Hey guys; I sat this paper in January ( I started the last psya3 thread on that here) and just thought I would give some tips:
I sat Sleep, Relationships and Aggression.
Relationships is by far the easiest I found as it appears to have a simply understandable structure for the most part (formation, maintenance and breakdown) coupled with a few wildcards like sexual selection theory (easy enough once you get your head around) and that parental investment element (I took a gamble and never revised this element! phew)
Predictions: Im placing my bets on Sexual selection theory coming up as that has some evolutionary element to it and there seems to be a shift towards evolutionary explanations...but guessing is a risky game! but thats just my 2 cents.
Aggression I found the next easiest and fairly straight forward; Evolutionary explanations of group-aggression appears to have caused a lot of people trouble as there is hardly any texts or information on it out there as most theories are all social explanations and not evolutionary ; so if you do do this make sure you understand the evolutionary elements too as well as the social elements (deindividuation etc)
Predictions: I think institutional aggression is likely as is Genes and aggression..call me bonkers but I reckon one of these two.
Sleep : Man I hated sleep with a passion; it felt like it had no structure to the questions and felt very much pointless...but it just seemed easier than what else was left..which all seemed difficult.
It wasnt too bad though and it seems to click a lot easier for others.
Predictions: I have a feeling Circadian rhythms is going to come up or Lifespan changes in sleep.
Advice:
This paper is HARD!!! I mean really overwhelming as there is just way way way too much to remember.
My advice is get an early start on it and keep writing model answers over and over and over until it sticks. I filled about 2 big black bin bags with my notes that I did over and over...with the 3 topics you do; you will find you are likely needing to memorise up to about 15-18 model essay answers.
A good way I memorised the essays was with Acronyms to trigger my memory: for example for Genes and aggression I remembered "MHBC" and each letter triggered my memory for studies related to the outline:
M= Mcguffin H=Hutchings B=brunner C=Caspi
I had about 15 acronyms to remember for each but it helps and better than going into the exam blank trying to remember.
LAstly issues, approaches and debates; Get into the habit of throwing this in with everything you evaluate; animal studies, reductionism, determinism, ethical research, Gender bias etc...you need to know this all for your evaluation.
Any advice on these 3 topics feel free to ask; I somehow got 100 ums A*..but it wasnt easy...anything less than 100% effort on this paper and your in trouble! it will consume you and overwhelm you if you leave it last minute.
Good luck.