How hard is psychology A-level?

I would like to choose psychology as one of my A Level subjects but I'm not too sure at the moment as many people have told me how difficult is it

Reply 1

TSR Jessica

19

Sorry you've not had any responses about this. :frown:

Are you sure you've posted in the right place? :smile:

Here's a link to our subject forum which should help get you more responses if you post there. :redface:

You can also find the Exam Thread list for A-levels here and GCSE here. :dumbells:

Just quoting in Puddles the Monkey so she can move the thread if needed :h:

Spoiler

Reply 2

fayeb1999

6

Hi, I've just done the new AS exams for AQA Psychology (so just finished year 12) and I thought psychology was not as difficult as some of my other options (geography, history and bio)
There are quite a few essays in psychology so you'll need to have decent essay writing skills, it also helps if you are interested in psychology (many of the topics on the AQA spec are interesting)
Personally I really like psychology. I didn't do it at GCSE and got B's in English language and literature at GCSE, and didn't struggle much with the essay writing. It's not hard if you put the effort in :smile:

Reply 3

jessyjellytot14

17

I personally haven't found it hard at all (as in there's nothing that i've been taught that I don't understand) but what made it difficult is remembering everything. You need to know all the ins and outs of all of the topics and theories and also the evaluation points (which there are LOTS of!). It is definitely enjoyable and interesting imo and the fact that I love the subject has made having to remember everything not bad at all.

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Reply 4

fefssdf

20

If you have the motivation and are willing to spend hours and hours learning the studies and key names and theories then there's no reason why you can't get an A in this subject.

If you revise for 2 hours a day for 6 weeks before the exam then you're probably gonna get an A TBH

Reply 5

Findlay6

19

The exams are the hard part - a lot to remember and writing in essay style isn't natural for some. There is some use of Maths in Year 2 as well.

If you're hard working and interested in learning more about human behaviour, you'll enjoy it.

Check out my psychology studyblr (in sig) to get a feel for what's taught.

Reply 6

Fatimabibi_

OP

3

Original post by fayeb1999

Hi, I've just done the new AS exams for AQA Psychology (so just finished year 12) and I thought psychology was not as difficult as some of my other options (geography, history and bio)
There are quite a few essays in psychology so you'll need to have decent essay writing skills, it also helps if you are interested in psychology (many of the topics on the AQA spec are interesting)
Personally I really like psychology. I didn't do it at GCSE and got B's in English language and literature at GCSE, and didn't struggle much with the essay writing. It's not hard if you put the effort in :smile:

How many hours did you revise each night for your AS exams and when did you start revision??
Also what are your thoughts on biology A level?

Reply 7

fayeb1999

6

I started revision in the end of the February half term for all subjects. Tried doing about 1 hour a night for all subjects so I might've done 1 hour for psych on a Monday and an hour for bio on a Tuesday but I revised more as exams came around. Around exam time I tried to do as much as I could (I covered revision for everything just about)
Revised hours before the exam (just finished memory)
Do lots of apply-it questions as these are the types of questions they ask in the exam.

I enjoyed learning biology a level but there is a lot to memorise and a few maths questions too. The topics are interesting e.g. Cells, the heart etc but can be quite challenging

Don't over do revision as you may find you remember more doing manageable amounts rather than a massive chunk of revision and only remembering half of what you just revised.

Psychology and biology are good a levels to take alongside each other as biology can help keep up maths skills and there is quite a bit of overlap e.g. The biological approach. Also many universities like it if you take something like biology chemistry or maths alongside psychology especially if you're doing a psychology degree :smile:

Reply 8

fxckingpsycho

I've just finished my first year and I love psychology, although there are tedious bits (which you will find with literally every subject) it is really interesting. some things actually are just a case of common sense, a lot of things just add up and seem obvious when you go through it, its only the maths and biological side that a little harder to grasp. However there is a but, no matter how easy it is to grasp there is so much content so it takes a lot of revision to remember research and how it links in with explanations but if you enjoy it as much as I do it isn't really a problem. Don't always take other peoples judgement as a certainty, everyone is different, what they find difficult you may find easy, plus if you start it and don't like it in the first few weeks you should be able to pick up another subject :smile:

Reply 9

natisabat

I wouldn't necessarily say it's difficult, I totally failed science at GCSE but don't struggle with the biological side of psychology too much. It's more that the subject carries a heavy load of content, so many studies and evaluation points to learn! But it's a decent subject :smile:

Reply 10

meandegreen

11

Original post by Fatimabibi_

I would like to choose psychology as one of my A Level subjects but I'm not too sure at the moment as many people have told me how difficult is it

My sister achieved an A at a-level, it was a lot of memorisation but she said the concepts were not too difficult to grasp and as long as you have quite good english skills and can write a good essay, you're set! Just make sure you have a good memory!

Reply 11

nerdgirl24

1

I'm currently on AQA psychology I will be starting my second year in September, one thing I tell you about psychology is you need to have motivation to want to pass in the subject or you will find that you're not understanding things as well as you should, but if you have motivation and good note taking skills along side a teacher who knows the course well then it's actually easy.

Reply 12

Fatimabibi_

OP

3

Original post by nerdgirl24

I'm currently on AQA psychology I will be starting my second year in September, one thing I tell you about psychology is you need to have motivation to want to pass in the subject or you will find that you're not understanding things as well as you should, but if you have motivation and good note taking skills along side a teacher who knows the course well then it's actually easy.

Will my poor essay writing skills affect my grade?

Reply 13

Fatimabibi_

OP

3

Original post by natisabat

I wouldn't necessarily say it's difficult, I totally failed science at GCSE but don't struggle with the biological side of psychology too much. It's more that the subject carries a heavy load of content, so many studies and evaluation points to learn! But it's a decent subject :smile:

What other subjects do you do?