they fit. Theory stays within the models the board’s specification lists — the Ansoff matrix, Porter’s five forces, decision trees and the motivation theorists, where they appear — and is practised in that board’s question styles: AQA’s mix of multiple choice, short answers, data response and a case study; Pearson’s source-based sections and essays; Cambridge’s data-response and case-study papers. Answers are marked against the board’s criteria for knowledge, application, analysis and evaluation, and rewritten where application or judgement is thin. Calculations are practised in short weekly sets, so that a long answer never rests on a figure the student is unsure of.
Your starting point is reviewed before the study plan is finalised. The exact method depends on the programme and is agreed on the intro call — for some students that means a timed section, for others it means reading a recent score report or a piece of marked work. We will tell you which applies to you before you book anything, rather than describing a process here that may not be the one you get.
Related subjects and pages
A Level Accounting
A Level Accounting tutoring online, board by board for AQA, Pearson Edexcel and Cambridge: year-end adjustments, IAS formats, ratio analysis and costing.
A Level Economics
A Level Economics tutoring online across AQA, OCR, Pearson Edexcel and Cambridge: diagrams used in analysis, data response, evaluation and multiple choice.
A Level Mathematics
Live online A Level Mathematics tutoring for AQA, OCR, Pearson Edexcel and Cambridge: pure, statistics and mechanics, and each board’s calculator rules.
A Level Tutoring
Board-aware A Level tutoring online: AQA, OCR, Pearson Edexcel (UK and International A Level) and Cambridge International, subject by subject.
A Level prices
A Level tutoring from USD 95 per 90-minute lesson. Compare lesson packages and included materials.
A Level Business: reviews from our students
Students and parents who prepared with us write these reviews themselves. We check each one before publishing it and never change its words or its star rating.
Nobody has reviewed this programme here yet. If you prepared with us, tell other students across Africa how it went.
Frequently asked questions
Short, direct answers. If yours is not here, ask us.
Talk to us about A Level Business
Tell us your board or level, your predicted grade and when you sit it. We will tell you honestly whether you need a tutor, and which one.