Getting a First in Psychology Degree
I’m a third year student currently studying Psychology at university. At the moment with my assignments I’m sitting a very high, comfortable 2:1 but just can’t seem to get over the threshold for a first. Does anyone have any tips on how to get a better grade? My exam results tend to let me down but I’m not sure if that because I’m underprepared or if I’m not including what they want causing my overall grade to fall to mid 2:1. I’ve read a few threads on here but they seem more directed at STEM classes that aren’t as opinion based like Psychology or English type subjects. Thanks!
Original post by AmyDetta
I’m a third year student currently studying Psychology at university. At the moment with my assignments I’m sitting a very high, comfortable 2:1 but just can’t seem to get over the threshold for a first. Does anyone have any tips on how to get a better grade? My exam results tend to let me down but I’m not sure if that because I’m underprepared or if I’m not including what they want causing my overall grade to fall to mid 2:1. I’ve read a few threads on here but they seem more directed at STEM classes that aren’t as opinion based like Psychology or English type subjects. Thanks!
I am in your exact same situation. Sitting comfortably at 65 but aiming for a first class degree.
I went to see my course leader and this is what he suggested.
- read learning outcomes over and over to make sure you've met them. It doesn't matter if you wrote loads for one, but if you barely mentioned number two then you'll be pulled down.
- spend some time calculating your degree weightings so you know what grades you need to get to achieve a first overall. For example if you've already got 65s this year, you can pull them up by getting 75s.
- check referencing. Even if you think you've mastered it there will probably be room for improvement. Always used primary sources. Try to use recent sources and mostly journals to make sure you use at least 4 other types of legit sources such as textbooks or website organisations. You'll be surprised how many people confident with referencing are using punctuation wrong (et al., or name., et all?) make sure reference list is in alphabetical order.
- go through your feedback from previous work from first and second year you'll be surprised how many times you'll have been critiqued on something but never realised because you just looked at the grade.
- I study psychology too, make sure your critical analysis is perfect.
- presentation, clear font, headers footers
- answer the question nothing else
- when discussing models and theories, always try to find a link between them
- spell check! One topic per paragraph. Don't go more than 3 sentences without a reference. Make aure it flows. Write your into last. Pay attention to your conclusion. Never use first person or mention your own opinions.
- write about your essay title and nothing else. No matter how accurate and fancy you might think that paragraph might be, if it doesn't meet the learning outcomes then it will just eat up your word count and not gain any marks.
- don't try and wing your essay if you don't understand the topic. It will show in your work. A big part of your marks is showing you understand the literature.
They're the things my course leader told me to do. Since then I've submitted 3 pieces of work that I am confident with. Just need to wait for my marks!
How did you end up doing? I'm going into my third year this year. I started off at year 1 with high 2:2 and mid 2:1 marks. Last year I managed to get straight 70's and 80's, pulling up my yearly average to about 78% I did revise a lot and getting a job really helped me manage my time well.
But I'm really crap at assignments and have always been better at exams. Luckily for me, my degree us about 25% coursework 😅
But I'm really crap at assignments and have always been better at exams. Luckily for me, my degree us about 25% coursework 😅
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