Mini practice paper: 8 questions
Mixed-difficulty questions from across the Business Studies syllabus. Tap "Show answer" after each to check yourself.
Q1 · Difficulty 1/3
Which of the following best describes a zero-hours contract?
- The employee is guaranteed exactly the same hours every week
- The employer offers no guaranteed hours and the employee works as required
- The employee works without any contract at all
- The employee is paid nothing for the hours they work
Show answer & explanation
✓ Answer: B — The employer offers no guaranteed hours and the employee works as required
Award 1 mark. The arrangement gives a business flexibility to match staffing to demand and gives some workers welcome freedom, but it transfers the uncertainty of trade onto the employee. Hours worked are still paid, and the worker still has a contract.
Q2 · Difficulty 1/3
Which of the following is NOT part of the marketing mix (the 4 Ps)?
- Profit
- Product
- Price
- Promotion
Show answer & explanation
✓ Answer: A — Profit
Award 1 mark. The marketing mix is Product, Price, Place and Promotion, and the four must tell one consistent story. Profit is the financial result of getting that mix right rather than an element of it, which is why it belongs in the income statement and not in the 4 Ps.
Q3 · Difficulty 1/3
A limited company is owned by its:
- Employees, in proportion to their length of service
- Directors, who are appointed by the government
- Customers, who buy its products
- Shareholders, who hold shares in it
Show answer & explanation
✓ Answer: D — Shareholders, who hold shares in it
Award 1 mark. Ownership and management are separate in a company: shareholders own it and appoint directors to run it on their behalf. That separation is what allows a company to raise money from investors who have no wish to be involved in daily decisions.
Q4 · Difficulty 1/3
Filling a job vacancy by appointing someone already working in the business is called:
- Redundancy
- Dismissal
- Internal recruitment
- External recruitment
Show answer & explanation
✓ Answer: C — Internal recruitment
Award 1 mark. Internal recruitment promotes or transfers someone already employed, which is quicker and cheaper because the candidate's ability is already known and no induction into the organisation is needed. The cost is that it recycles existing experience and leaves a second vacancy behind.
Q5 · Difficulty 1/3
Competitive pricing means that a business:
- Always charges the highest price in the market
- Sets its prices at or near the level charged by its rivals
- Adds a fixed mark-up to the cost of each unit
- Sells below cost in order to force rivals out of the market
Show answer & explanation
✓ Answer: B — Sets its prices at or near the level charged by its rivals
Award 1 mark. Competitive pricing suits a market where products are similar and customers compare prices easily, such as petrol or everyday groceries. It keeps the business in contention but surrenders the initiative, because the price is effectively being set by somebody else.
Q6 · Difficulty 1/3
A job description sets out:
- The skills and personal qualities the ideal candidate should have
- The applicant's own qualifications and work history
- The duties and responsibilities the role involves
- The business's entire organisational structure
Show answer & explanation
✓ Answer: C — The duties and responsibilities the role involves
Award 1 mark. The job description describes the job; the person specification describes the person needed to do it. Keeping them apart matters because shortlisting compares each applicant against the person specification rather than against the list of duties.
Q7 · Difficulty 1/3
Training carried out away from the normal workplace, for example at a college, is called:
- Induction only
- Appraisal
- Off-the-job training
- On-the-job training
Show answer & explanation
✓ Answer: C — Off-the-job training
Award 1 mark. Off-the-job training happens away from the workstation, typically at a college or with an external provider, and it suits skills that cannot be taught on the premises or that need a recognised qualification. It usually costs more than on-the-job training, because the business pays a provider and loses the employee's output while they are away.
Q8 · Difficulty 1/3
Which of the following is an example of a direct distribution channel?
- Manufacturer selling from its own website straight to the consumer
- Manufacturer to retailer to consumer
- Manufacturer to wholesaler to retailer to consumer
- Manufacturer to wholesaler to consumer
Show answer & explanation
✓ Answer: A — Manufacturer selling from its own website straight to the consumer
Award 1 mark. A direct channel has no intermediary, so the producer keeps the whole margin and owns the customer relationship. It also takes on the work the wholesaler or retailer used to do: storage, delivery, payment handling and returns.
AQA GCSE Business Studies FAQ
What does the AQA GCSE Business Studies exam look like?
The AQA GCSE Business Studies exam is structured across 3 components. Paper 1: Approximately 1 hour 30 minutes, ~70-100 marks. Covers Topics 1-4 of the specification. Paper 2: Approximately 1 hour 30 minutes, ~70-100 marks. Covers Topics 5-8 of the specification. Paper 3: Where applicable — e.g. Combined Science, Languages. Includes synoptic and applied questions. Total exam time: ~3 hours across two or three papers.
Can I download a free AQA GCSE Business Studies past paper?
Real AQA past papers are published directly by AQA on their official website. Kramizo doesn't redistribute copyrighted past papers, but we do generate free AI-written practice papers in the exact same style — same command words, same difficulty tier, same mark conventions. Use this practice paper as warm-up, then time yourself on official past papers before exam day.
How is AQA GCSE Business Studies graded?
Grades: 9 (highest) to 1 (lowest), with U (ungraded). A grade of 4 is a standard pass; 5 is a strong pass. Kramizo's practice questions are tagged with difficulty 1-3 mapping roughly to the lower, middle, and top grade boundaries you'll encounter in the real exam.