April updates and notifications

The upcoming examinations

• As it is revision season for candidates in May centres. The top tips section has been updated - get your students to take a look at the updated "Confusing Pairs" activity, for example, by clicking the link here.

• Another vital aspect of exam preparations is understanding the command terms used in the exam. Please direct your students to this updated section of the website which explains all 30 of the command terms used in DP Business Management, with updated practical advice and examples to consolidate their understanding by clicking the link here.

• With the Paper 1 exam just four weeks away, new ATL activities have been added, including an "Inside the Boardroom" activity which is designed to promote the skills of communication, collaboration, self-management, and critical thinking. Take a look at this by clicking the link here.

• Exam practice questions for all five topics in the syllabus have been added to the Peacewick University (Paper 1) webpage here.

• A new Paper 2 exam practice question (Tesla, productivity, Ansoff) has been added to the Exams section here, with real world data on labour productivity and a full mark scheme. Take a look at this by clicking the link here.

The new syllabus

• Following the first round of C3 SSS Workshops for the new IB Business Management workshops, I've added a quiz with 20 questions about the new course (first teaching 2022). How many of these do you know the answer to? To find out, click the link here.
• For the new syllabus, there are 31 command terms (yes, one added). In addition, one of the command terms in the new syllabus has changed from being an AO4 to an AO1. Intrigued? Read more about the new command terms in the section on the new syllabus here.
• As more people start to look at the new syllabus (first teaching in July/August 2022), a growing number of questions are being asked about the similarities (differences?) between the new IA and the Extended Essay. These are not to be treated in the same way nor is the EE simply an extension of the new SL IA (or HL IA). I've provided a summary of the main differences between the new and old SL IA and the key differences between the new IAs and the EE here.
• Information about the four key concepts in the new syllabus can be found here, including lesson ideas and activities, as well as references to areas of the syllabus where these key concepts might be best suitable to integrate into your unit plans / schemes of work. This coming month, I’ll be adding ideas for the integration of the new key concepts for the  internal assessment (SL and HL).
• The new BMT (Business Management Toolkit) webpage is being populated too. For example, a new review quiz has been added to the section on the Ansoff matrix here which is also suitable for students following the current syllabus). There is also a new quiz for Porter's generic strategies (new for HL only from May 2024 exams), which you can access here.
• Finally, for colleagues interested in upcoming training courses for the new syllabus, please note InThinking will be hosting four upskilling events (as we are anticipating high demand for these courses) plus an additional event to introduce the new Business Management Toolkit. The latter event will include a bonus set of ready-made resources that you can use to integrate all 15 tools in your delivery of the new course. Details of these events can be found here.

With best wishes to you and your students, especially those taking their IB Business Management examinations on Thursday 28th April (Paper 1) and Friday 29th April (Paper 2).