The external assessment of the Diploma Programme business management course consists of two examination papers at SL that are externally set and externally marked. They are designed to allow students to demonstrate their competencies in relation to the business management assessment objectives.
Pre-seen Case Study - Paper 1
- The pre-seen case study is provided by the IB well before the examination session
- The purpose of the pre-seen case study is to assess, in depth and across a number of topics, the students' ability to apply business management knowledge to a given situation
Command Terms
Students must be familiar with the command terms used at each assessment objective level to understand the depth of treatment required in examination questions. Cognitive demands progress from AO1 to AO3, while AO4 terms are specific to particular skills.
Paper 2
Paper is divided into three sections.
Section A
- The principal focus of questions in this paper will be UNIT 3
- Questions have a quantitative focus
- Students answer one structured question based on unseen stimulus material from a choice of two
Section B
- The questions in this section are drawn from units 1 to 5 of the syllabus
- Students answer one structured question based on unseen stimulus material from a choice of three
Section C
- The principal focus of questions in this section is on the concepts of change, culture, ethics, globalization, innovation and strategy that underpin the business management course
- While the principal focus for each question is on two of the concepts, students need to draw on their knowledge
- There is no stimulus material provided for the questions
- Students are required to address the question in relation to at least one real-world organization buy may use information from a range of sources, which may include real-world case studies examined in class and IA research. The real world organization that students use in their responses must not be the case study organization featured in paper 1
- The questions require: Knowledge and understanding; application and analysis; synthesis and evaluation; and a variety of appropriate skills