A given context, and a method
What is different about 91381
- In the other two Level 3 exams you can answer on a business you have studied. Here you cannot.
- 91381 gives you a hypothetical business operating in an international environment, plus resource material, and every answer must be built from what is in front of you.
- Three definitions set the task:
- a complex problem is one that affects the business in multiple ways
- to address a problem means providing a potential solution, a range of possible solutions, or minimising its impact
- evidence means information sourced from the given context, including examples from it
- So what you are being examined on is a method, not a memorised business. The business knowledge you bring — quality, distribution, investment, intellectual property — is the tool; the resource is the material.
What the paper looks like
- One question, four parts, (a) to (d). The parts follow a repeating shape:
- a sub-part asking for a possible cause of something that has gone wrong
- a sub-part asking for the effect of it on a named part of the business — profit, market share, reputation, cash flow
- in two of the four parts, a final sub-part asking for a justified recommendation between two named options
- The resources are short and dense: a paragraph of background, a table of figures, a note about a supplier or a market. Everything in them is there for a reason. If a number is printed, a sub-part expects you to use it.
- The 2025 paper's resources included lease costs for two warehouse locations, road distances to ports, a food price inflation figure for one market, and a comparison of two machines by purchase price, training cost, energy use and output per hour.
Reading the resource properly
- Read the resources before the questions, once, quickly, then again with a pen.
- Mark three things:
- numbers — every figure will be used by something
- comparisons — anywhere the resource gives you two of something, that is a recommendation question
- the business's own stated goals — "the business wants to reduce its environmental impact", "the business is aiming to grow market share". These are the criteria your recommendation will be judged against
- The business's stated goal is the answer key. When two options are close, the one that serves the goal the resource told you about is the one to recommend, and saying so is what "justified" means.
The three-step ladder, applied to a complex problem
| Step | What it means here |
|---|---|
| 1 — explain | The causes and effects of the problem, and a range of possible solutions, with evidence from the context |
| 2 — fully explain | The same causes, effects and solutions carried through to how each solution would address the problem, and what it would cost |
| 3 — evaluate | The solutions weighed against each other, ending in a fully justified recommendation built on detailed evidence |
- Note what step 1 already asks for: a range of possible solutions, which means more than one. One solution, however well explained, is not a range.