The Student Room Group

Scroll to see replies

Reply 20
i would neversuggest AS & A2 in one yr in any subj...though if you do, take 2 units (1 AS and 1 A2) in jan, do the coursewk early, then you'r lef with 3 exams in the summer to slog over...which i spose wouldnt be that bad - theyd be on 2 separate days nyway...last june i ended up taking 3 in one day...retakes....
Reply 21
I'm doing AQA A at AS. You do Freud in both years. Piaget and Jung are in the A-Level year, so they're all featured.
Reply 22
nickb123
Yeah Psych teachers and graduates generally seem nuts - kinda ominous isn't it that psych is now like the most popular course in the country hehe


true true...though last year one of mine died - god bless - the other left suddenly before the course finished & the exams...
Reply 23
hmm. I get the feeling no one would recommend doing both AS and A2 in one year... Is there really very little thinking involved? I suppose just regurgitating (excuse the term) the theories/studies is all you can do in a psychology. Is it one of those subjects where you can put in your own interpretation? Or do you just really have to stick to what you've learnt in lessons?
Reply 24
Laus
hmm. I get the feeling no one would recommend doing both AS and A2 in one year... Is there really very little thinking involved? I suppose just regurgitating (excuse the term) the theories/studies is all you can do in a psychology. Is it one of those subjects where you can put in your own interpretation? Or do you just really have to stick to what you've learnt in lessons?


in AS to be honest, its all regurgitating - im quite sure i left my brain at home for the exams, as long as you know & can apply the theories...they expect you to criticise - but you learn them by heart too, a lot can be applied to most studies nyway...eg, generalisation, reductionist, etc, etc...
Reply 25
yeah.. thanks for that. hmm
Reply 26
The thing is - I like to be challenged... I don't want to stress myself out too much but neither do I want to feel like I've wasted a year. From what i've heard, some people find really difficult.. whereas others wouldn't give it the time of day. I really need to read in to this... book recommendations anyone?!
Reply 27
Yeah, I have to say even though I find the subject dull it is really easy, and a welcome break from the challenges of my other subjects. The only tricky bit is learning how to word your answers, because the marking is so strict...So no, I don't think you would find it challenging enough.

Joe

PS. My Psychology teachers aren't nuts; they're dull and stupid. Really nice people though, just don't know much about anything apart from what we have to do for the exams.
Reply 28
Laus
The topics sound good. I'm particularly interested in the study of memory (does studying it actually help you to remember stuff for exams?). I'm sure learning about eating disorders is also pretty intriguing? Or perhaps disturbing?! Anywho, the topics that have been mentioned so far all sound pretty fascinating... Any book(s) you'd recommend as a sort of introduction to the subject? perhaps reading about it over the summer will help me to decide.


Eating disorders could be a delicate subject for some people but I personally didn't find it disturbing. We had to learn different studies about it such as if bullying in school had any connection to eating disorders, and identical twin studies. We also had to learn the characteristics of bulimia and anorexia nervosa as well as what psychologists think is the backbone to it all, such as hormonal imbalances etc.. As for the memory, well studying does help you revise stuff because you're learning when you study. :p: But in memory you mainly learn about long term memory and short term memory, why and how we forget things and do we actually forget or put it into our subconscious without realising it.

I only use the textbook provided from the school, i don't bother with revision guides. It all depends on what exam board you are doing because there's no point in paying £15 for a book if only 1/3 of it is related to what you have to learn.
Reply 29
Yeah I can see why eating disorders could be a delicate subject. I could do with learning about long and short term memory - my nan seems to be losing hers and it's quite sad to watch.
Reply 30
but anyway back to what we were talking about. If it is a dull subject and it isn't really much of a challenge, I cant see myself enjoying it...
Reply 31
Sorry I know you've gone back to topic but my psych teachers:

1) A crazy guy who lives alone after numerous divorces and by self-confession has few friends.
2) Crazy person who is off sick 98% of the time and had a boob job due to presumably esteem needs.
3) Crazy women who resembles a male and who told us about how she dreamt of killing her brother and hiding the body in a bath (_____ envy you might say :biggrin: ).
4) Very nice not-so crazy woman - but smells of urine apparently.
nickb123
Sorry I know you've gone back to topic but my psych teachers:

1) A crazy guy who lives alone after numerous divorces and by self-confession has few friends.
2) Crazy person who is off sick 98% of the time and had a boob job due to presumably esteem needs.
3) Crazy women who resembles a male and who told us about how she dreamt of killing her brother and hiding the body in a bath (_____ envy you might say :biggrin: ).
4) Very nice not-so crazy woman - but smells of urine apparently.


My sixth form college only had one psychology teacher (who took everyone), but she was certainly never as mad as any of them. :rofl: She was quite nice actually, but the maddest thing she ever did was produce the initialised abbreviation 'CHUGGITS' and suggest that we shout it out loud in certain places (on the bus, in the supermarket etc.)...
Laus
but anyway back to what we were talking about. If it is a dull subject and it isn't really much of a challenge, I cant see myself enjoying it...

Don't get too influenced by others opinions though. Sadly the thing with subjects like Psychology, Sociology etc is that you don't truly know what they are going to be like until you get to college. If you are good at writing essays and also are not thrown by jargon I think you can handle Psychology, and I think that it is a very interesting subject...at times. But you will get that with all subjects, there will be bits that are easy and bore you and there will be bits that you absolutely love. On the books front there aren't any directly related to most syllabuses but I may be wrong! R.D. Laing's "the divided self" is good for overcoming jargon and is really really interesting. "The Man Who mistook his wife for a hat" by Oliver Sacks is funny and fascinating!
Reply 34
Thanks a lot Gothic - i'll certainly have a look at them. I've heard of "The Man Who mistokk his wife for a hat". The title alone makes me chuckle..!
Reply 35
Ops *mistook even :smile:
hell yeah! psychology is a wicked subject, really really interesting, lots of essay work though i assume!
Reply 37
I'm coming to the end of my second year at university doing psychology. It is a very mixed subject and i've yet to find a student who likes all areas of Psychology. Much of it is quite Philosophical, learning the debates and arguments behind behaviour and learning. However there are heavy statistics involved in psychology with writing report, learning things like the bell curve were no fun for me. There are also the element of studying the regions and functioning of the brain, which is very clinical and involves remembering complex names.

At Alevels you'll be just glancing over all of these areas. Most likely doing developmental, cognitive (memory and learning), obidence, brain regions and perhaps some freud and motivation (Maslow).

Although the areas of psychology are very mixed, i do enjoy doing the subject. Is it hard? That really depends on what kind of person you are, much of it comes natural to me, i like to find arguments in essays, be critical and analyse, but i know people who are more interested in strictly factual information and find it hard to bring in a debate in a scientific way.

The research you'd be likely to come across in Alevel would be; Pavlov, Skinner, case of Little Albert, Piaget, Milgram, Zimbardo, Ash, Bowlby, Freud, Loftus.

I'd recommend you read the cases of Little Albert, Kitty Genovese (bystander theory), Milgram (very interesting study), and Zimbardo. They are what i consider to be the most interesting classic psychology studies.
Reply 38
Well i've studied philosophy so that may come in handy?In philosophy and health and social care we have covered skinner, piaget, bowlby and freud at some point.

I'm sure it is much more in depth at degree level. Are u glad u took this course? or would u opt for something else if u could do it all over again?

Yeah, I've heard there are a lot of statistics involved.. I suppose if u read up before hand its not so bad.
Reply 39
Regurgitation will get you a pass, but during the A2 year, a little bit of initiative will get you a long way, especially in the "approaches" section in the AQA unit 5 exam.