A company cuts its carbon footprint and works for better outcomes for all its stakeholders, beyond what any law requires. Which form of business self-regulation is this?Answer: Corporate social responsibility. Source: Wikipedia, "Corporate social responsibility". Outline: NES Business Education (309) framework, competency 0003
A delivery driver carelessly knocks down a customer's fence. The customer's civil claim for the harm, which rests on no contract, is what kind of case?Answer: A tort. Source: Wikipedia, "Tort". Outline: NES Business Education (309) framework, competency 0003
A firm has managers and employees define specific objectives and then decide how to reach each one, so that individual goals line up with the organization's. Which management style is this?Answer: Management by objectives. Source: Wikipedia, "Management by objectives". Outline: NES Business Education (309) framework, competency 0001
A plant asks every worker for small improvements to daily operations and counts on their cumulative effect. Which concept from business studies is this?Answer: Kaizen. Source: Wikipedia, "Kaizen". Outline: NES Business Education (309) framework, competency 0001
Show all 48 questions (44 more)
Management, law and ethics, continued
A retailer measures its delivery times and costs against the best performers in its industry. What is this practice called?Answer: Benchmarking. Source: Wikipedia, "Benchmarking". Outline: NES Business Education (309) framework, competency 0001
The Age Discrimination in Employment Act forbids employment discrimination against anyone who is at least how old?Answer: 40. Source: Wikipedia, "Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967". Outline: NES Business Education (309) framework, competency 0002
Two accountants do equal work, and the firm pays one of them less because she is a woman. Which 1963 law is aimed at abolishing wage disparity based on sex?Answer: The Equal Pay Act. Source: Wikipedia, "Equal Pay Act of 1963". Outline: NES Business Education (309) framework, competency 0002
What does an inventor give the public in exchange for a patent's limited period of exclusivity?Answer: A published disclosure of the invention. Source: Wikipedia, "Patent". Outline: NES Business Education (309) framework, competency 0003
Which employer-sponsored retirement plan takes an employee's contributions directly out of each paycheck, often with a matching amount from the employer?Answer: A 401(k) plan. Source: Wikipedia, "401(k)". Outline: NES Business Education (309) framework, competency 0002
Accounting, personal finance and quantitative analysis 9
A bookkeeper first records each transaction in a journal. Where is that accounting data then posted and aggregated?Answer: The general ledger. Source: Wikipedia, "General ledger". Outline: NES Business Education (309) framework, competency 0004
A company's sales rose from $80,000 last year to $92,000 this year. What was the percent increase?Answer: 15 percent. Source: Worked from the figures in the question and worked a second time. Outline: NES Business Education (309) framework, competency 0006
A firm buys a delivery truck and spreads its original cost over the years in which the truck is used. What is this allocation called?Answer: Depreciation. Source: Wikipedia, "Depreciation". Outline: NES Business Education (309) framework, competency 0004
A retailer pays $120 for a desk and sells it for $150. What is the markup as a percent of cost?Answer: 25 percent. Source: Worked from the figures in the question and worked a second time. Outline: NES Business Education (309) framework, competency 0006
A saver uses the rule of 72 to estimate how long her money will take to double at 8 percent interest a year. What does the rule give?Answer: About 9 years. Source: Wikipedia, "Rule of 72". Outline: NES Business Education (309) framework, competency 0005
A shop's daily sales for five days were $200, $250, $300, $350 and $900. What was the mean daily sales figure?Answer: $400. Source: Worked from the figures in the question and worked a second time. Outline: NES Business Education (309) framework, competency 0006
An investor spreads her savings across many kinds of assets so that no single one exposes her to great loss. What is this strategy called?Answer: Diversification. Source: Wikipedia, "Diversification (finance)". Outline: NES Business Education (309) framework, competency 0005
Which kind of life insurance provides coverage at a fixed rate of payments for a limited period of time only?Answer: Term life insurance. Source: Wikipedia, "Term life insurance". Outline: NES Business Education (309) framework, competency 0005
Which liquidity ratio, also known as the acid-test ratio, compares a company's quick assets with its current liabilities?Answer: The quick ratio. Source: Wikipedia, "Quick ratio". Outline: NES Business Education (309) framework, competency 0004
Economics and international business 9
A German carmaker builds and owns an assembly plant in South Carolina. What is this controlling stake in an asset in another country called?Answer: Foreign direct investment. Source: Wikipedia, "Foreign direct investment". Outline: NES Business Education (309) framework, competency 0009
An economy has high inflation, stagnant growth and elevated unemployment all at once. What is this combination called?Answer: Stagflation. Source: Wikipedia, "Stagflation". Outline: NES Business Education (309) framework, competency 0008
As a bakery triples its output, its cost for each loaf falls. Which concept names this cost advantage?Answer: Economies of scale. Source: Wikipedia, "Economies of scale". Outline: NES Business Education (309) framework, competency 0007
By the simplest definition used in describing business cycles, what marks a recession?Answer: Two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth. Source: Wikipedia, "Business cycle". Outline: NES Business Education (309) framework, competency 0008
In terms of trade restrictions, what is an import embargo equivalent to?Answer: An import quota set at zero. Source: Wikipedia, "Import quota". Outline: NES Business Education (309) framework, competency 0009
Many restaurants compete in one city, each selling meals that differ from the others in menu and brand. Which market structure is this?Answer: Monopolistic competition. Source: Wikipedia, "Monopolistic competition". Outline: NES Business Education (309) framework, competency 0007
When the price of printers falls, the demand for ink cartridges rises. What kind of goods are printers and ink cartridges?Answer: Complementary goods. Source: Wikipedia, "Complementary good". Outline: NES Business Education (309) framework, competency 0007
Which family of five international organizations makes loans to developing countries and is the largest development bank in the world?Answer: The World Bank Group. Source: Wikipedia, "World Bank Group". Outline: NES Business Education (309) framework, competency 0009
Which list gives the major components of gross domestic product?Answer: Consumption, investment, government spending and net exports. Source: Wikipedia, "Gross domestic product". Outline: NES Business Education (309) framework, competency 0008
Marketing, e-commerce and entrepreneurship 9
A coffee roaster stops selling through wholesalers and sells straight to customers from its own website. What is this removal of intermediaries from the supply chain called?Answer: Disintermediation. Source: Wikipedia, "Disintermediation". Outline: NES Business Education (309) framework, competency 0011
A company gathers ten shoppers from its target age group and studies their reactions to questions about a new package. Which research method is this?Answer: A focus group. Source: Wikipedia, "Focus group". Outline: NES Business Education (309) framework, competency 0010
A founder funds her first production run by raising small amounts of money from a large number of people over the internet. What is this practice called?Answer: Crowdfunding. Source: Wikipedia, "Crowdfunding". Outline: NES Business Education (309) framework, competency 0012
A furniture maker sells only through distributors and retail stores and never to consumers itself. What kind of distribution channel does it use?Answer: An indirect channel. Source: Wikipedia, "Distribution (marketing)". Outline: NES Business Education (309) framework, competency 0010
An automaker wants buyers to think of safety first whenever they think of its cars. Which marketing concept, the mental perception of a product or brand by customers, is it managing?Answer: Positioning. Source: Wikipedia, "Positioning (marketing)". Outline: NES Business Education (309) framework, competency 0010
An individual puts her own money into a start-up at a very early stage, usually in exchange for convertible debt or ownership equity. What is she called?Answer: An angel investor. Source: Wikipedia, "Angel investor". Outline: NES Business Education (309) framework, competency 0012
An online seller accepts orders without keeping stock on hand and passes each order to a wholesaler, which ships the goods to the customer. What is this form of retail business?Answer: Drop shipping. Source: Wikipedia, "Drop shipping". Outline: NES Business Education (309) framework, competency 0011
In which online advertising model does the advertiser pay the publisher each time a user clicks on an advertisement?Answer: Pay-per-click. Source: Wikipedia, "Pay-per-click". Outline: NES Business Education (309) framework, competency 0011
Which independent agency of the United States government provides support to entrepreneurs and small businesses?Answer: The Small Business Administration. Source: Wikipedia, "Small Business Administration". Outline: NES Business Education (309) framework, competency 0012
Communications, technology and careers 12
A clerk scans paper invoices, and software converts the images of printed text into machine-encoded text that can be edited. Which technology is this?Answer: Optical character recognition. Source: Wikipedia, "Optical character recognition". Outline: NES Business Education (309) framework, competency 0015
A manufacturer gives its suppliers controlled access to part of its private network without opening the whole network to them. What is this arrangement called?Answer: An extranet. Source: Wikipedia, "Extranet". Outline: NES Business Education (309) framework, competency 0014
A presenter's gestures and facial expressions carry messages without words. Which term names the study of this body communication?Answer: Kinesics. Source: Wikipedia, "Kinesics". Outline: NES Business Education (309) framework, competency 0013
A relational database stores its data in rows and columns. Which language do many such systems offer for querying and updating the database?Answer: SQL. Source: Wikipedia, "Relational database". Outline: NES Business Education (309) framework, competency 0015
A sales team in three cities needs simultaneous two-way communication with both sound and picture. Which technology gives it?Answer: Videoconferencing. Source: Wikipedia, "Videotelephony". Outline: NES Business Education (309) framework, competency 0013
Before choosing new point-of-sale hardware, a retailer estimates every direct and indirect cost of having it, not only the purchase price. Which financial estimate is this?Answer: Total cost of ownership. Source: Wikipedia, "Total cost of ownership". Outline: NES Business Education (309) framework, competency 0014
In a production system, which technology uses software to control the machine tools that make the work pieces?Answer: Computer-aided manufacturing. Source: Wikipedia, "Computer-aided manufacturing". Outline: NES Business Education (309) framework, competency 0014
In a spreadsheet, what does a cell that holds a formula display?Answer: A value calculated from other cells. Source: Wikipedia, "Spreadsheet". Outline: NES Business Education (309) framework, competency 0015
In which kind of job interview is each applicant asked a predetermined list of questions in a specified order?Answer: A structured interview. Source: Wikipedia, "Job interview". Outline: NES Business Education (309) framework, competency 0016
What do FBLA and Business Professionals of America have in common?Answer: Each is a career and technical student organization. Source: Wikipedia, "FBLA". Outline: NES Business Education (309) framework, competency 0016
What is the written record of a meeting called, the document that describes its events and lists the attendees and the decisions made?Answer: The minutes. Source: Wikipedia, "Minutes". Outline: NES Business Education (309) framework, competency 0013
Which type of on-the-job learning, sometimes part of a career development program, has a person follow and observe another employee?Answer: Job shadowing. Source: Wikipedia, "Job shadow". Outline: NES Business Education (309) framework, competency 0016
How this list was compiled: Our own questions, written to the test framework for NES Business Education, test 309, read 2026-10-15 on the National Evaluation Series site (https://www.nestest.com/static/docs/NES_Framework_309.pdf; test page https://www.nestest.com/test/309): Business Management, Law, and Ethics (competencies 0001 to 0003, 19%), Accounting, Personal Financial Management, and Quantitative Analysis (0004 to 0006, 19%), Economics and International Business (0007 to 0009, 19%), Marketing, E-Commerce, and Entrepreneurship (0010 to 0012, 19%) and Business Communications, Technology, Career Development, and Professionalism (0013 to 0016, 25%). The bank holds 3 questions for each of the 16 competencies. Every fact was read on 2026-10-15 in the opening section of the Wikipedia article the question names (45 questions); the 3 questions of competency 0006 are arithmetic worked in their explanations. Licence: Questions, choices and explanations are original work of this site.
How it works
Studying for the NES exam in Business Education? This free study guide sets out the five domains of test 309 and adds 48 practice questions written here. It is unofficial, with no connection to Pearson or its National Evaluation Series.
Read the full guide
The five domains of test 309
By the framework read October 15, 2026, four domains count 19% each: management, law and ethics; accounting, personal finance and quantitative analysis; economics and international business; marketing, e-commerce and entrepreneurship. Communications, technology and careers counts 25%.
What the practice set holds
Three questions stand on each of the sixteen competencies. The three on quantitative analysis are arithmetic, and each explanation shows the working.
A reading list in the answers
Each of the other explanations names the Wikipedia article its fact was read in, from the Age Discrimination in Employment Act to the quick ratio, so a wrong answer points to the next thing to read.
Markup is figured on cost, margin on price: a chair bought for $80 and sold for $100 has a 25% markup and a 20% margin.
The fifth domain is the widest: minutes and video meetings, networks and databases, job interviews, and student organizations such as FBLA.
Questions and answers
Is this NES exam and Business Education study guide the official one?
No, and it does not claim to be. The outline comes from the public framework for test 309, and the 48 questions were written for this page; no real test item or official sample question is among them.
How long is the NES Business Education test?
Test 309 has 150 multiple-choice questions. The appointment is 3 hours and 15 minutes: a 15-minute tutorial and nondisclosure agreement, then 3 hours of testing, at a test center or with an online proctor.
What is a passing score on NES Business Education?
The National Benchmark is a scaled score of 220, and the test page links the passing scores of Arizona, Oregon, Tennessee and Washington. A raw count of right answers, here or anywhere, does not convert to it.
Which states use NES Business Education 309?
Arizona's educator test list names it as NT309, Business Education, and the NES test page links four states' passing scores. Requirements change, so confirm the test and its code with your own state's licensing agency.