IB Diploma · Years 12-13
IB Business Studies tutors
Business Management adds the Internal Assessment and a set of required tools and concepts that examiners expect to see used explicitly. HL adds substantial extra content and a heavier quantitative load, and the IA rewards a genuinely researchable organisation over a convenient one.
- USD 30-36 per hour
- One-to-one, online
- Free 1-hour trial class
What IB Diploma actually demands
Six subjects plus Theory of Knowledge, the Extended Essay and CAS. The workload is the defining feature, and the Internal Assessments, coursework worth a substantial share of each subject grade, are what most often slip.
Widely thought of as a subject you can talk your way through, and consistently one where students underperform for exactly that reason. The marks sit in applying theory to the specific business in the case study, not in explaining the theory well.
Where IB Business Studies students lose marks
- Theory explained accurately in general terms and never anchored to the business in the case study
- Evaluation reduced to listing advantages and disadvantages without reaching a supported judgement
- Quantitative content (break-even, ratios, investment appraisal) under-revised because the subject feels qualitative
- Time misallocated across the paper, with long answers to short-mark questions and vice versa
Is this the right subject at this level?
Students heading for business, management or economics degrees, and anyone whose essays read fluently but score in the middle band, nearly always an application and evaluation problem rather than a knowledge one.
What it costs
USD 30-36 per 60-minute one-to-one lesson at IB Diploma, the same rate in every city we teach in. Billed monthly against lessons actually taught, with no prepaid blocks and no minimum commitment.
Paired lessons (2 students) are USD 21-25 per student. Small group lessons (up to 6 students) are USD 15-18 per student. What each format is good for is here.
How we teach it
One-to-one, online, with a shared whiteboard. The first thing we establish is the exact syllabus the student is entered for: schools do not always publish the version they actually enter, and preparing for the wrong paper structure wastes a term.
After that the work is diagnostic: a past paper under timed conditions, marked together against the published scheme, to find out where the marks are genuinely going. That is almost always more useful than covering the syllabus again more slowly. The full process is here.
Business Studies: questions parents ask
My child writes fluently but scores in the middle band. Why?
Almost always application. The marks are for using theory on the specific business in the case study: naming it, using its actual figures, reaching a judgement about its situation. A well-written general explanation of the theory scores in the lower bands however articulate it is.
Is Business Studies an easy subject?
It is easy to pass and hard to do well in, which is a difficult combination. Students underestimate it because the language is familiar, then find that evaluation, weighing options and justifying one, is a skill nobody taught them explicitly.
How much maths is in it?
More than the subject's reputation suggests. Break-even, ratio analysis, investment appraisal and cash-flow forecasting all appear, and because the subject feels qualitative these are consistently the least revised topics.