Introduction for teachers Notes

This resource has been produced to support the research required for the pre-release paper for the A Level Edexcel Economics B Paper 3 (The economic environment and business) exam, which students will sit during summer 2026. 

The context for the 2026 exam is ‘Competition’.  

This document contains tasks to assist in your preparation for Paper 3 and, by extension, Paper 1 and Paper 2.  

This resource includes the following:

• Topic notes – The notes offer an overview / background reading to support the five research bullet points specified by Pearson. During their GCE course, students will have already learnt much of the key theory; however, this section links the theoretical points with the specific industrial context for the 2026 exam. Included within these are gap-fill paragraphs, label the diagram and match-up (eRevision) designed to reinforce learning and understanding. 
• Case studies – There are seven case studies included in the resource, which include extended-response questions. Answers are provided for all questions. These case studies put all of the topics considered into context, and support students to use real-life examples in their work and think analytically.   

In this eRevision system, as the teacher you can 'lock' specific topics, and/or set them as homeworks. Lock and unlock topics on the Set/View Work page - we suggest you try this now, after setting up a student class group, by locking this introduction which is intended for your eyes only. Go to Packages to set work.

You can print the Preparation Material and Case Studies from the Flat Notes tab, or you can upgrade to Word and PDF version of the resource. To upgrade your order to Word and PDF please email orders@zigzageducation.co.uk stating your school’s name and postcode and the title of the package. PDF is an extra 20%+VAT, Word an extra 50%+VAT. 

This resource is intended only to supplement your teaching. It is the teacher's responsibility to decide how to use this resource to assist themselves and their students appropriately. You may simply wish to read this material to better inform yourself and to help you prepare your lessons and give you ideas for your teaching. You may also consider whether it is appropriate to give students access to all of the resources. As with all pre-release material, it is the teacher's responsibility to decide in what way to assist their students. It's the teacher's responsibility to decide how this resource in particular can be used to fit into that assistance.

Due to the nature of the research task, this resource aims to merely stimulate discussion and support students’ wider research. The resource has been written independently without any sight of the actual exam materials that will be released in the summer of 2026. The resource should be used in conjunction with a good textbook and is intended to put many of the theoretical points detailed in the textbook into the context of the pre-release research task.