Original, AI-authored English practice with worked guidance. Selected topics only; independent teacher review is pending. This is not a complete syllabus, official past-paper collection or predicted exam score. Check your own exam-board specification: these concepts are not certified against a particular board or exam year.
69 original questions across 13 selected topic areas. No account or payment required to practise.
6 questions in this topic. Exact English revisions checked in an AI-assisted academic review; independent teacher approval is still pending.
All topics
Original targeted practice for selected 2027 content; indicative answers, not complete syllabus coverage or teacher approval.
Selected subtopics: Planning and recruitment · Expectancy and product portfolios · Elasticities and centred forecasts
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Question 1Fictional employee proposes selling a factory's waste heat to neighbours. The company funds a pilot. Explain intrapreneurship and give two different elements a useful business plan should test before expansion.4 indicative marks
Analyse / Explain4 indicative marksNo calculator
Fictional employee proposes selling a factory's waste heat to neighbours. The company funds a pilot. Explain intrapreneurship and give two different elements a useful business plan should test before expansion.
Cambridge 2027: Direct conceptual match
Checked intrapreneur versus entrepreneur and distinct market/operations finance elements, with no guarantee of plan success.
The existing company bears the pilot's resource commitment. A plan links customer need to a feasible heat-recovery process and finance, rather than just writing a sales target. The pilot can test assumptions before expansion; it cannot guarantee the forecast.
Self-marking points
The employee innovates within an existing organisation, illustrating intrapreneurship rather than necessarily starting an independently owned firm.
A market/revenue plan should identify buyers, reliable demand and realistic contract prices.
An operations/finance plan should assess recovery equipment, installation cash needs and ongoing delivery costs.
Forecasts support decisions but cannot remove uncertainty about demand, technical reliability or competitor responses.
Examiner tip
An internal innovator is not necessarily the legal owner of the business.
Question 2Fictional firm needs technicians who can diagnose faults safely. Compare a job description and a person specification. Propose one selection method and one training method, explaining the fit and a limitation.4 indicative marks
Analyse / Explain4 indicative marksNo calculator
Fictional firm needs technicians who can diagnose faults safely. Compare a job description and a person specification. Propose one selection method and one training method, explaining the fit and a limitation.
Cambridge 2027: Direct conceptual match
Checked role/person distinction, realistic safe skills assessment and matched training limit; no legal hiring guarantees.
Define the role before judging an applicant. An interview alone may not reveal practical fault diagnosis, while an unguarded live test would introduce avoidable risk. Link the training choice to the actual skill requirement and explain how the firm will check transfer.
Self-marking points
The job description specifies duties/responsibilities such as safe fault diagnosis.
The person specification sets needed skills, experience or qualifications rather than the task list itself.
A supervised practical assessment can test diagnostic skill with standardised scoring, but must not expose applicants to live hazards.
Off-the-job safe simulation can develop skill before live work, but transfer to the actual equipment needs supervised checking.
Examiner tip
Selection gathers evidence of present suitability; training develops capability.
Question 3Fictional service staff say effort cannot meet an unrealistic target and bonuses are allocated unpredictably. Apply Vroom's expectancy framework and recommend two targeted changes; explain why increasing the bonus alone may fail.4 indicative marks
Analyse / Explain4 indicative marksNo calculator
Fictional service staff say effort cannot meet an unrealistic target and bonuses are allocated unpredictably. Apply Vroom's expectancy framework and recommend two targeted changes; explain why increasing the bonus alone may fail.
Cambridge 2027: Direct conceptual match
Checked each Vroom link against the supplied complaint and kept reward preference conditional.
Trace effort to performance, performance to reward, and the value of the reward as separate links. Staff describe problems in the first two, so a larger payment promises more at the end of a chain they do not trust. Evaluate the cost and credibility of improvements instead of assuming one pay increase motivates everyone.
Self-marking points
Low expectancy means staff doubt that effort will yield the required performance.
Low instrumentality means they doubt performance will reliably yield the reward.
Training/resources and an achievable clear target can improve the effort-performance link; transparent consistent award rules can improve the performance-reward link.
A larger reward may have valence, but cannot guarantee motivation when either link is weak; staff can also value different rewards.
Examiner tip
Do not confuse valence, expectancy and instrumentality.
Question 4Fictional portfolio: product A has high relative market share in a fast-growing market; B high share in a slow-growing market; C low share in a fast-growing market. Classify them in the Boston Matrix and evaluate automatically funding C from B.4 indicative marks
Analyse / Explain4 indicative marksNo calculator
Fictional portfolio: product A has high relative market share in a fast-growing market; B high share in a slow-growing market; C low share in a fast-growing market. Classify them in the Boston Matrix and evaluate automatically funding C from B.
Cambridge 2027: Direct conceptual match
Checkedstar/cashcow/questionmark categories and distinction between portfolio proxy and actual cash.
Apply the two axes separately. High growth signals possible investment needs, not guaranteed profit. A mature high-share product is not automatically disposable; it may fund other activities. Before transferring funds check actual cash budgets and whether C can compete rather than treating its category as an instruction.
Self-marking points
A is a star; B a cash cow; C a question mark under the stated growth/share categories.
B may generate funds for growth investment, but actual cash generation still requires margins, working-capital and investment evidence.
C may become competitive or may absorb cash without achieving sufficient share.
A recommendation must consider capability, demand and forecast contribution; the two matrix dimensions alone do not justify automatic funding.
Examiner tip
Market growth and relative share are not accounting profit and cash flow.
Question 5Fictional controlled observations: price rises5% and demand falls10%; advertising spending rises20% and demand rises6%; income rises4% and demand rises8%. Calculate the three demand elasticities and one pricing implication, holding other determinants fixed in each observation.4 indicative marks
Fictional controlled observations: price rises5% and demand falls10%; advertising spending rises20% and demand rises6%; income rises4% and demand rises8%. Calculate the three demand elasticities and one pricing implication, holding other determinants fixed in each observation.
Cambridge 2027: Direct conceptual match
Recalculated-2,0.3,2 and finite revenue factor0.945; no cross-observation confounding assumed.
Each response is divided by its own causal input under the stipulated controls. Do not divide the advertising response by price or treat0.3 as a30% profit margin. Revenue uses price times quantity and marginal/fixed costs still affect the profit decision.
Self-marking points
PED=-10/5=-2.
Promotional elasticity=6/20=0.3.
YED=8/4=2, consistent with income-elastic normal demand over this range.
The observed price rise changes revenue by1.05*0.90=0.945, a5.5% fall, not necessarily the same change in profit.
Examiner tip
Elasticity estimates depend on the range and the ceteris-paribus assumption.
Question 6Fictional quarterly sales in units are20,30,40,50,60,70. Calculate the three four-quarter moving averages and the two centred averages, stating their quarter positions. Give one forecasting limitation.4 indicative marks
Fictional quarterly sales in units are20,30,40,50,60,70. Calculate the three four-quarter moving averages and the two centred averages, stating their quarter positions. Give one forecasting limitation.
Cambridge 2027: Direct conceptual match
Independent windows35/45/55 and centres40@Q3,50@Q4 checked; no invented seasonal forecast.
The first window mean is(20+30+40+50)/4=35 at time2.5; the next is45 at3.5. Centre at integer quarter3 by averaging them. Repeat for quarter4. A trend extrapolation would add assumptions; the question does not justify presenting a smoothed number as a guaranteed forecast.
Self-marking points
Four-quarter means for Q1-Q4,Q2-Q5,Q3-Q6 are35,45,55.
The first two means are centred between Q2/Q3 and Q3/Q4 respectively, so their average40 belongs to Q3.
Averaging45 and55 gives50 at Q4.
Smoothing these historical data does not predict structural breaks or establish a seasonal pattern from six observations.
Examiner tip
An even-length moving average needs centring before alignment to an actual quarter.
