PAU Business Operations (Catalonia) common mistakes
PAU Business Operations (Catalonia) · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Describing the legal form of a company (SA, SL, cooperative) only by listing its capital requirements and number of partners, without linking that form to the decision context in the prompt (size, liability exposure, financing needs, tax treatment).
The legal-forms topic is usually memorized as a table and candidates reproduce the table instead of reasoning about which form suits the case. The PAU prompt typically asks for a justified choice, so a descriptive answer earns partial credit at best.
What to do instead
Practise answering with a two-step structure: first state the decision criterion the case highlights (e.g. limiting personal liability for a risky expansion), then name the form that satisfies it, then contrast it with the closest rejected alternative in one sentence. Build a one-page comparison grid (liability, capital, partners, taxation, governance) and rehearse using it to argue, not to recite.
Confusing the legal personality and liability regime of the entrepreneur (empresario individual) with that of a mercantile company, or claiming an SL always shields partners in every situation.
Textbook summaries compress the distinction, and candidates carry over the idea that 'companies limit liability' without noting exceptions such as unregistered companies, liability for debts assumed personally, or the liability of administrators.
What to do instead
Write a short corrective note for yourself: sole trader answers with all present and future assets; a company answers with its own patrimony, with statutory exceptions. Then solve three short cases where the answer changes (sole trader with large debts, SL with an administrator who failed to file accounts, a sociedad civil).
Presenting SWOT as four disconnected lists and never converting it into strategy, so the answer stops at 'strengths: good brand; threats: competition'.
SWOT is taught early and feels easy, so candidates dump observations instead of using the matrix to derive a strategic option. Examiners award marks for the link from diagnosis to decision.
What to do instead
Force every SWOT answer to end with at least one crossing: a strength used against a threat (defensive strategy) and a weakness paired with an opportunity (improvement strategy). Practise with a 15-minute drill: four bullets per quadrant maximum, then two explicit strategic recommendations, each naming the quadrant pair it comes from.
Mixing up the functions of the operations area with those of marketing or finance, for example treating stock control or supplier selection as a commercial decision.
Functional areas overlap in real companies, and candidates answer from intuition about what 'sounds' operational rather than from the defined scope of each department.
What to do instead
Memorise a one-line mandate for each area (operations transforms inputs into outputs; marketing manages demand and the commercial relationship; finance manages funding and resource allocation). Then classify 20 short scenarios against those mandates, and for each one write the sentence explaining which area owns it and why.
Answering organisational-structure questions by drawing an org chart only, without stating the coordination mechanism (direct supervision, standardisation of processes, outputs or skills) or the contingency factors behind the choice.
Candidates treat structure as a drawing exercise and forget that the exam asks why a structure fits a strategy, size, technology or environment.
What to do instead
For each structure type (functional, divisional, matrix, network) prepare a card with: coordination mechanism, typical contingency fit, main advantage, main dysfunction. In practice answers, always add one sentence of the form 'this structure suits a company with X because it coordinates through Y'.
Computing the economic order quantity or a break-even point and stopping at the number, without interpreting it in the case (what the figure implies for cash, storage, service level or risk).
Quantitative items feel finished once the arithmetic checks out, and candidates run out of time to write the interpretation. The PAU rewards the comment as much as the calculation.
What to do instead
Adopt a fixed three-line closing for every calculation: the result, its unit and meaning in plain words, and one managerial consequence or limitation of the model (e.g. EOQ ignores quantity discounts and demand variability). Rehearse so the closing takes under a minute.
Confusing the balance sheet with the profit and loss account, or placing an item such as a loan repayment or an owner's draw in the income statement.
Both statements use overlapping vocabulary (result, cash, debt) and candidates learn the formats separately without practising classification under time pressure.
What to do instead
Drill classification: take 30 transactions and mark each as balance-sheet asset, liability, equity, income or expense, then state whether it affects cash. Pay special attention to the three that are never expenses: loan principal repayment, owner withdrawals, and purchases of fixed assets.
Treating a positive result as equivalent to a healthy cash position, and ignoring working-capital needs when recommending growth.
Candidates equate profit with money available, so they recommend expansion without noticing that growing sales absorb cash through receivables and stock.
What to do instead
In every financial case, compute or estimate the working-capital requirement alongside the result and state the difference explicitly. Prepare a standard sentence: 'the company is profitable but may face a liquidity problem because...'. Use one worked example of a profitable firm that fails from lack of treasury to anchor the idea.
Proposing a marketing mix that lists the four Ps generically, without segmenting the market or aligning price, channel and communication with the chosen segment.
The four Ps are easy to reproduce, so candidates fill space with them instead of doing the segmentation and positioning work that the case actually asks for.
What to do instead
Start every marketing answer with a one-sentence segment definition (who, need, why us), then justify each P against that segment in one line. Delete any P that does not follow from the segment. Practise with a single product and three contrasting segments to see how the mix must change.
Answering human-resources questions with legal generalities (types of contract, dismissal) without connecting them to the company's workforce planning, motivation or cost structure.
Labour law content is memorized as rules, and candidates reproduce rules even when the question is about managing people or labour costs.
What to do instead
For each HR topic, prepare a two-column card: the legal rule and the management consequence (cost, flexibility, motivation, conflict risk). In answers, state the rule in one clause and spend the rest of the paragraph on the consequence for the company's operations or finances.
Treating social responsibility and sustainability as a closing paragraph of good intentions, without naming concrete stakeholders, actions, costs or measurable outcomes.
These concepts are often learned as values rather than as management decisions, so candidates write generic statements that cannot earn analytical marks.
What to do instead
Use a stakeholder-action-indicator template: name the stakeholder affected, the specific measure (e.g. supplier code of conduct, emissions reporting, local hiring target), its cost or trade-off, and the indicator that would show it works. Rehearse with two contrasting cases, one where the responsible action raises short-term costs and one where it lowers them.