Cambridge O Level Business Studies (7115) Past Papers: Grade Thresholds and Examiner Report Notes

This page is a guide to past papers for Cambridge O Level Business Studies (7115). It covers six series, June 2022 to November 2024. The grade thresholds are copied from Cambridge’s grade-threshold documents, and the examiner notes are our own summaries of Cambridge’s Principal Examiner Reports for Teachers. We do not host any papers: every paper, mark scheme and report comes from Cambridge.

Where to get the official papers

• Cambridge O Level Business Studies (7115) syllabus page
• 7115 past papers page

Cambridge publishes recent papers, mark schemes, examiner reports and grade thresholds on the syllabus’s past-papers page; older series are available to schools through the School Support Hub.

Use the three documents together. Sit the paper first, under timed conditions. Mark it with the mark scheme, so you see which points earn credit. Then read the examiner report (or our notes below) for that series. It tells you why answers that looked right still lost marks.

Which syllabus were these papers set on? 7115 is examined for the last time in 2026. From 2027 Cambridge replaces it with 7081, Cambridge O Level Business. The papers on this page were set on earlier versions of 7115, so check the syllabus version on the paper’s front cover against the current syllabus. If you will sit 7081, check each topic against the 7081 syllabus before you rely on an old question.

Series index

Series	Papers (components) examined	Examiner report notes	Grade thresholds
June 2019	Not summarised here	Not summarised here	Official page
November 2019	Not summarised here	Not summarised here	Official page
June 2020	Cancelled by Cambridge because of COVID-19	Not summarised here	Not summarised here
November 2020	Not summarised here	Not summarised here	Official page
June 2021	Not summarised here	Not summarised here	Official page
November 2021	Not summarised here	Not summarised here	Official page
June 2022	11, 12, 21, 22	Yes	Yes
November 2022	11, 12, 14, 21, 22, 24	Yes	Yes
June 2023	11, 12, 21, 22	Yes	Yes
November 2023	11, 12, 21, 22	Yes	Yes
June 2024	11, 12, 21, 22	Yes	Yes
November 2024	11, 12, 21, 22	Yes	Yes
June 2025	Not summarised here	Not summarised here	Official page
November 2025	Not summarised here	Not summarised here	Official page

Papers 11, 12 and 14 are Short Answer/Data Response papers. Papers 21, 22 and 24 are Case Study papers.

What examiners keep saying

These are the mistakes that come back series after series, grouped by the syllabus’s own topic names.

• Costs, scale of production and break-even analysis. Saying economies or diseconomies of scale change “costs” in general. The marks go for average (unit) cost. Some candidates did not know economies or diseconomies of scale at all. June 2022, November 2022, November 2023, June 2024.
• Costs, scale of production and break-even analysis. Writing break-even output with a $ sign: it is a number of units. Also measuring margin of safety up to maximum capacity, treating a break-even chart as a record of the past instead of a planning tool, and suggesting a price cut to lower break-even output. June 2022, June 2023, November 2023, June 2024.
• Marketing mix. Mixing up price and cost, and misreading pricing methods: competitive pricing is not simply “cheaper than rivals”, and skimming is not a low-price strategy. Promotional pricing is not the same as promotion. June 2022, June 2024, November 2024.
• Marketing mix and Economic issues. Mixing up the product life cycle and the business cycle: using boom, slump, peak or trough as product stages, or the reverse. June 2022, November 2022, June 2023.
• Motivating employees. Not knowing Herzberg’s two lists. In June 2022 candidates gave hygiene factors or Maslow when motivators were asked for; in November 2023 they gave motivators when hygiene factors were asked for. Job enrichment was also confused with job rotation (November 2022).
• Motivating employees and Organisation and management. Assuming full-time staff are more skilled, motivated or productive than part-time staff, with no evidence from the case. Defining span of control as how much control a manager has, rather than how many people report to them, or making vague claims about what a wide span does. June 2023, November 2023, June 2024.
• Organisation and management. Treating democratic leadership as delegation, or mixing up democratic, autocratic and laissez-faire styles. June 2023, November 2024.
• Types of business organisation. Mixing up limited and unlimited liability; confusing a public limited company with a public corporation or the public sector; writing “PLC” for a private limited company. June 2022, June 2023, November 2023, November 2024.
• Enterprise, business growth and size. Giving franchisee benefits when the franchisor’s were asked for, and confusing licensing with franchising. November 2022, June 2023, November 2024.
• Production of goods and services and Achieving quality production. Little knowledge of kaizen and lean production; confusing batch and flow production. Confusing quality control with quality assurance, and claiming quality control removes every fault. June 2022, November 2022, November 2023, June 2024, November 2024.
• Business finance and Cash-flow forecasting and working capital. Confusing profit with cash: profit does not pay this month’s wages, and high profit does not rule out a cash-flow problem. Listing sources of finance when the question asks what affects the choice. Saying working capital pays for investment rather than day-to-day costs. November 2022, June 2023, November 2023, June 2024.
• Income statements, Statement of financial position and Analysis of accounts. Ratios written as money values, missing the % sign, or built from the wrong totals (ROCE from revenue; total instead of current assets). Choosing liquidity ratios for a profitability question. Mixing up gross profit and profit, or capital employed and working capital. June 2022, November 2022, November 2023, June 2024, November 2024.
• Economic issues. Listing effects of inflation, interest-rate or tax changes without the chain of cause and effect for the business. Loose GDP definitions without “value” or a time period. November 2022, November 2023, November 2024.
• Environmental and ethical issues. Treating ethical and environmental behaviour as the same thing, or ethics as simply obeying the law. External costs misread as costs the firm buys in. June 2022, November 2022, June 2023, November 2023, June 2024, November 2024.
• Business and the international economy. Confusing tariffs with quotas and appreciation with depreciation; treating globalisation as simply trade between countries or being a multinational. November 2022, June 2023, November 2023.

Exam technique the reports repeat:

• Use a new piece of context for every point. A point is credited once, so each one needs its own detail from the case and its own line of analysis. Name the actual product or service rather than writing “the product”. All six series.
• Develop, don’t list. Say what the point means for the business: how or why it changes sales, costs, profit or cash. Adding more knowledge points does not earn analysis marks. All six series.
• Evaluate with a decision. Choose an option, give a reason, and say why the other option is weaker. Summarising earlier points, or saying there are more advantages than disadvantages, is not enough. All six series.
• Know what each part rewards. The final evaluation part carries no application marks, and short knowledge parts do not reward analysis. June 2022, November 2022, June 2024.
• Show the numbers. Write the formula and working, label the answer, and include units such as %. When told to justify with calculations, use the actual figures, including losses. June 2022, June 2023, June 2024, November 2024.
• Read every instruction. Check the focus (the business or its employees, selling abroad or making abroad) and the size, sector and legal form of the case business before you answer. November 2022, June 2023, November 2023, June 2024, November 2024.

November 2024

This series ranged widely: flow and batch production, leadership styles, entrepreneurs and business plans, microfinance, e-commerce, ROCE and the current ratio, public limited companies, external costs and pressure groups, quality, licensing and joint ventures, added value, recruitment documents, packaging, interest rates and tax, pricing methods and extension strategies. The Paper 11 report found this paper a little harder than earlier ones and picked out definitions as weak. Good answers used exact terms, took separate details from the case, and turned each point into an effect on the business before judging. Weak answers gave benefits that would fit any method, described charts instead of using them, and mixed up related ideas.

Where marks were lost:

• Paper 11: vague benefits of flow production such as “cheaper”; defining an entrepreneur as anyone who starts a business; confusing capital employed with working capital.
• Paper 11, Question 4: treating external costs as costs the business buys in, and describing what a pressure group wants rather than how it puts on pressure.
• Paper 12, Question 2: confusing licensing with franchising, or with a government licence. Paper 12 also saw working capital calculated when the current ratio was asked for.
• Paper 21, Question 2: simple statements about interest-rate and tax changes with no reasoning through to profit. Paper 21 also saw gross profit used where profit was needed.
• Paper 22, Question 1: thin plc advantages and disadvantages, such as “sell shares” with no mention of who buys them.

Grade thresholds – November 2024

Option	Components	Max	A*	A	B	C	D	E
W	12, 21	160	101	83	65	48	40	32
X	11, 21	160	102	83	64	46	39	32
Y	12, 22	160	102	85	68	52	43	35

Official documents: past papers, mark schemes and examiner report

June 2024

June 2024 tested diseconomies of scale, spans of control, part-time and full-time workers, short- and long-term finance and the effects of borrowing, social enterprises, pricing methods including skimming, ratios, external costs and benefits, legal controls, location, flow and batch production, promotion, break-even and environmental pressures. A key message: profit does not rise or fall just because price or cost changes, since the number sold matters as well. Answers that talked about the profit margin did better. Strong scripts gave exact definitions, used two separate case details and backed a choice with figures or a comparison. Weak scripts blurred ethics and the environment and mixed up gross profit with profit.

Where marks were lost:

• Paper 11: saying diseconomies of scale raise “costs” without saying average or unit costs; defining span of control with no mention of the number of people.
• Paper 11, Questions 3 and 4: struggling with the effects of higher non-current liabilities and with what a social enterprise is.
• Paper 12, Question 2: calculating ROCE from revenue instead of profit, or leaving off the % sign. Paper 12 also saw price and cost confused when raising the profit margin.
• Paper 21, Question 4: copying figures from the appendix without working out gross profit, unit cost or break-even output.
• Paper 22, Question 1: mixing up gross profit and profit, putting a $ sign on break-even output, and reading a higher break-even output as good news.

Grade thresholds – June 2024

Option	Components	Max	A*	A	B	C	D	E
AW	11, 22	160	91	74	57	41	35	29
X	11, 21	160	91	75	59	44	37	30
Y	12, 22	160	105	87	69	52	43	34

Official documents: past papers, mark schemes and examiner report

November 2023

November 2023 focused on types of business organisation, profit against cash, ratios and the users of accounts, economies of scale, quality control and assurance, Herzberg’s hygiene factors, spans of control, communication barriers, sources of finance, break-even charts, and trade topics such as tariffs, quotas and depreciation. Strong scripts used precise terms, a fresh case detail per point and a weighed decision. Weaker scripts called a repeat of their knowledge a “conclusion”, described data without interpreting it, wrote “the product” instead of naming it, and confused ethics with law or profit with cash. The Paper 22 report saw more candidates with clear gaps in some topics.

Where marks were lost:

• Paper 11, Question 3: using liquidity ratios when profitability ratios were asked for, and claiming profit pays for wages and materials.
• Paper 11: suggesting a price cut to lower break-even output; treating ethical behaviour as the same as keeping to the law.
• Paper 12, Question 4: listing ways to be hygienic, or giving motivators, when Herzberg’s hygiene factors were asked for. Many left it blank.
• Paper 21, Question 1: mixing up quality control and quality assurance.
• Paper 22, Question 3: stating communication barriers without saying why they arise, especially problems with the medium used. Paper 22 also saw a quota called a tax.

Grade thresholds – November 2023

Option	Components	Max	A*	A	B	C	D	E
AW	11, 22	160	108	89	70	51	42	34
X	11, 21	160	106	86	66	47	39	32
Y	12, 22	160	102	85	68	51	42	33

Official documents: past papers, mark schemes and examiner report

June 2023

June 2023 put weight on cash flow and working capital, forms of business organisation, globalisation and trade barriers, exchange rates, environmental and ethical choices, the product life cycle and pricing, market research and segmentation, sources of finance, leadership and delegation, and break-even. The Paper 11 report asks for deeper knowledge of four sections: 1.3.3 and 1.4.1 in Topic 1, plus 6.2.1 and 6.3.1 in Topic 6. High scorers knew exact definitions, kept pairs of ideas apart (tariff and quota, appreciation and depreciation, business cycle and product life cycle), calculated when told to, and justified a recommendation. Weaker scripts reshaped questions, used mirror-image arguments and made unsupported assumptions.

Where marks were lost:

• Paper 11, Question 1: treating globalisation as the same as international trade, or drifting into child labour and quotas.
• Paper 11: naming “investors” or “trade receivables” as cash inflows instead of the money received from them; giving ethical actions when environmental ones were asked for.
• Paper 12, Question 3: mixing up currency appreciation and depreciation. Paper 12 also saw break-even output given as a money value.
• Paper 21, Question 4: no clear purpose given for short-term and long-term finance. Paper 21 also saw the business treated as the franchisee when it was the franchisor.
• Paper 22, Question 3: confusing cash flow with profit and treating a forecast as a record of the past. Paper 22 also saw no figures given when calculations were required.

Grade thresholds – June 2023

Option	Components	Max	A*	A	B	C	D	E
X	11, 21	160	99	82	65	49	40	32
Y	12, 22	160	98	82	66	50	41	32

Official documents: past papers, mark schemes and examiner report

November 2022

This series drew on quality control, franchising, legal controls, pressure groups, market research, motivation methods, democratic leadership, lean production, globalisation, economies and diseconomies of scale, the product life cycle and the uses of financial information. The reports say definitions and knowledge parts were handled better than before, but precision still cost many candidates marks. Use of the case separated scripts. Stronger answers tied every point to the named business with a new detail each time, explained the effect, and justified a final choice. Weaker answers described data without saying why it mattered, took the wrong stakeholder’s view, and repeated knowledge instead of building on it.

Where marks were lost:

• Paper 11, Question 1: believing quality control guarantees zero faults, when only a sample is checked. Paper 11 also saw on-the-job training described as training for new staff, which is induction.
• Paper 12: leaving “at a point in time” out of the definition of a statement of financial position; giving franchisee benefits when the franchisor’s were asked for.
• Paper 14, Question 1: little knowledge of kaizen, with some blank answers. Paper 14 also saw legal controls on marketing answered with health and safety or environmental law.
• Paper 22, Question 3: diseconomies of scale not widely known, again with blank answers.
• Paper 24: describing the product life cycle when the business cycle was asked for; saying working capital pays for investment rather than day-to-day costs.

Grade thresholds – November 2022

Option	Components	Max	A*	A	B	C	D	E
AW	11, 22	160	90	73	56	40	34	28
J	14, 24	160	98	81	64	48	38	28
X	11, 21	160	98	80	62	45	37	30
Y	12, 22	160	85	70	55	40	34	28

Official documents: past papers, mark schemes and examiner report

June 2022

The June 2022 papers covered a wide spread: pricing methods, break-even and margin of safety, production methods and lean production, economies of scale, the uses of accounts and liquidity ratios, Herzberg, internal communication, recruitment and training, business ethics and changes in the economy. Knowledge was often sound, though the Paper 11 report found gaps in some topics; the higher skills made the difference. Strong scripts applied each point to the business in a different way, followed it through to a result for the business, and ended with a reasoned choice that said why the other option lost. Weak scripts gave loose definitions, bent questions towards what they knew, mixed up related terms and repeated themselves.

Where marks were lost:

• Paper 11, Question 4: giving Maslow, or hygiene factors such as pay, when Herzberg’s motivators were needed. Some left it blank.
• Paper 11: describing competitive pricing as simply pricing below rivals; measuring margin of safety against maximum capacity.
• Paper 12, Question 3: explaining promotion across the product life cycle without naming a stage, or using boom and slump from the business cycle.
• Paper 21: weak knowledge of kaizen; applying just-in-time to finished goods instead of incoming materials; treating ethics purely as a profit decision.
• Paper 22, Question 1: saying economies of scale reduce “costs” rather than average or unit costs. Paper 22 also saw liquidity ratios written as money values or built from total rather than current figures.

Grade thresholds – June 2022

Option	Components	Max	A*	A	B	C	D	E
X	11, 21	160	89	73	57	42	35	29
Y	12, 22	160	89	73	57	42	35	29

Official documents: past papers, mark schemes and examiner report

How to use this page

1. Find your gaps first. Take the free 7115 all-topics diagnostic (other subjects are on the diagnostics index) and tick off the O Level Business checklist.
2. Sit a full paper under timed conditions. Download it from Cambridge’s past-papers page. Check the exam calendar so your practice matches the order of your real papers.
3. Mark it with the official mark scheme. Be strict: if your point is not developed or not tied to the case, do not give yourself the analysis mark. Check what each command word needs on our command words page.
4. Read the notes for that series above, then the bullets in “What examiners keep saying”. Tick each mistake you made.
5. Fix the topic. Use the resources on the O Level Business hub and drill the weak area in the 7115 self-check question bank.
6. Re-test. Sit a paper from a different series a week later and compare. For June 2026 thresholds on our flagship syllabuses, see grade thresholds.
7. Want a teacher to mark your answers? Book a free trial lesson.

About these notes

These notes come from Cambridge’s grade-threshold tables and Principal Examiner Reports for Teachers for June 2022, November 2022, June 2023, November 2023, June 2024 and November 2024, written in our own words. Thresholds change every series and must never be used to predict future ones. If you spot an error, please report a correction.