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  • Cambridge International AS & A Level Business (9609)

Cambridge International AS & A Level Business (9609)

Syllabus overview

The syllabus enables students to understand and appreciate the nature and scope of business, and the role it plays in society. It encourages students to examine the process of decision-making in a dynamic and changing business environment and to develop critical understanding of business organisations. They learn about business and its environment, human resource management, marketing, operations management and finance and accounting. At Cambridge International A Level, students also learn how to develop a business strategy.

Syllabuses

The syllabus year refers to the year in which the examination will be taken.

  • 2023-2025 Syllabus (PDF, 403KB)

Syllabus updates

  • Summary of the changes
    • We revise our qualifications regularly to make sure that they continue to meet the needs of learners, schools and higher education institutions around the world and reflect current thinking. We have consulted and worked with subject experts to review the syllabus, so that the breadth and depth is clearer. Please see the 2023–2025 syllabus document for full details on the changes.

      What are the main changes to the syllabus?

      To support teachers and learners, we have:
      • clarified the assessment objectives and made small changes to their weightings
      • five topics now at Cambridge International A Level
      • embedded business strategy within the five main topics at Cambridge International A Level. Students are now encouraged to learn this within context
      • included formulae for ratios to support the analysis of published accounts
      • included a list of command words and their meanings.

      What are the main changes to the assessment?

      • There are now two papers at Cambridge International A Level, Paper 3 and Paper 4. We have reduced the duration for Paper 3.
      • We have retitled all papers to better describe the focus of each one.
      • We have revised the levels-based marking criteria for all papers to maintain validity and reliability of assessment.

      When do these changes take place?

      The updated syllabus is for examination from June 2023 onwards. Examinations are available in March 2023 for India only. Please see the 2023-2025 syllabus above for full details.

  • Teaching and learning resources
    • Support

      We are developing a comprehensive range of materials to help you teach the updated syllabus. These resources will be available from June 2021 onwards (before first teaching) through our  School Support Hub and include:

      • Scheme of work
      • Learner guide
      • Example Candidate Responses (after first examination).

      Training

      Face-to-face and online training will be available. For up-to-date information, visit our Events and training calendar.

      Endorsed resources

      View the latest resources that are being developed by our Endorsement Partners for the Cambridge International AS & A Level Business syllabus (9609).

      Business for Cambridge International AS & A Level (Fourth edition) (Cambridge University Press) front cover

      Business for Cambridge International AS & A Level (Fourth edition) (Cambridge University Press)

      From studying real-life business scenarios, to ESL support with language worksheets, the new edition of this series gives students the support they need to study this course effectively, and helps prepare them for assessment.

      Read more on the Cambridge University Press website

      Cambridge International AS & A Level Business (Second edition) (Hodder) front cover

      Cambridge International AS & A Level Business (Second edition) (Hodder Education)

      Build strong subject knowledge and skills and an international outlook with expert author guidance and in-depth coverage of the revised Cambridge International AS & A Level Business syllabus (9609).

      Read more on the Hodder Education website

Subscribe to syllabus updates

Important notices

  • Grade descriptions
    • For some subjects, the syllabus states that Grade Descriptions will be made available after first assessment in 2020, 2021 or 2022.

      Publication of grade descriptions was paused in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and the temporary changes to the grading standard that have been in place for 2020, 2021 and 2022. We are currently working on producing these grade descriptions. This work will make sure that grade descriptions reflect examination outcomes appropriately and are based on the more stable grading standard that we expect to have in place for June 2023 onwards.

School Support Hub

We provide a wide range of support so that teachers can give their learners the best possible preparation for Cambridge programmes and qualifications. For teachers at registered Cambridge schools, support materials for specific syllabuses are available from the School Support Hub (username and password required).

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