IGCSE Learner's Guide

Learner’s Guide

You can only rote learn and get good marks to a certain extent, an important part is learning how to frame your answers. Another important thing is being able to think on the spot- this you can only attain by solving case studies on your own and thus developing analytical skills. Our 2nd paper this year was very unique, we hadn’t seen many of the questions and patterns of questions- it was a total shock. Being able to think on the spot + knowing some points from my notes is the only reason I got 93%. ONLY KNOWING THE POINTS WILL NOT GET YOU 85-90+. Also, if you blindly copy the notes without putting some brains into it- your teachers will know and it’s clearly not going to go well because few other people who have the notes may do so too.

So I’m noting down some ways to dissect your case studies + how to frame an answer.

Dissecting case studies:

E.g Merlin’s ice cream parlour was located in a poor neighbourhood and reported a sharp decline in its cashflow and revenue from December- Jan; during this time tax rates for millionaires and billionaires also increased- so they had less money to keep.

Q. What might be the reason for this decline in sales + CF?

DISSECTION, PLUS THINKING UP POSSIBLE REASONS:

●      Firstly, consider the many factors- direct and indirect, mentioned in the case study. Here, the tax rates for rich people, weather are given. You could also mention a potential reason as being e.g. a cheaper ice cream shop opening in the same area. The analysis part is purely considering causes or effects of your point, and the reasons it is possible/ suitable.

●      Now you consider direct + indirect effects of the points you’ve thought up:

-        Tax rates for rich people being higher- they could pay their employees less to keep making the same amt of money- so employees would buy less from Merlin’s parlour INSTEAD OF rich people will buy less from Merlin’s parlour (This wouldn’t cause a sharp decline as they would likely reside in richer neighbourhoods and buy from local parlours nearby only)

●      You could then consider why each of the reasons might/ might not be the cause. E.g. In winter, people buy drastically less ice cream than summer, so sales might have declined heavily; or again, the high tax rates might ultimately lower employees’ wages: so might not spend on luxury items like ice cream.

●      Then, choose which reason is most likely- supported by proof e.g. cheaper ice cream shop opening up might be the cause as poor people are more likely to prefer value for money or quantity, over quality; so Merlin’s would get less sales and less cash income may also lower cashflows steeply.

●      Depending on the question’s framing, think about it from the customers’, business’s, and other stakeholders’ POVs. E.g.…