Our OCR A-Level Business Tutors are fully qualified teachers who teach the OCR course one-to-one online. They cover everything from the multiple-choice and short-answer questions to the 15-mark evaluations built around each paper’s Resource Booklet.
No commitment. Just a conversation about their OCR papers, their mock results and their target grade.
Predictions set by the student’s school, or by us for self-studying students. See every result · Read the reviews
Like AQA, OCR is replacing its A-level Business course. Students who started Year 12 in September 2026 or later take the new H436. Students who started earlier finish the current H431. The papers look quite different, so we plan around the right one from the first lesson.
H431
The current OCR A-level, examined since 2017.
H436
The new Cambridge OCR A-level, first taught in September 2026 and first examined in 2028.
Not sure which one? The code (H431 or H436) is on the front of any OCR mock paper and on your child’s exam entry.
Each H431 paper is worth 80 marks in two hours, so students get about 1.5 minutes per mark. That’s more time per mark than AQA or Edexcel, and it’s meant for reading the Resource Booklet properly. The three papers work at three scales: a local business, the UK environment and the global environment.
Share of the whole A-level
Watch out: three 15-mark questions on one paper means 45 marks depend on evaluation-heavy answers. Timing them is essential.
Share of the whole A-level
Watch out: this paper carries the most knowledge marks. Precise definitions in Section A are quick marks that students often throw away.
Share of the whole A-level
Watch out: examiners warn that a passing “name-drop” of the business isn’t application. Each point needs to use the case, not repeat it.
Structure and weightings: OCR H431 specification. Question examples: OCR mark schemes (June 2024 and June 2025) and examiners’ report (H431/03, 2019).
OCR’s longer questions give evaluation an unusually large share of the marks. In a 15-mark answer, evaluation is worth 7 marks, almost half the question. Short “Analyse” questions, by contrast, carry no evaluation marks at all. Knowing which is which saves time and marks.
| Question type | Marks and where | How the marks split | What a top answer does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Multiple choice | 1 mark each, 15 in total · Component 01 | Right or wrong | Relies on exact definitions and quick, accurate working for numerical options. |
| State / define / explain | 2–4 marks · Component 02 Section A and elsewhere | Mostly knowledge | Gives textbook-precise definitions. Explanations add one clear, developed point. |
| Calculate | 2–5 marks · all papers | Marks for method and answer | Selects the right figures from the Resource Booklet, shows each step and states units. |
| Analyse | 4, 6 or 9 marks · all papers | No evaluation marks (e.g. 9 marks: AO1 2, AO2 2, AO3 5) | Develops exactly the number of points asked for (“one impact”, “two ways”) into applied chains of reasoning. No conclusion is needed. |
| Evaluate two… | 9 marks · e.g. Component 02 | AO1 2, AO2 2, AO3 2, AO4 3 | Two applied points, each weighed rather than just explained, and a view on which matters more. |
| Evaluate / recommend | 15 marks · Components 01 and 02 (up to 20 on Component 03) | AO1 2, AO2 2, AO3 4, AO4 7 | Evaluative throughout, not just at the end. It needs a well-developed line of reasoning and a justified recommendation. |
OCR H431 mark schemes (June 2024 and June 2025). Evaluation is worth 7 of the 15 marks.
OCR H431/01 mark scheme, June 2025. No evaluation marks: time spent on a conclusion here is time lost elsewhere.
On H431 the four assessment objectives are weighted exactly equally, 25% each across the A-level. The balance shifts from paper to paper, though, and the longer questions lean heavily on evaluation.
OCR tests knowledge directly through Component 01’s multiple-choice questions and the “State” and “Define” questions in Component 02 Section A. Examiners regularly note that students don’t know basic key terms well enough.
More on AO1 Knowledge and UnderstandingEvery paper is built around a Resource Booklet. OCR’s examiners are blunt: without using the context, the marks available are low. Application means using the booklet’s details to shape each point, not mentioning the business’s name.
More on AO2 Application“Analyse” questions are short and precise on OCR: 4, 6 or 9 marks, often asking for exactly “one impact” or “two ways”. Writing the right number of points in real depth beats a longer list of thin ones.
More on AO3 AnalysisEvaluation carries 7 of the 15 marks in OCR’s longest regular questions. Examiners say good answers are “evaluative throughout”, weighing each point as it’s made rather than saving everything for a final paragraph.
More on AO4 EvaluationWeightings: OCR H431 specification. Examiner comments: OCR examiners’ report, H431/03 (2019).
Here’s how a tutor might break down a 9-mark question in a lesson. The practice question is our own, written in the OCR style. It needs two points, and each one has to be weighed, not just explained.
A family-owned garden centre is opening a café on site. Evaluate two benefits to the business of this decision.
On OCR, a 9-mark “Evaluate two…” answer is split into knowledge 2, application 2, analysis 2 and evaluation 3. Evaluation is the largest share, even on a mid-sized question.
Name the benefits precisely: diversification of revenue, and a longer customer dwell time. Accurate terms, not “more money”.
Use the context: plant sales rise and fall with the seasons, but a café can trade steadily all year. Specific to a garden centre.
Develop benefit one: steadier café income through winter → smoother cash flow → less need for short-term borrowing in quiet months. A short, linked chain.
Weigh it: the benefit depends on the café being a destination in its own right. If it only serves shoppers, it will be quiet in winter too. Evaluation placed right after the point.
Judgement: steadier cash flow is the more important benefit for a seasonal business, because it tackles the firm’s biggest risk. Longer visits matter less if spending per visit doesn’t rise. Compares the two benefits directly.
OCR designed the new A-level to be simpler to navigate. Every paper has the same layout, a formulae booklet is provided and there are fewer command words. The longest question is worth 14 marks.
| Sample Paper 1 section | Marks | What’s in it |
|---|---|---|
| Section A | 10 | 10 multiple-choice questions across the paper’s content. |
| Section B | 40 | A case study with a calculation, an 8-mark “Analyse” and two 14-mark questions, one analyse-and-recommend and one evaluate. |
| Section C | 40 | A second case study, from 2-mark definitions up to two 14-mark questions. |
Sources: Cambridge OCR H436 specification at a glance and H436/01 sample assessment material (2025). Each paper: 2 hours, 90 marks.
We go through recent mocks by component and question type. That shows whether marks are slipping on definitions, calculations, the short “Analyse” questions or the 15-mark evaluations.
Students learn exactly how much to write for a 4, 9 or 15-mark question, when evaluation earns marks and when it doesn’t, and how to use the Resource Booklet in every point.
Closer to the exams, students write full papers under timed conditions. Tutors mark them against OCR’s levels and explain what would have lifted each answer.
Lessons are one-to-one on Google Meet, usually once a week, with no contract.
Book a free 15-minute introOCR students come to our A-Level Business Tutors for different reasons, from low marks on the 15-mark evaluations to a teacher change halfway through the course. Choose the one closest to yours.
Using the Resource Booklet, pacing each OCR paper and structuring “Evaluate” answers.
Exam techniqueThe analysis and judgement that separate a B from an A*.
Aiming for a higher gradeMissed lessons, a change of teacher, or a topic that never clicked.
Catching up on missed lessonsA resit plan built on exactly where marks slipped last time.
Resitting examsThe full A-level specification, taught from scratch one-to-one.
Self-studying studentsTell us what’s happening at school or college and we’ll suggest a plan.
Book a free 15-minute introEvery tutor is a trained Business teacher who knows how OCR’s levels and mark splits work, so feedback on practice answers matches how the real paper is marked.
Students describe, in their own words, what changed after one-to-one lessons.
Watch the videosThe code is on the front of any OCR mock paper and on their exam entry. Students who started Year 12 in September 2026 are on the new H436, first examined in 2028. Students who started earlier are on H431.
On H431, each paper’s longer questions are based on a Resource Booklet about a business and its situation. Most marks depend on using its details, so we practise reading a booklet quickly and pulling out the evidence each question needs.
On OCR, “Analyse” questions carry knowledge, application and analysis marks but no evaluation marks. A conclusion earns nothing extra there. The time is better spent on the 9 and 15-mark “Evaluate” questions, where evaluation is the biggest share of the marks.
Yes. Calculations appear on every H431 paper, from 2-mark short answers to 5-mark calculations based on the Resource Booklet. At least 10% of marks test quantitative skills, and the new H436 provides a formulae booklet in the exam.
Most students have one 60-minute lesson a week. Early in Year 12, once a fortnight can work. After February half-term in Year 13, two or three a week is common for the final push.
Book a free 15-minute introductory meeting. Tell a tutor which OCR specification your son or daughter is on, how their last mock went and the grade they’re aiming for. There’s no commitment.
We also tutor AQA and Edexcel A-level Business, and GCSE and BTEC Business.
