Psychology A level (A2468 - SA079)

Psychology tries to answer the question of why people behave as they do, how they think and how they feel. It looks at these questions using a variety of scientific methods such as experiments, interviews and questionnaires. During your first year, you will study memory, attachment between children and their parents, social influence, approaches in psychology abnormal behaviour and research methods.

The topics you will investigate in your second year are issues and debates in Psychology, gender development, schizophrenia, addictive behaviour and advanced research methods. Classes will allow you to undertake research into these topics and introduce you to a wide range of interesting studies that psychologists have carried out in trying to understand these behaviours.

This is a popular course taken by students who are keen to engage with a new subject and be taught by experienced, enthusiastic subject specialists. To do well you will need to be able to remember factual information, interpret questions and be able to write concisely. 10% of the marks in exams are for mathematical questions so you should be comfortable with basic mathematical skills.

Psychology can be taken with any other subjects. Biology and Sociology are especially relevant, but students also successfully take the subject with many other combinations from Maths to Photography.

Assessment

The course is assessed through exams, there is no coursework. The exams have short answer questions, essays and interpretation of data.