Psychology at University - FAQ

i'm hoping this proves to be true! but i agree with what was said earlier about a lot of people applying with the "right" a levels but i'm not sure. i guess it depends on results but i don't know if i should continue with biology if i don't enjoy it/don't have the motivation to work really hard in it.. argh

I am slightly worried by this. Psychology at universities like York are likely to have a large amount of biology based content. One of the first things my lecturer said to my year was that if she heard anyone say they didn't like science/biology then she would tell them they were on the wrong course. Harsh but true.

I'm not delibarately trying to be mean- I'm just concerned becuase there is a high drop out rate for people with a similar attitude to you towards biology.

The OP said they were possibly applying to york, which has a very competitive psychology course. Obviously good grades AND the right subjects would be best, but as I said, I suspect a B in biology will be more sought after than an A/A* in art or french.

Missed that part

I think my attitude towards AS biology is due to the fact that I think my teachers are awful and learning about plants/fish doesn't interest me.
Whereas I enjoy biology more to do with psychology, synapses/neurotransmitters etc

Isn't it possible to do a human biology A2 from Biology As?

How different is Psychology at uni compared to Psychology A level?

Psych at A-level is just memorisation. They give you an arbitrary set of studies and a list of 'evaluations' to memorise and away you go.

At university, you look at the bigger picture. You look at theories and place them in their contextual background of research. You evaluate these theories by addressing how well they answer the question that they set out to do, looking at the statistics behind their data and the methodology they used.

You are expected to master research journals. Instead of being given a list of vague studies from a textbook, you will be going to the paper published in its respective journal (often around 20 pages each ish). You are expected to be able to consider this research using the statistical and research methods training that they have given you.

It is very difficult to explain, but it is certainly a qualitative difference.

You make it seem hard from what you've just written!

Psych at A-level is just memorisation. They give you an arbitrary set of studies and a list of 'evaluations' to memorise and away you go.

It's not as such. It's just a big development.

This might sound like a random (or dumb) question but whats the memory like compared to A Level? Throughout A Level I've been fine conceptually etc and in year 13 started using research papers rather than our text book for studies but what I have struggled most with is the memory for the exams, the number of names and dates and studies we had to remember for unit 3 was just stupid...and I've just been wondering whether this is still expected of you at degree level, or whether because it has no relevance to your understanding of a topic they find a way around this?...not sure how this would be possible but if it is and they do

Haha oh god, if you thought there was a lot to remember at a-level..

Hate to break it to you, but this year I felt like each one of my modules was the equivilent to one Psych A2 level in terms of content. I had eight modules.

It's not so much dates/names though.

haha ok thanks oh well, for some unknown reason I have no problem remembering like the concepts/theories I just have an exceptionally bad memory for dates

I don't think I wrote a single date in my exams this year. Was 3% off a 1st.

aah ok then that makes me feel a bit better lol...well done by the way

I can't really think of any other questions, so if you have any feel free to ask and I'll add them to the thread.