UniGeniusLeaving Cert Business

Leaving Cert Business

The new Leaving Cert Business

Students sitting Leaving Cert Business in June 2027 are the first to be examined on the new specification: a written examination worth 60% and the Business Alive Investigative Study worth 40%.

Weeks before your Business paper
Hours a week for Business
Section 1: Investigating business
Section 2: Stakeholders, forms of business and governance
Section 3: Business, the economy and Europe
Section 4: Enterprise, ideas and business planning
Section 5: The target market and marketing
Section 6: Operations, finance, growth and risk
Section 7: Leading and managing people
Section 8: Communication and planning
Section 9: Consumers, personal finance and employees

26 weeks, 104 hours in all

Start with Section 6

Operations, finance, growth and risk: 16 of your hours. It is 5 of the 30 questions on each of our practice papers, 17%.

Hours per section
SectionYour hoursShare of the papers
Section 6: Operations, finance, growth and risk1617%
Section 3: Business, the economy and Europe12.813%
Section 7: Leading and managing people12.813%
Section 2: Stakeholders, forms of business and governance9.610%
Section 4: Enterprise, ideas and business planning9.610%
Section 5: The target market and marketing9.610%
Section 8: Communication and planning9.610%
Section 9: Consumers, personal finance and employees9.610%
Section 1: Investigating business6.47%

Week by week

  1. Week 1Section 6: Operations, finance, growth and risk
  2. Week 2Section 6: Operations, finance, growth and risk
  3. Week 3Section 6: Operations, finance, growth and risk
  4. Week 4Section 6: Operations, finance, growth and risk
  5. Week 5Section 3: Business, the economy and Europe
  6. Week 6Section 3: Business, the economy and Europe
  7. Week 7Section 3: Business, the economy and Europe
  8. Week 8Section 3: Business, the economy and Europe, Section 7: Leading and managing people
  9. Week 9Section 7: Leading and managing people
  10. Week 10Section 7: Leading and managing people
  11. Week 11Section 7: Leading and managing people, Section 2: Stakeholders, forms of business and governance
  12. Week 12Section 2: Stakeholders, forms of business and governance
  13. Week 13Section 2: Stakeholders, forms of business and governance, Section 4: Enterprise, ideas and business planning
  14. Week 14Section 4: Enterprise, ideas and business planning
  15. Week 15Section 4: Enterprise, ideas and business planning
  16. Week 16Section 4: Enterprise, ideas and business planning, Section 5: The target market and marketing
  17. Week 17Section 5: The target market and marketing
  18. Week 18Section 5: The target market and marketing, Section 8: Communication and planning
  19. Week 19Section 8: Communication and planning
  20. Week 20Section 8: Communication and planning
  21. Week 21Section 9: Consumers, personal finance and employees
  22. Week 22Section 9: Consumers, personal finance and employees
  23. Week 23Section 9: Consumers, personal finance and employees, Section 1: Investigating business
  24. Week 24Section 1: Investigating business
  25. Week 25A timed multiple-choice practice paper and two written questions, then review every lost mark
  26. Week 26A timed multiple-choice practice paper and two written questions, then review every lost mark

Check your sections with the free test

Written examination60%, Higher or Ordinary Level; the sample papers are 2 hours 30 minutes and 300 marks
Business Alive Investigative Study40%, a common brief; the report is submitted to the SEC during sixth year
StrandsInvestigating Business, then Exploring the Business Environment, Understanding Enterprise, Leading in Business, Being Informed and Making Informed Decisions
First examinedJune 2027

Five strands and four themes

The unifying strand, Investigating Business, covers research questions, sources, project plans, analysis and presenting findings. The four contextual strands are Exploring the Business Environment, Understanding Enterprise, Leading in Business, and Being Informed and Making Informed Decisions. Ethics and sustainability, business and financial literacy, entrepreneurial thinking and digital transformation run through all of them.

Higher and Ordinary Level

Both levels share the same learning outcomes. Higher Level asks for more depth: more complex information, evaluation and less familiar contexts. In this course each question is marked as suiting both levels or pitched at Higher Level depth.

The written paper

On the sample papers, Question 1 is compulsory and built on business stimulus material, then you answer three of Questions 2 to 5. Practise reading a short case and applying what you know to it.

Try 2 questions

Question 1 · Both levels
Which of these is an internal stakeholder of Athenry Bakery Ltd?
Question 2 · Both levels
Which of these is an example of primary (field) research?

Next step

Take the free testTake the course tour

Questions people ask

Is the new Business specification examined in 2027?

Yes. It was introduced to fifth years in September 2025 and is examined for the first time in June 2027.

Is the Investigative Study done at Higher or Ordinary Level?

Neither: it is a common brief, the same for every student. The written examination is set at Higher and Ordinary Level.

Are old past papers still useful?

For some topics, but the specification and the paper's layout have changed, so check each question against the new learning outcomes.