We follow the AQA (A) exam board specification. All students are provided with a course textbook but this should be used in conjunction with other texts and materials.
The outline of the course is as follows:
AS YEAR
Unit 1: PSYA1
- Cognitive Psychology:
- Developmental Psychology:
- Research Methods:
Unit 2: PSYA2
- Biological Psychology
- Social Psychology
- Psychology of Abnormality
A2 YEAR
Unit 3: PSYA3
- Psychology of relationships
- Psychology of aggression
- Cognition and Development
Unit 4: PSYA4:
- Schizophrenia
- The psychology of addiction
- Research methods
EXAMS:
You will sit 4 exams in Psychology, 2 in the AS year and 2 in the A2 year.
Over the 2 years there is one exam are in each January and June
There is no coursework in A level Psychology
PSYA1 & PSYA2 exams: 1 hour 30 minutes each
The questions will mainly require short answer responses, ranging from 2 to 12 marks.
You will be required to demonstrate knowledge of research studies, evaluation of these studies as well as showing that you understand how science works (e.g. through research methods).
PSYA3 & PSYA4 exams: PSYA3 = 1 hour 30 minutes, PSYA4 = 2 hours
The exam papers at A2 are much more essay focused and most of the questions are in essay form (25 marks per essay). However, the exam board are moving towards asking slightly shorter essays (e.g. 16 marks) and including more shorter answer questions (9 marks).
Exam Papers:
Exam papers are available on the AQA website and examples of these will also be used in lessons and for homework. Exam style questions will be used in class and for milestone assessments.