Lynn MacMillan, principal teacher of business studies at Gourock High in Inverclyde, felt some questions were more challenging than anticipated. Ratio questions tend to be unpopular and Question 2 on entrepreneurial structure might have been problematic for pupils with only surface knowledge, as it has not been examined frequently in the past; a question on appraisal and motivation, for six marks, would have stretched an able student.

The second paper, in which pupils must choose two questions, was “very fair”. Question 2, on delayering, down-sizing and out-sourcing was popular, largely because 13 out of the 25 marks could have been examined in a Higher Administration paper and many had also studied that course.

This is the first year Mrs MacMillan has presented pupils for Advanced Higher. She was excited to see the paper, as its pass rate has been disappointing in the last two years. Her verdict was “challenging but fair”.

The case study in Paper 1 was on the Royal Bank of Scotland; pupils who had not read all the questions before starting might have fallen into the trap of covering the same ground in 4 and 6, on meeting customer needs.

Some students were disappointed not to see more questions in Paper 2 from the Managing Organisation: Internal Environment unit. Question 8 on EU enlargement made up for that, as it covered Polish emigration, a topic her class had discussed after watching a BBC documentary, The Poles are coming.