How to use this guide
This guide follows the course's published description and the standard topics for an introductory business course. Instructors' emphasis and notation vary: check your own course outline. The first exam is mostly ideas you define, sort and apply to a short business scenario, plus a few quick calculations, and it covers five chapters in order.
Topic order. Work the tabs left to right. 01 Business covers what a business is, profit, stakeholders, the factors of production and the six business environments. 02 Economics covers scarcity, supply and demand, market structures, and the big macro numbers: GDP, unemployment, inflation and the business cycle. 03 Ethics & CSR is about right and wrong at work and a company's duties to the people it affects. 04 Global business covers why countries trade, barriers, exchange rates and ways to enter foreign markets. 05 Technology covers data, networks, information systems and security.
Inside each topic: read the idea, do each worked example on paper before opening the solution (they run simplest first), then use the lab: change the numbers, or sort the scenarios with Quiz me. Finish with the Drill until you get several in a row right.
| Level | What it asks | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Beginner | One definition, or one formula in one step | Which business environment is this? Profit from revenue and costs |
| Intermediate | A standard calculation or classification with a few steps | Equilibrium price and quantity; converting a foreign price |
| Exam level | A full exam-style question with several parts | Comparative advantage; a stakeholder analysis of a dilemma |
| Hard | Twists: combining ideas, working backwards, traps | Revenue after a price rise when demand is elastic; a safeguard that costs more than it saves |
The drill starts at Beginner and steps up a level after three correct answers in a row; you can also pick a level yourself. The written questions, multiple choice and flashcards are ordered easy → hard, so working through them in order builds each idea from the ground up.
The core formulas
- Profit = revenue − total costs · profit margin = profit ÷ revenue
- Opportunity cost of one unit of A = units of B given up ÷ units of A gained
- Equilibrium: set quantity demanded = quantity supplied and solve for price
- Unemployment rate = unemployed ÷ (employed + unemployed) · inflation = (new CPI − old CPI) ÷ old CPI
- Real GDP = nominal GDP ÷ (price index ÷ 100)
- Elasticity = % change in quantity ÷ % change in price
- Trade balance = exports − imports · landed cost = foreign price × rate, plus tariff, plus shipping
- Expected loss = chance of the event × cost if it happens
Rules people forget: memorize
- Profit is revenue minus costs; margin divides by revenue, not by costs
- A rise in price moves you along the demand curve; a change in income, tastes or related prices shifts it
- Price above equilibrium gives a surplus; below gives a shortage
- Frictional, structural, cyclical and seasonal are the four kinds of unemployment
- Legal and ethical are different: some legal acts are still wrong
- Giving to charity does not cancel an ethical failure elsewhere
- Comparative advantage is about the lowest opportunity cost, not about producing the most
- A tariff is a tax on imports; a quota is a limit on quantity; an embargo is a ban
- Data is raw facts; information is data organized to help a decision
Exam format, weight and allowed aids differ between sections and terms. Check your own course outline.
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This is the first section. The full guide has every topic, the labs and the practice questions.
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