How often each topic actually gets tested

Not an official Pearson weighting — Pearson doesn’t publish one for this paper. This is what this course’s own research found by reading real mark schemes and examiner reports series by series, counted honestly rather than assumed. Use it to prioritise review time, not to assume a topic near the bottom won’t appear.

Richest by series count

External influences (economy, legislation, competitive environment)
2.3.5
The most-documented section in this course's WBS12 research: a real, cited question in 12 of the 18 series reviewed, per this topic's own dedicated brief (the broader section-level table in the same folder states 11, missing one January 2020 anchor its narrower method didn't catch). Anchored the 20-mark Q3 essay in both of the two most recent series — January 2025 (business cycle) and June 2025 (inflation vs interest rates).
Profit, liquidity and business failure
2.3.3.1–2.3.3.3
Seen in 11 of 18 series checked, independently re-verified against the primary mark schemes for this pass (surfacing two real sub-questions, October 2024 and June 2025, not itemised anywhere else in this course's material). All three of its confirmed 20-mark Q3 appearances — January 2023 (AvN, liquidity), October 2023 (Amazon Kindle, business failure), October 2024 (EIZO, JIT vs factoring) — sit on liquidity or failure; no 20-mark essay built on profit alone has a confirmed precedent.

Also very heavily tested

Sales forecasting and break-even
2.3.2.1–2.3.2.3
Seen in 10 of 18 series checked — eight with a fully stated tariff, two thinner topic-named-only hits kept as a separate, weaker tier rather than folded in unmarked. A real anchor exists at every tariff on the paper except the 10-mark Assess, which has no confirmed precedent in any of the 18 series reviewed.
Production, productivity and capacity
2.3.4.1–2.3.4.2
Seen in 9 of 18 series checked — a recount of this topic's own 12-anchor table, one series higher than that table's own summary line. Most consistently tested as a 2-mark Define (four separate series, October 2019 to January 2025) and, at 8–10 marks, as labour- vs capital-intensive production, the same two-sided shape confirmed independently across three series.
Inventory control and quality management
2.3.4.3–2.3.4.4
Seen in 8 of the 16 series this topic's own brief checked — a narrower archive than the 18 most other rows here draw on, so not directly comparable on count alone. Reached the 20-mark Q3 essay three times, though only once (October 2021, QC vs QA) standing entirely alone. The single most repeated named trap on this paper: three separate series (October 2020, October 2021, June 2022) independently document candidates confusing quality control, assurance, circles and TQM with one another.

Solidly, repeatedly tested

Planning a business and raising finance / forms of business
2.3.1
Seen in 8 of 18 series checked, per this topic's own dedicated brief (one series further than the section-level table in the same folder, which states 7). The 20-mark Q3 essay is its single most common home — 3 of 8 series (October 2019 loans vs leasing, January 2020 stock market flotation, June 2023 retained profit vs sale of assets) — and every confirmed Q3 appearance has taken a two-way finance-comparison shape, never a single-concept essay.

Thinner, but examinable

Cash flow and budgets
2.3.2.4–2.3.2.5
Seen in 4 of 18 series checked as a full applied question with real figures (5 of 18 counting one bare 2-mark definition credit with no worked context, kept as a separate, weaker count rather than merged in). No 20-mark Evaluate built on this topic alone has been found in any of the 18 series reviewed — thin enough that the existing lesson's own 20-mark exemplar is explicitly original material, not a past-paper reproduction.