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I’ve written this article to be a quick summary for students who are going write the new BSG Comprehensive Exam.

This challenging and difficult exam consisting of 40 questions, will test 6 areas of proficiency.

These are:

  1. Interpreting and analyzing market data  to identify factors that have affected a company’s prior year performance.
  2. Evaluate the strategic actions of rivals.
  3. Recognize profitable opportunities to improve company performance.
  4. Identifying ways to build a competitive advantage
  5. Establish practices to improve operating efficiency
  6. Effectively strategize internal company policies that take advantage of fluctuating exchange rates, tariffs and other global factors.


Each student who writes the comprehensive exam will have a randomly selected questions in differing orders. This means that no 2 comprehensive exams are alike. This makes it practically impossible for students who collaborate in doing the comprehensive exam. Many did not understand this, resulting is a panicked group of classmates.

The comprehensive exam is an open book test averaging 2-3 hours, sometimes less if your professor has high expectations. As a student, you should know that means that the test is even harder than if it wasn’t open book.

The average score of the comprehensive exam is about 60%, with good cores being around 70%, and excellent scores being around 80%.

As a Grand Champion of the Business Strategy Game with years of experience (my Blog has existed since 2008, and I was playing BSG years prior to that), I got over 80% on my first try and have subsequently been able to score high marks. I have been able to create an Ultimate Study Guide to the BSG Comprehensive Exam which I actively keep up to date.

If you are interested in my study guide. Head to and contact me. 

You can also reference the official BSG Comprehensive Exam page here.



By popular request, I will put up one sample question of the BSG Comprehensive Exam to think about.


Managers are well-advised to consider whether the company can operate more profitably by selling some/all plant capacity in one or more geographic regions when


one of the company’s plants is inefficient and cannot manufacture private-label footwear at a low enough cost per pair to compete for private-label contracts.

(A company does not need to sell capacity if they can’t compete in private-label)


the company has a plant that cannot produce branded footwear with a 5-star or higher S/Q rating at a manufacturing cost per pair that is comparable to the plants of rival companies.

(Incorrect as the company can have any sort of strategy, you can be at 8 or 4 SQ and compete quite fiercely without needing to sell capacity)


surprisingly strong competition from rivals has prevented the company from selling as many pairs of branded and private-label footwear as managers expected when the capacity was first constructed.

(Then strategize… all because the competition is stiff, doesn’t mean you capitulate and sell)


it is not cost effective to pursue actions that will reduce the 10% reject rate at one of the company’s plant.

(Selling capacity and reject rates literally have nothing to do with each other)


global demand for branded and private-label footwear is so far below global plant capacity that it will be Impossible for most all companies to profitably operate their plants at full capacity for many years to come.

(Ahh yes, this is it, if the forecast shows that global demand is far below global capacity, then it isn’t possible for everyone to sell everything. In this case the most liquid and solvent company will come out ahead, perhaps a company could hold onto capacity and fiercely hold onto market share. But of the answers here, this is the one that most fits.

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