Paper 1 Case Study Prep
10 tips to help prepare your students to the P1 exam
1. Make sure your students understand all the business terms that are used in the case study itself (i.e. the terms that are also in The Guide, such as “sole trader”, “USP”, “mission statement” etc). All AO1 questions are predictable, especially the “define” questions, as candidates can only be asked to define terms that are mentioned in the case study itself.
2. Suggestion: ask your students to formulate themselves possible questions they could have on the case study (and then answering them or discussing them in class).
3. Do not over prepare. The main reason why P1 candidates underperform (and do not score high for the longer, analytical AO2/AO3 questions) is the fact that sometimes they do not precisely answer the questions asked but, instead, they answer questions that they have prepared [in class]. As stressed in all recent P1 Examiner Reports, there is too often a mismatch between “the question asked” and “the answer written by the candidate”, with the examiner writing “NAQ” (not answering question) in the margin, which results in a disappointing mark.
4. The second reason why P1 candidates underperform is the fact that their answers are too short. Do encourage your students to develop their ideas (i.e. simply put: write more). The SLP1 exam lasts 1h15mn for 40 marks; this roughly means 2 minutes per mark. Some answers can be done quickly (e.g. calculating ratios) but for longer questions (e.g. the question in Section B worth 10 marks) candidates must write answers that are substantial enough in order to score high. As mentioned in recent P1 Examiner Reports, many answers are too short: what is written is correct and good, but more is needed. The examiner ends up writing “NE” (not enough) and the candidate unfortunately cannot score top marks.
5. As in all IB exams, the command terms are very important. Make sure that your students understand them well. The official IB definitions are at the end of The Guide. Please note that this is not only important for non-native speakers, but also for English native speakers may not always appreciate some of the differences.
6. Suggestion: identify where the 6 concepts (culture, change, ethics, innovation, globalisation, strategy) are addressed in the case study – explicitly or not. There won’t be questions about them, but it is a very good way to revise the 6 concepts.
7. Remember that the case study is “only” a pretext for candidates to show and apply their knowledge. They will receive a copy at the exam; they do not need to learn details by heart. When the questions refer to precise passages, the line numbers are always indicated. P1 is not an exam to check whether candidate understand the storyline itself.
8. An activity that can work well is brainstorming possible storyline extensions, i.e. trying to imagine possible scenarios for “Section B” and linking them to some contents/concepts.
9. Candidates cannot get any marks for just copying sentences from the case study: the examiner will only reward “value added” by the candidate. Quoting the case study may be useful to illustrate a point, but the examiner will not credit the candidate’s ability to just quote the case study.
10. Do not hesitate to be creative in your P1 preparation: for some candidates, staging role-plays, creating a game, making a speech or drawing cartoons could be a very good way to appreciate some aspects of the case study. We need to remember that our students have different learning styles: aural, visual, kinaesthetic etc.
Dr Loykie Lominé, version July 2018
2. Suggestion: ask your students to formulate themselves possible questions they could have on the case study (and then answering them or discussing them in class).
3. Do not over prepare. The main reason why P1 candidates underperform (and do not score high for the longer, analytical AO2/AO3 questions) is the fact that sometimes they do not precisely answer the questions asked but, instead, they answer questions that they have prepared [in class]. As stressed in all recent P1 Examiner Reports, there is too often a mismatch between “the question asked” and “the answer written by the candidate”, with the examiner writing “NAQ” (not answering question) in the margin, which results in a disappointing mark.
4. The second reason why P1 candidates underperform is the fact that their answers are too short. Do encourage your students to develop their ideas (i.e. simply put: write more). The SLP1 exam lasts 1h15mn for 40 marks; this roughly means 2 minutes per mark. Some answers can be done quickly (e.g. calculating ratios) but for longer questions (e.g. the question in Section B worth 10 marks) candidates must write answers that are substantial enough in order to score high. As mentioned in recent P1 Examiner Reports, many answers are too short: what is written is correct and good, but more is needed. The examiner ends up writing “NE” (not enough) and the candidate unfortunately cannot score top marks.
5. As in all IB exams, the command terms are very important. Make sure that your students understand them well. The official IB definitions are at the end of The Guide. Please note that this is not only important for non-native speakers, but also for English native speakers may not always appreciate some of the differences.
6. Suggestion: identify where the 6 concepts (culture, change, ethics, innovation, globalisation, strategy) are addressed in the case study – explicitly or not. There won’t be questions about them, but it is a very good way to revise the 6 concepts.
7. Remember that the case study is “only” a pretext for candidates to show and apply their knowledge. They will receive a copy at the exam; they do not need to learn details by heart. When the questions refer to precise passages, the line numbers are always indicated. P1 is not an exam to check whether candidate understand the storyline itself.
8. An activity that can work well is brainstorming possible storyline extensions, i.e. trying to imagine possible scenarios for “Section B” and linking them to some contents/concepts.
9. Candidates cannot get any marks for just copying sentences from the case study: the examiner will only reward “value added” by the candidate. Quoting the case study may be useful to illustrate a point, but the examiner will not credit the candidate’s ability to just quote the case study.
10. Do not hesitate to be creative in your P1 preparation: for some candidates, staging role-plays, creating a game, making a speech or drawing cartoons could be a very good way to appreciate some aspects of the case study. We need to remember that our students have different learning styles: aural, visual, kinaesthetic etc.
Dr Loykie Lominé, version July 2018