Four boards run this A-level and one of them is mid-changeover – what AQA, Edexcel, OCR and WJEC Eduqas each title, structure and assess in 2026.
Book a Free ConsultationA-Level Business is run by four boards – AQA, Pearson Edexcel, OCR and WJEC Eduqas – and, as at GCSE, none titles it 'Business Studies'. The live story this year is OCR: its current A-Level Business (H431) is being withdrawn, replaced from this term, September 2026, by a new specification (H436) – a change no page on the current search results reports. And the quantitative-skills comparison flips from GCSE: all four boards now state an identical 10% floor.
Studying towards A-Level Business under any of the four specifications? Our A-Level Business Studies tutors work from whichever board and specification version a student is actually sitting – AQA 7132, Edexcel 9BS0, OCR's outgoing H431 or incoming H436, or Eduqas A510QS – rather than generic revision notes written for none of them. Rated 4.8/5 on Trustpilot.
AQA's own qualification is titled 'AQA Advanced Level GCE in Business', entry code 7132, QAN 601/4336/8, alongside a companion 'AQA Advanced Subsidiary GCE in Business', code 7131, QAN 601/4337/X. Its Version 2.0 specification, published 14 June 2023, is for teaching from September 2023, first AS/A-level exams in 2024 – not 'Business Studies'. Pearson Edexcel's qualification is titled 'Pearson Edexcel Level 3 Advanced GCE in Business', code 9BS0, QN 601/4673/4, first teaching from September 2015, first certification from 2017. OCR titles its current qualification 'Cambridge OCR Level 3 Advanced GCE in Business' (H431) and its replacement the same name (H436) – the changeover between the two is this page's next section. WJEC Eduqas's qualification is titled 'WJEC Eduqas GCE A Level in Business', entry code A510QS, QAN 601/4868/8, Version 2 (January 2019), teaching from 2015, for award from 2017; it is not available to candidates in maintained schools and colleges in Wales, since Eduqas is WJEC's separate, England-facing brand from the distinct, Wales-facing WJEC A-level Business.
None of the four current specifications carries the word 'Studies'. JCQ's own national entry statistics still categorise the subject as 'Business Studies' in every results table – the same naming pattern our GCSE Business Studies guide found at GCSE, where every board also dropped the word 'Studies' from its title. A control check on AQA's own site, mirroring that GCSE finding, produced the identical result at A-level: a fake sub-page placed directly under the real business-7132 qualification root returns a genuine HTTP 404, but the same kind of fake sub-page placed under the specification/ folder instead silently returns HTTP 200, serving the real specification landing page.
This is the single biggest live fact in this family, and no competitor result on the current search results reports it. According to OCR's own subject-update page, updated 7 September 2026, OCR's current A-Level Business (H431, QN 601/4675/8) had its final first-teach date in September 2025, and its final assessment opportunity will be summer 2027. The companion AS Level Business (H031, QN 601/4674/6) is withdrawn on the same schedule, with its own final assessment opportunity in summer 2027 and no resit opportunity afterwards. Students wishing to resit A-Level Business after H431's final assessment must take the new A Level Business (H436) instead.
OCR's new A-Level Business, also titled 'Cambridge OCR Level 3 Advanced GCE in Business' but coded H436 (QN 610/6792/1), is accredited for first teaching in September 2026 – this month – with first assessment in summer 2028, certificated from the June 2028 series. From September 2026, OCR's own guidance states schools must teach the new specification. Put plainly: a student beginning A-level study in September 2026 will be taught H436 and sit their first exams in summer 2028; H431 remains live only for students already partway through it, closing after its own final assessment in summer 2027. Both dates and both codes are cross-confirmed independently by OCR's legacy H431 specification PDF itself, which states its own final first-teach date as September 2025 and directs a Summer 2028 resit to H436, and by the H436 specification PDF, which states first teaching 2026 and first assessment 2028.
A control check on OCR's own site is worth recording, because OCR's HTML does not reliably distinguish a real qualification page from an empty one. An invented qualification URL of an identical shape to the genuine H436 page also returns HTTP 200 – but as a generic 48,185-byte template shell, where the word 'business' appears only 9 times as boilerplate and the fake code itself appears zero times. The genuine H436 page returns HTTP 200 at 60,572 bytes, with 'business' appearing 53 times and 'H436' appearing 9 times. Both were fetched live with a full browser user agent on 8 September 2026.
Whichever side of OCR's changeover a school sits on – the outgoing H431 or the incoming H436 – our A-Level Business Studies tutors build sessions around the actual paper structure being sat, not a generic topic list written for the other specification.
The picture genuinely splits by board. OCR's AS Level Business (H031) is withdrawn, with its final assessment opportunity in summer 2027 and no resit afterwards, as set out above. WJEC Eduqas has withdrawn its AS Level Business on almost exactly the same timetable: Eduqas's own qualification page states there will be assessment opportunities for current learners in summer 2026 and summer 2027, with the final award in summer 2027 – the same final-award series as OCR's withdrawal.
AQA has not withdrawn its AS: its current specification still lists a separate 'AQA Advanced Subsidiary GCE in Business', entry code 7131, QAN 601/4337/X, alongside the A-level. Pearson Edexcel is the genuinely uncertain case. Its own qualification page, titled 'Edexcel AS and A level Business 2015', carries no AS-withdrawal notice of any kind – in contrast to Eduqas's and OCR's own pages for the same subject, which both display an explicit withdrawal banner. That absence is worth publishing as an absence, not turned into a claim: it does not confirm Edexcel's AS Level Business remains in indefinite production, only that no withdrawal notice was found on the page checked on 8 September 2026, and this page did not independently verify the AS-specific entry code or its current status.
Yes – and that is a genuine reversal of the GCSE picture. Our GCSE Business Studies guide found that AQA alone states no quantitative-skills percentage at GCSE, while Edexcel, OCR and Eduqas each state at least 10%. At A-level, AQA joins the other three: its specification states the assessment of quantitative skills will include at least Level 2 mathematical skills as a minimum of 10% of the overall AS marks and a minimum of 10% of the overall A-level marks. Edexcel's specification states the same floor, at least 10% of the overall marks for the qualification. OCR states the identical minimum of 10% of the overall A-level marks in both its outgoing H431 specification and its new H436 specification. WJEC Eduqas states a minimum of 10% of the overall A-level marks too. Four boards, one published number, where at GCSE there were three numbers and one silence.
What this page does not do is claim why. No Department for Education or Ofqual subject-content document for A-level Business was located this run that would explain a shared regulatory origin for the 10% figure, so the fact published here is the convergence itself, sourced to each board's own specification – not an assertion about a common cause behind it.
Whichever board sets the numeracy questions on a student's paper, our A-Level Business Studies tutors build quantitative-skills practice into revision from the start, not as an afterthought before the exam.
This is the parent-page question: not one board in depth, but what a school is really choosing between. AQA's A-level Business (7132) is assessed by three equally-weighted written papers, each 2 hours and 100 marks, 33.3% of the A-level each, for 300 marks total. Paper 1 has three sections – 10 multiple-choice questions, a short-answer section, and two data-response stimuli. Paper 2 has three compulsory data-response questions. Paper 3 is one compulsory case study followed by around six questions.
Edexcel's A-level Business (9BS0) also sits three 2-hour, 100-mark papers, but does not split them equally: Paper 1 (Marketing, people and global businesses) and Paper 2 (Business activities, decisions and strategy) are each worth 35% of the qualification, and Paper 3 (Investigating business in a competitive environment) is worth 30%. Paper 3 is the structural outlier across all four boards: it uses a pre-released context document, issued on Edexcel's website in November of the year before the exam and focused on a broad industry or market, a feature no other board's A-level Business specification uses.
OCR's new A-level Business (H436) sits three equally-weighted 2-hour, 90-mark papers, 33.3% each, for 270 marks total. Every paper opens with a 10-question multiple-choice Section A, then two case-study sections; Paper 03's final section also carries the qualification's only synoptic question, a change from the outgoing H431 specification, whose three 80-mark papers (240 total) each carried synoptic assessment. WJEC Eduqas's A-level Business is assessed by three equally-weighted components, each a 2-hour-15-minute written exam worth 80 marks and 33⅓% of the qualification, for 240 marks total. Its Component 3 offers a choice of one synoptic essay from three – a format none of the other three boards uses.
| Board | Code | Papers | Marks total | Weighting | Quant-skills minimum |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AQA A-level Business | 7132 | 3 papers, 2 hr each | 300 | 33.3% each | At least 10% |
| Edexcel A-level Business | 9BS0 | 3 papers, 2 hr each | 300 | 35% / 35% / 30% | At least 10% |
| OCR A-level Business (new) | H436 | 3 papers, 2 hr each | 270 | 33.3% each | At least 10% |
| OCR A-level Business (outgoing) | H431 | 3 papers | 240 | Not equal, synoptic on all three | At least 10% |
| Eduqas A-level Business | A510QS | 3 components, 2 hr 15 min each | 240 | 33⅓% each | At least 10% |
Source: AQA, Edexcel, OCR and WJEC Eduqas A-level Business specifications, retrieved 8 September 2026.
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According to JCQ's Table 1, A-level results by subject, age, sex and country, the summer 2026 series recorded 43,028 A-level Business Studies entries in England – 25,752 male and 17,276 female. The summer 2025 series recorded 41,647 entries, so 2026 is up by 1,381. Against 835,606 all-subject A-level entries in England in the 2026 series, Business Studies is a solidly mid-sized A-level rather than a small or niche option.
| Series | Entries (England) | Male | Female | A* | A*-A | A*-C |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Summer 2026 | 43,028 | 25,752 | 17,276 | 4.08% | 15.58% | 76.77% |
| Summer 2025 | 41,647 | — | — | — | — | — |
Source: JCQ Table 1, A-level results by subject, age, sex and country, England, summer 2026 series, retrieved 8 September 2026. Blank 2025 cells were not part of the figures verified for this page.
The full 2026 grade profile for England, all ages, male and female, reads 4.08% grade A*, 15.58% A*-A, 47.41% A*-B, 76.77% A*-C, 92.41% A*-D and 97.94% A*-E.
Ready to start A-Level Business Studies revision? Our A-Level Business Studies tutors work from the actual specification and version a student is sitting, building sessions around real past papers rather than generic notes. 91% of our students achieve their desired grades.
No – A-Level Business Studies and A-Level Economics are two separate qualifications, each assessed under its own specification codes by each board, even though families sometimes group them together when choosing options. By entries, A-level Business Studies (43,028 in the summer 2026 series, above) and A-level Economics are both large, well-established option subjects, but that is a similarity of scale, not of content. Our A-Level Economics guide covers who sits which specification and the June 2026 results in full, rather than restating that detail here.
Four boards, one live changeover, one genuine board-by-board AS split, and a quantitative-skills floor that reverses what GCSE shows – that is the whole picture A-Level Business Studies offers in 2026. AQA, Edexcel and Eduqas continue their current specifications unchanged; OCR is mid-transition from H431 to H436, with different marks, a different paper total and a different synoptic structure either side of the changeover. All four now publish the same 10% quantitative-skills floor, a genuine reversal of the GCSE picture, and none of the top search results names it.
Checking the board, the code and, for OCR, which side of the changeover a school has moved to, settles which past papers and mark scheme are worth practising from: AQA 7132, Edexcel 9BS0, OCR's outgoing H431 or incoming H436, or Eduqas A510QS. With 835,606 all-subject A-level entries in England in 2026 and Business Studies a genuinely mid-sized option within that, confirming the specification early, ideally before the September start, is what determines which paper structure a student should actually be revising towards.
Get A-Level Business Studies support built around the right board and specification. Our tutors work from AQA 7132, Edexcel 9BS0, OCR's H431 or H436, or Eduqas A510QS – whichever a school has entered a student for – rather than generic revision notes.
Four boards: AQA publishes A-level Business (7132), Pearson Edexcel publishes A-level Business (9BS0), OCR publishes A-level Business, currently H431 and being replaced by H436, and WJEC Eduqas publishes A-level Business (A510QS). As at GCSE, none of the four titles it 'Business Studies' – JCQ's own national tables still record the subject that way, which is why the name families search for rarely matches the name on a specification.
A student beginning A-level study in September 2026 will be taught OCR's new specification, H436, which is accredited for first teaching this term and reaches first assessment in summer 2028. The outgoing specification, H431, stopped taking new starts after September 2025 and reaches its own final assessment opportunity in summer 2027 – it remains live only for students already partway through it.
It depends on the board. OCR and WJEC Eduqas have both withdrawn their AS Level Business, with the same final award series, summer 2027, for each. AQA's current specification still lists a separate AS Level Business (7131). Pearson Edexcel's own qualification page carries no AS-withdrawal notice – an absence, not confirmation that Edexcel's AS continues indefinitely, since this page did not independently verify its current status.
Yes – and that is a reversal of GCSE. At GCSE, AQA alone states no quantitative-skills percentage while the other three state 10%. At A-level, all four specifications – AQA, Edexcel, OCR (both H436 and the outgoing H431) and Eduqas – state an identical minimum of 10% of the overall marks. No DfE or Ofqual document explaining why all four converge on the same figure was found this run, so that is published as a fact of convergence, not a claimed cause.
AQA sits three equally-weighted 2-hour, 100-mark papers (300 total). Edexcel also sits three 2-hour, 100-mark papers but weights them 35%, 35% and 30%, and its Paper 3 uses a pre-released context document issued every November – a feature no other board uses. OCR's new H436 sits three 2-hour, 90-mark papers (270 total), each opening with 10 multiple-choice questions, with the qualification's only synoptic question in Paper 03. Eduqas sits three 2-hour-15-minute, 80-mark components (240 total), and its Component 3 offers a choice of one synoptic essay from three.
43,028 candidates in England sat A-level Business Studies in the summer 2026 series, according to JCQ's Table 1 – 25,752 male and 17,276 female. The 2025 series recorded 41,647 entries, so 2026 is up by 1,381. Against 835,606 all-subject A-level entries in England in 2026, Business Studies is a solidly mid-sized A-level. 4.08% of 2026 candidates were awarded grade A*, 15.58% A*-A, and 76.77% A*-C.
Our A-Level Business Studies tutors work from the specification and version a student is actually sitting – AQA 7132, Edexcel 9BS0, OCR's outgoing H431 or incoming H436, or Eduqas A510QS – building sessions around that board's own past papers and mark schemes rather than generic revision notes. 91% of our students achieve their desired grades, and we are rated 4.8 out of 5 on Trustpilot. Book a free consultation or message us on WhatsApp to talk it through.
Reviewed 8 September 2026: specification codes, paper structure, marks, quantitative-skills weightings and JCQ entry figures were checked against AQA, Edexcel, OCR, WJEC Eduqas and JCQ, with every specification code re-verified independently against a live fetch on 8 September 2026. No grade-boundary figures are published on this page. Last updated 8 September 2026.
Our expert A-Level Business Studies tutors help students work through AQA 7132, Edexcel 9BS0, OCR's H431 or H436, or Eduqas A510QS, whichever their school has entered them for. Rated 4.8 out of 5 on Trustpilot from 58 reviews.
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