Introduction
Are you going to sit the CSEC Principles of Business Examination soon? Learn, the format of the CSEC Principles of Business Exam. Get access to CSEC CXC POB Past papers and Specimen Papers. Gain insight on how the examination structure would be like.
What does acronyms CSEC mean?
CSEC stands for Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate. The CSEC examinations are usually written by students or persons who have completed two years of the syllabus at the secondary level.
Why Study the CSEC Principles of Business Subject?
The Principles of Business is a very engaging CSEC subject that incorporates both the theoretical and practical aspects of business activities. This subject provides you with the opportunity to develop your managerial and entrepreneurial skills which are crucial to survive and compete in a local, regional, and global dynamic business environment. As a student, you will be conducting research which would develop and enhance your critical thinking and communication. Likewise, create an awareness of business ethics and Corporate Social Responsibilities.
The Structure of the CSEC Principles of Business Exam
The CSEC Principles of Business comprised of three major assessment components; Paper 01, Paper 02 and Paper 03/1 (School-Based Assessment). Paper 03/2 is an alternative to the School-Based Assessment , offered to private candidates. Table 1.0 below, shows the breakdown of the structure of the CSEC Principles of Business Exam.

Table 1.0 : Structure of the CSEC Principles of Business Examinations
CXC CSEC Principles of Business Syllabus
If you have not gotten the perfect moment to see the CSEC 2019 Principles of Business Syllabus, here is the opportunity to see its significant components. The CSEC Principles of Business Syllabus is broken down into ten parts under three Profile Dimensions, as seen in Table 2.0 below.
Table 2.0: Three Profile Dimensions and Ten Components
CSEC PRINCIPLES OF BUSINESS – PAPER 01 – MULTIPLE CHOICE
The Multiple Choice Paper or commonly known as the ‘Paper 01’ for CXC CSEC Exams typically consist of sixty multiple-choice questions (click here to see Specimen CSEC Principles of Business Multiple Choice Paper 01 – Past Paper). The CSEC Principles of Business Paper 01 – Multiple Choice would have 20 items each from the three Profile Dimension (Organisational Principles, Promotion and Logistics, and Finance, Government and Technology). Table 3.0 shows a detailed breakdown of the number of items per dimension and component of the syllabus. The maximum marks you can gain on this paper is 60 marks.

Table 3.0: Number of Multiple Choice

CSEC PRINCIPLES OF BUSINESS – Paper 02 – Essay Paper
The Paper 02 for the CSEC Principles of Business Exam is known as the ‘Essay Paper’. It will consist of five compulsory questions. Each question is worth 20 marks each. The total marks available for this paper is 100 marks.
PROFILE DIMENSIONS | SECTION TITLES | NUMBER OF QUESTIONS | Marks |
PROFILE 1 | Organisational Principles | 2 | 40 |
PROFILE 2 | Promotion and Logistics | 2 | 40 |
PROFILE 3 | Finance, Government and Technology | 1 | 20 |
TOTAL | 5 Questions | 100 |
Table 4 : Numbers of Questions per Section – Paper 02 – Essay Paper (CSEC POB)

CSEC PRINCIPLES OF BUSINESS – Paper 03 – SBA / Alternative Assessment Paper
Paper 03/1 – School-Based Assessment
School-Based Assessment covering the 3 Profile Dimensions.
Total: 40 marks
Paper 03/2 – Private Candidates
Exam Type: Case Study for Private Candidates only
Time : 1 hour 15 minutes
Total 40 marks
Content Profile | Organisational Principles | Promotion and Logistics | Finance, Government and Technology | Total Marks | (%) |
MARKS | 10 | 20 | 10 | 40 | 20 |
Source: CXC (2017)
Table 5: Mark Allocation for the Three Profile Dimensions for CSEC POB Exam
IMPORTANT CHANGES TO SBA
Commencing in 2019 – Students taking two (2) or more subjects in the same sitting from the business cognate group Principles of Accounting, Principles of Business and Economic (POA, POB, Economics) will be permitted to submit one (1) SBA (Tull, 2018).
I challenge you to answer one entire CSEC CXC POB Past Paper per day for a month to make studying a habit and get familiar with the syllabus. Feel free to check out free CXC Past Papers Answers for CSEC POB PAST PAPERS for January 2019 and June 2018. I look forward to hearing from you in the comment section below on how it went. Until the next blog post . . . Happy Studying! P.S. Like and share this blog 🙂 Follow us on Facebook @STUDYPOB.
REFERENCES
CSEC (2017) Principles of Business Syllabus Barbados: Caribbean Examination Council .
Tull, M. (2018). Changes to structure of examinations | Caribbean Examinations Council. [online] Caribbean Examinations Council. Available at: https://www.cxc.org/changes-to-structure-of-examinations-2018/ [Accessed 28 Jul. 2019].
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