MATSEC AM Marketing study plan

Map the full MATSEC AM Marketing syllabus into a personal checklist of every topic area, marking each as strong, shaky, or unknown

Define marketing and distinguish it from selling and advertising, writing your own one-paragraph definition with three supporting examples

Explain the core marketing concepts of needs, wants, demand, and value, and apply each to two real Maltese businesses

Identify the stages of the marketing process and describe what happens at each stage in your own words

Compare the marketing orientations (production, product, selling, marketing, societal) and state the key assumption behind each

Analyse how the marketing mix (product, price, place, promotion) changes between a service and a physical good

Describe the marketing environment using PESTLE and give one Malta-relevant example for each factor

Explain market segmentation, targeting, and positioning and apply STP to a chosen local brand

Distinguish consumer buying behaviour from organisational buying behaviour and list the stages of each decision process

Explain how culture, social class, reference groups, and motivation influence purchase decisions, with examples

Classify products as convenience, shopping, specialty, or unsought and justify each classification

Describe the product life cycle stages and recommend one marketing action for each stage

Explain the main pricing approaches (cost-plus, value-based, competitive, penetration, skimming) and when each suits a business

Describe distribution channel structures and the role of intermediaries, including channel conflict

Outline the promotional mix tools and match each to a stated marketing objective

Evaluate branding decisions such as brand extension, multibranding, and repositioning

Explain market research: primary versus secondary data, sampling, and questionnaire design pitfalls

Interpret basic market data such as market share, growth rate, and sales forecasts from given figures

Describe market segmentation variables (demographic, geographic, psychographic, behavioural) and select suitable ones for a scenario

Explain the difference between a marketing plan and a business plan and list the sections of a marketing plan

Apply the full marketing mix to a service business, addressing the extended 7Ps

Analyse digital marketing tools including social media, email, and search, and their role in the promotion mix

Discuss ethics and consumer protection in marketing, including misleading advertising and data protection

Practise structuring essay answers with a clear introduction, argued body, applied examples, and conclusion

Work through past-paper-style questions across all syllabus areas, noting recurring command words such as describe, explain, and evaluate

Diagnose your three weakest topic areas from earlier practice and re-study them

Build a bank of 15 Malta-relevant examples you can deploy in applied questions

Refine definitions and key terms so you can state them precisely without notes

Complete at least two full timed mock papers under exam conditions

Review every error from the mocks and write a corrected model answer for each

Recite the core definitions, the marketing mix, STP, and the product life cycle from memory

Finalise an exam-day plan covering time allocation per question and the order you will answer sections