R068 success – key pointers in the assignment brief

Mark Sirot-Smith, Business and Economics Subject Advisor

Reflecting on the exceptional autumn submission for the Cambridge National in Enterprise and Marketing, I thought it would be useful to review centres’ feedback on R068 ‘Design a business proposal’. I used the moderators’ report to focus on some of the key pointers to help your students access the higher mark band, mark band 3 (MB3). I will identify key tips task by task. 

General guidance 

On this course, performance outcome 1 (PO1): ‘recall knowledge and show understanding of enterprise and marketing concepts’ is only assessed in the examined unit, R067. This means that students should not waste time including lengthy theory and explanations in R068. For example, in task 1 it is not necessary to explain all the different types of sampling methods, students simply need to state the sampling methods they have selected and justify why they have chosen them. 

Task 1 

This task requires students to choose two primary and one secondary market research tools. In the autumn submission most students clearly used two primary market research tools (e.g. a questionnaire and face-to-face interviews) but did not use a secondary market research tool and so did not achieve MB3. A secondary market research tool could be as simple as a table to record secondary research findings (screen shots of secondary research alone does not count). 

Task 2

Students must create and describe their customer profile and justify their choice. Many students in the autumn submission created excellent customer profiles but missed out the second part and so fell short of MB3. The assignment brief identifies both parts with separate bullet points, so the activities should be done separately. 

Task 3

To access MB3 in this task, two creative techniques must be used (e.g. mood board and mind-map), one for each design created (e.g. use a mood board for design 1 and a mind-map for design 2). 

Task 4

MB3 requires that ‘detailed reference is made to the self-assessment and the verbal and written feedback gathered’. This could be as simple as getting your students to show peers a picture of their product and asking them what they think of it. A note of this verbal feedback is made. Then the written feedback could be to give post-it-notes to other peers and ask them to write comments about their product and stick them on the design. No detailed analysis is needed but students must then show evidence of how they have modified their design because of this feedback. 

Task 5

MB3 requires students to select an appropriate pricing strategy and selling price for the product design with clearly focused reasoning linked to the identified customer profile. There is no need for students to identify and explain all the different pricing strategies. 

Task 6

Many students in the autumn submission clearly identified the risks and challenges facing their business but missed out on MB3 because they didn’t evaluate their impact on the business. This is a separate activity within the task, indicated by a separate bullet point in the assignment brief. 

Finally, please remember the business and economics subject advisors are here to answer any queries that you might have as you work through the non-examined assessments for the Cambridge National in Enterprise and Marketing. 

Further information 

You will also find it helpful to read the full moderators’ report and moderated candidate exemplars on Teach Cambridge.

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About the author

Mark recently joined OCR, after over 30 years in teaching, lecturing and senior leadership in a variety of secondary schools and FE colleges. He loves being active: walking his dog, playing tennis and visiting his three grown-up children in the midlands and north, especially if it coincides with a Crystal Palace away game!