Castilla y León PAU Business and Business Model Design common mistakes
Castilla y León PAU Business and Business Model Design · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
When asked to classify a business by legal form, the candidate picks the form from the business's activity or size (e.g. 'it is a small bakery, so it must be a sole trader') instead of from the number of owners, the liability regime and the capital requirements stated in the prompt.
The legal-form taxonomy is memorised as a list of labels (empresario individual, sociedad civil, SL, SA, cooperativa, sociedad laboral) without the discriminating criteria attached, so candidates fall back on intuitive associations with sector or scale.
What to do instead
Build a decision table with one row per form and columns for number of partners, liability (limited/unlimited), minimum capital, incorporation formalities (escritura pública + Registro Mercantil) and tax regime. Before answering, extract the three or four facts the prompt actually gives and read the form off the table rather than off the story.
The candidate names an analysis tool (SWOT, PESTEL, Porter's five forces) and then lists items without saying what decision follows, or places internal factors in the external half of the matrix (e.g. putting 'high staff turnover' under Opportunities).
Tools are revised as vocabulary lists to be reproduced, not as instruments that feed a recommendation, and the internal/external boundary is never practised under time pressure.
What to do instead
For every tool answer, force a two-line conclusion: 'this implies the firm should ...'. Before writing, sort each factor by asking 'does the company control it?' - if yes it is internal (strengths/weaknesses), if no it is external (opportunities/threats). Practise five short cases where only the conclusion is graded.
In a Business Model Canvas question, the candidate fills the nine blocks with generic labels ('good customer service', 'online') instead of specific, testable statements, and confuses Customer Segments with Channels or Revenue Streams with Cost Structure.
The canvas is memorised as nine headings rather than as a set of questions, so candidates write slogans where the examiner expects a defined segment, a concrete channel and a named pricing mechanism.
What to do instead
Learn each block as a question ('who exactly, described by need and behaviour?', 'through which concrete touchpoint?', 'who pays, for what, how often?'). Write each entry so a stranger could act on it, and cross-check that every Revenue Stream is paid by an identified segment and every Channel reaches one.
When calculating profitability or a break-even point, the candidate mixes up fixed and variable costs, forgets to include the employer's social-security contribution in labour cost, or reports a margin ratio as an absolute euro figure.
Formulas are memorised symbolically (BEP = FC / (P − CVu)) without practising classification of real cost items, and units are not checked at the end.
What to do instead
Drill cost classification on realistic lists (rent, raw materials, depreciation, sales commission, salaried staff, packaging) until it is automatic. Always write the unit next to the result and sanity-check the break-even quantity against the firm's plausible capacity.
The candidate answers a 'sources of finance' question by listing options (bank loan, leasing, shares, crowdfunding) without matching them to the firm's situation - its age, size, legal form and whether the need is short- or long-term - and without discussing cost or dilution.
Financing is studied as a vocabulary list, and the criteria (maturity matching, ownership dilution, guarantees required, cost) are not applied to cases in practice.
What to do instead
For each source record four attributes: horizon (short/long), cost, dilution of ownership, and guarantees/requirements. In the exam, state the firm's profile in one line first, then justify two or three sources against those attributes and reject at least one explicitly.
In marketing-mix questions the candidate describes only product and price, or treats the four Ps as independent, so the answer never links the distribution channel and promotion to the chosen segment and positioning.
The four Ps are learned as a checklist and the coherence requirement - that the mix must be consistent with the target segment - is not made explicit in revision.
What to do instead
Answer in the order: segment → positioning → then each P justified by that positioning. Practise writing one paragraph per P that begins 'because we target X, we ...', and finish with a sentence on how the four reinforce each other.
On organisational-structure questions the candidate draws or describes a structure but cannot say what it implies for coordination, span of control or speed of decision-making, and confuses functional, divisional and matrix structures.
Structures are memorised as diagrams, and the trade-offs (specialisation versus responsiveness, unity of command versus dual reporting) are not connected to the drawing.
What to do instead
For each structure keep three notes: grouping criterion, main coordination mechanism, and principal weakness. When answering, name the structure, justify it against the firm's size and strategy, then state one concrete consequence (e.g. 'the matrix creates dual reporting, so conflict resolution needs clear rules').
The candidate answers motivation and leadership questions by naming a theory (Maslow, Herzberg, McGregor, situational leadership) and stopping there, without applying it to the situation described or distinguishing hygiene factors from motivators.
Theories are learned as names and levels, and the exam's applied wording ('what would you recommend to this manager?') is not rehearsed, so the answer stays descriptive.
What to do instead
For each theory memorise one sentence of content plus one workplace example. Structure applied answers as theory → diagnosis of the case → two concrete actions, and check that actions address motivators rather than only pay and conditions.
The candidate writes long descriptive introductions about the importance of the topic and runs out of time before reaching the calculation or the justified conclusion that carries most of the marks.
Essay habits from other subjects carry over, and the mark scheme (which rewards correct computation, use of the data given and a reasoned decision) is not used to plan the answer.
What to do instead
Practise with a fixed plan: 2 minutes to list the required outputs, answer calculations first, then the justification. Keep introductions to one sentence and reserve the last paragraph for the decision. Time three full papers to calibrate.
In internationalisation questions the candidate recommends 'go abroad' without choosing an entry mode, and cannot distinguish exporting, licensing, joint venture and wholly owned subsidiary in terms of control, risk and investment.
Growth and internationalisation are revised as motives (new markets, economies of scale) without the entry-mode decision framework, so the answer stays at the level of intention.
What to do instead
Memorise a control-versus-commitment ladder for entry modes and, for each, one advantage and one risk. In answers, select a mode, justify it by the firm's resources and the target market's characteristics, and name the main risk plus a mitigation.