External assessments

The external assessment will account for 70% of the weighting for SL students, and 80% for HL students. This means the Internal Assessment (IA) for SL students carries 30% weighting, and 20% for HL students. The most noticeable change to the external assessment is the addition of a new Paper 3 exam.

The information below comes from the January 2021 publication "DP Business management - Curriculum review: Final summary report to teachers" (pages 2 - 3), which is available from My IB. The aim of Paper 1 and Paper 2 is to assess students’ knowledge of the IB Business Management syllabus.

Paper 1

(Duration: 1 hour and 30 minutes for SL and HL)

Paper 1 is based on a pre-released statement that specifies the context and background for an unseen case study. Paper 1 is the same for SL and HL students (i.e. there are no HL extension topics examined in this paper). The topics in the pre-released statement are not in the syllabus (to account for the dynamic and contemporary nature of business but will be linked to the syllabus itself.

Around 3 months prior to the external exam, the IB will release a statement with two parts:

1. A small number of topics that provide context to the Paper 1 case study. These topics will not be topics that are in the guide but ones that students are asked to research for approximately 5 hours. These topics do, however, build on topics contained in the syllabus. The aim is to assess students’ knowledge around important contemporary business topics that could not have been anticipated when the guide was written.

2. The first 200 words or so of the case study itself. The release of this portion of the case study will provide additional context and will reduce the number of words to be read during the examination period. The examination will contain one case study, of approximately 800 to 1200 words, that students do not see before the examination. Most questions will be qualitative, although some minor calculations could be part of the assessment.

There are two sections in Paper 1:

• Section A - Students answer all structured questions in this section based on the case study (20 marks). All 5 units of the syllabus can be assessed, excluding HL extension topics.

• Section B - Students answer one out of two extended response questions based on the case study (10 marks). All 5 units of the syllabus can be assessed, excluding HL extension topics.

Hence, the total number of marks for Paper 1 (SL and HL) = 30 marks.

The overall weighting of Paper 1 for SL is 35% and 25% for HL.

A 4-function calculator is permitted for this examination paper.

Note: students must write their answers on separate answer sheets provided in the external examination.

Paper 2

(Duration: 1 hour and 30 minutes for SL, and 1 hour and 45 minutes for HL)

Paper 2 will be based on stimulus material within the exam paper. It is based on unseen stimulus material with a quantitative focus. Questions for SL and HL students will be different, but the format and intent are similar.

Most questions will be quantitative but some qualitative will be included. The stimulus material will be presented in parts. Each part has a question, so students need to read each part and answer the question before reading the next part and answering the question and so on. The stimulus material will be a combination of written and diagrammatic stimulus such as charts and infographics. For SL only, one of the stimulus options in Section B of Paper 2 may be on a social enterprise. HL students will be assessed on a social enterprise separately in Paper 3.

There are two sections in Paper 2 for SL students:

• Section A - Students answer all structured questions in this section based on the unseen stimulus material (20 marks). All 5 units of the syllabus can be assessed (excluding HL extension topics, of course).

• Section B - Students answer one out of two questions comprised of some structured questions and an extended response question based on the unseen stimulus material. (20 marks)

Hence, the total number of marks for Paper 2 (SL) = 40 marks.

There are two sections in Paper 2 for HL students:

• Section A - Students answer all structured questions in this section based on the unseen stimulus material (30 marks). All 5 units of the syllabus can be assessed, including HL extension topics.

• Section B - Students answer one out of two questions comprised of some structured questions and an extended response question based on the unseen stimulus material, which includes HL extension topics (20 marks).

Hence, the total number of marks for Paper 2 (HL) = 50 marks.

The overall weighting of Paper 2 for SL is 35% and 30% for HL.

A 4-function calculator is required for this examination paper. There is no need for students to use a GDC (graphic display calculator) as all calculations in the BM exams can be completed using a 4-function calculator.

Note: students must write their answers in the answer booklet provided as part of the examination paper. Students must write within the boxed area (for scanning purposes). It is possible for candidates to use additional answer sheets (should they need more space or need to make corrections to their responses, for example). However, it is strongly advised that in such case, students write "Continued" (or "Continued on separate sheet") within the boxed area of the exam question.

Teachers can access Paper 2 resources, including exam practice questions and mark schemes here.

Paper 3 (HL only)

(Duration: 1 hour and 15 minutes)

Paper 3 (HL only) is based on unseen stimulus material about a social enterprise. The Paper 3 examination also requires students to identify and describe a human need and the potential organizational challenges facing the social entrepreneur wanting to meet this need. The stimulus material will consist of a short introduction to an organization, supported by a visual representation of a product, and five or six excerpts from various documents (such as, emails, Twitter feeds, newspaper articles, and so on). Students are also required to write a decision-making document that includes a business recommendation.

• HL students answer the one compulsory question based on the unseen stimulus material (25 marks). All 5 units of the syllabus can be assessed, including HL extension topics.

• The total number of marks for Paper 3 (HL only) is 25 marks.

• The overall weighting of Paper 3 (HL only) is 25%.

• A 4-function calculator is permitted for this examination paper.

Note: As with Paper 1, students must write their answers on separate answer sheets provided in the external examination.

Teachers can access several sample Paper 3 exam practice questions and full mark schemes here.

Summary of the new assessments

Summary of external assessments

* The rationale for this is that the response formats for the new Paper 1 and Paper 3 are mostly short questions and long response (essay) questions, so it makes sense to use the IB answer sheets.

^#Paper 2 will require graphs and/or other accounting formats that would make it more convenient to write within the spaces provided in the question paper itself. Students must write their answers on the broken dotted lines within the boxed rectangular area on the question paper. However, additional answer sheets can be used if student need more space (perhaps due to an error made or because they need more space to write their extended response answer).

Please note that the Subject Area Manager has confirmed that calculators are permitted in all three examination papers (December 2022).

Click on the relevant hyperlink to access the supporting resources on the InThinking website.

• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) - Exams

• Assessment for Learning (AFL) Tasks (created in collaboration with Pamela Ng)

• Paper 1 (based on a pre-released statement)

• Paper 2 (quantitative paper)

• Paper 3 (HL) (social enterprise paper)

• Quantitative techniques

• Calculators in Business Management exams

• Abbreviations Quiz

• Command terms

• Command terms posters

• Revision & Exams - Top tips

• Essay frameworks for Paper 1 & Paper 2

• Glossary of key terms

• Poster - External Assessments (SL)

• Poster - External Assessments (HL)