← Applying business knowledge to a complex global problem

The answer shape: Stated → Explained → Fully explained

Every part is graded holistically against this same three-step ladder, whatever the topic — knowing it explicitly is worth more than knowing any one topic's content.

What each step of the ladder actually adds

• Stated (Achieved-band): the cause or effect is correctly named, with a general link to the business.
• Explained (Merit-band): the MECHANISM is added — HOW the cause produces the effect, step by step, using the resource's own figures.
• Fully explained (Excellence-band): the mechanism is followed further — to a second-order consequence, a quantified impact, or an explicit trade-off — rather than stopping at the first effect.

Exam-style The same content, at three different depths A business faces a shortage of a key raw material. Show the same fact explained at each band. Stated: the shortage means the business cannot produce as much as usual, so output falls. Explained: with less material available, production lines run below capacity, so fewer units are finished each day, and orders queue up. Fully explained: the delayed orders push customers to competitors who DO have stock, some of whom will not return even once supply recovers — so the shortage costs more than the units not made this week; it costs future revenue too. ✓ Same starting fact, three different depths — the words "fully explained" in a schedule are not vague praise, they specifically mean following the consequence further than the first, obvious effect.

A fast test for whether you have reached "fully explained"

• Have I named a SECOND consequence, not just restated the first one in more words?
• Is there a quantified impact or an explicit trade-off in my final sentence?

Practise just this