4. Evaluation - So what? and Twist!

So you are targeting an A*or A grade but you keep hitting the B grade boundary (C at AS or A2).  What's the problem?

Let me assume that you've done the graft, you know the material.  You identify issues clearly and you expand issues with unbroken chains of analysis.

You've the advantages and disadvantages; or the costs and benefits; or the influencing factors.  The next bit is "So what?"

Evaluation is about judgement.  You have to assess which part of your analysis is strongest or most important and explain why in the particular circumstances this is the case.

So it's "So What?" Your phrase would be something like "So on balance, it is likely the business went bankrupt due to its poor management of its cash flow."

Building a chain of evaluation will boost the grade further "It it is a little unfair to blame everything on the business though, if the economy had not gone into recession, their houses would have sold for more."  This sort of evaluation would push you into the A grade as you are backing up your assessment.

At AS or A2, you may also have to say how it might be different if the circumstances vary - you have to generate this alternative reality.  These TWIST factors are one way to move across the A/A* boundary. 

So we could add "Perhaps, if the firm had employed a specialist accountant, it would have had the skills to more effectively manage the problems it faced".  Hence you solve the problem.

The key issue in evaluation is that you tackle the turning point identified in the question.  In AS/A2 Business or Economics this is often a generalisation that doesn't hold as much as the question suggests. 

At GCSE it tends to be a simpler problem.  Use the case study; make reference to the particulars of the case to solve the problem.

Examples to follow.