The Paper 3 Pre-Release (Edexcel A Level Business)

Introduction

• The pre-released context document for Paper 3 focuses on a broad context, such as an industry or market in which businesses operate
  
  
• Its purpose is to enable you to conduct independent learning and research, and an opportunity for you to become familiar with current business issues and trends
  
  • You are not permitted to take your preparation with you into the Paper 3 examination
    
    
• Recent contexts have included
  • The 2022 Commonwealth Games
  • The UK car market
  • The UK's fast food, take-away and restaurant industry
  • The UK entertainment market
  • The market for holidays in the UK and abroad
    
    
• The pre-release context is available from November of the year prior to the exam

The Structure of the Pre-Release Context

• First of all, you are given a broad market context
  • In the example above, the broad market context is the market for online learning in the UK
    
    
• You are then given a series of bullet-pointed areas for research, covering:
  • Market trends
  • Market influences
  • Businesses within the market
  • The competitive environment
    
    
• These bullet-points tend to be similarly-phrased each year, though specific aspects such as leadership or innovation may also be included

How to Prepare

• Although there is no single way to prepare, the following activities are likely to be useful in preparing for your exam:

Review past papers and prior pre-release materials

• Consider how the questions asked have been related to the research topic
• Review the origin, nature and range of new sources introduced in the exam
• Try re-phrasing questions to apply to the current research topic - you may want to ask your teacher for support with this

Compare the bullet points to the specification

• Do they suggest topic areas that may be covered in exam questions?
• E.g. The example pre-release relates to online learning, which suggests that technology aspects of PESTLE Analysis may be relevant

Use online news sources and reputable data sources to gather information on market trends

• Consider aspects such as market size, market growth and market share of key businesses
• Identify key recent developments that have appeared in the news
• Look at relevant sources used in previous exam papers
• Find opinion pieces on the reasons, implications and benefits/drawbacks of market changes
• Look for industry data from organisations that represent workers, businesses or investors in the industry
• Identify legal aspects that relate to the industry

Visit company websites to find out about businesses operating in the market

• Consider market leaders as well as new entrants to the market
  • What are their aims and objectives?
  • Access financial statements to weigh up performance
  • What have their recent announcements involved?
  • How do they market their products?
• Look at customer reviews or ratings from relevant organisations such as Trustpilot, Amazon, Tripadvisor or Which?
• Find out about HR and operations strategies
  • Lots can be discovered from the recruitment section of company websites, including job profiles

Speak to friends/family who have experience of the industry

• Do they work in the industry? If so, what are their insights into its development?
• Are they customers of businesses in the industry? If so, find out about needs, wants and preferences, as well as their buying habits and impressions of businesses in the market

Organise your preparation

• Try to summarise your findings into easy-to-manage notes that you can revise before the exam
  • Organise notes according to the bullet point(s) to which they relate
  • Use highlighting to draw attention to research points you'd like to be able to quote directly in the exam
  • Make use of mind-maps, flash cards or other visual techniques to commit key research items to memory