Business Management subject report · November 2009

November 2009 extended essay reports Page 1 © International Baccalaureate Organization 2009 BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT Overall grade boundaries Grade: E D C B A Mark range: 0 - 7 8 - 15 16 - 22 23 - 28 29 - 36 The range and suitability of the work submitted The range and suitability varied both between centres and within centres. Some cand idates produced excellent, very interesting, well researched pieces in terms of sources a nd the use of critical thinking /evaluative skills, combined with well substantiated conclusions and recommendations. The difference in performance between the first language to non -first language English speakers was apparent. While such a range is somewhat expected, there were some noticeable reasons for candidates not performing perhaps as well as they should/could. The most noticeable issue was the fact that candidates in some centres based their resea rch on primary sources only or mainly. The focus has been changed to ‘Candidates should use as the basis of their extended essay secondary data supported, where appropriate by primary research’. The new focus was agr eed by senior examiners in order to distinguish the EE from the IA. Hence, the expectation now is that the candidates produce a more academic research with the main focus on secondary data. It was disappointing to see that in some centres the new emphasis was not followed despite a clear interest and knowledge of the candidates. Basing the essay on a primary research only affected candidates’ performance to various extents in different criteria – C, D, and K. Please note that under the new focus, it is exp ected that the candidates use a variety of secondary sources and do not use solely or mainly text books/ theoretical internet sites as their secondary sources. Some examples of possible sources are given in the new guide Several essays were backward looking and resulted in a very descriptive research. In some centres, the research questions were very