The external assessment of the business management course consists of two examination papers at SL and three examination papers at HL 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. All questions on the examination papers are based on specifications in the BM guide.

The external components contribute 70% to the final assessment at SL and 80% to the final assessment at HL.

In common with all DP examination papers, students at SL and HL are given five minutes of reading time before they begin answering the papers.

Assessment Objectives & Command Terms

Teachers and 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.

Examination questions may use any command term from the assessment objective level specified in the “Syllabus content” section or a less demanding command term from a lower level. For example, if the assessment objective level for a topic is AO2, an examination question could contain any of the command terms for AO2, such as “explain”, “distinguish” and so forth. Alternatively, the examination question could contain a command term from AO1, such as “describe”. However, a more demanding command term, such as “evaluate”, from a higher level (AO3 in this case), cannot be used.

Students are advised to be familiar with the command terms