Students in Years 12 and 13 will have an opportunity through applied learning to develop the core specialist knowledge, skills and understanding required in the business sector. Students will take five units: three mandatory units and two optional units. There are 2 externally assessed exams and 3 internally assessed pieces of coursework to complete. Everybody will study the following mandatory units: • The business environment • Working in business • Customers and communication The business environment, will give students an understanding of the wider external contexts in which businesses operate and of internal business functions and their interdependencies. The unit will allow them to appreciate how legal, financial, ethical and resource constraints can affect business behaviour and the influence that different stakeholders can have and how businesses must respond. Working in business, will give them an understanding of the type of critical skills needed when working in business, such as organisation, prioritisation and effective communication. The unit will allow them to learn how to use different business documents and about organisational protocols that most businesses would expect employees to follow. Customers and communication, will allow students to appreciate how vital customers are to the success of a business. It will give them an understanding of how important it is for businesses to know their customers and what influences customer behaviour. In this unit, they will understand how to communicate with customers. The optional units cover a wide range of topics to give them the opportunity to take a unit that is relevant to a specific aspect of business; for example, marketing, accounting, human resources or business planning.