Psychology Edexcel GCSE help

Hello, this is my first time using this platform so I do hope I'm using it correctly! The entire reason I'm here is to look for psychology resources as I've gotten myself in a bit of a muddle up.

For a bit of context; My mother and I finalised my GCSE exam centers about a month ago without noticing a very key point, I've been signed up for Edexcel psychology even though my school has studied AQA psychology (this cannot be changed). Upon noticing this a couple days ago, I'm quite nervous to find as many resources as possible. I've looked at the specification and about half of it is new content and a lot of what I have studied in school is not on the specification. :frown:

As far as I'm aware, the Edexcel paper is very different to the AQA one. I have never heard of essay questions that go past 9 marks in psychology and there are several chapters we have not seen in class at all. I have ordered the textbook which I'll study as much as I can in the remaining time but it'll be hard to grasp everything with that alone.
If anyone here is doing Edexcel psychology could you please give me any tips or resources you have? Absolutely anything helps me so much. Thank you :smile:

)

Reply 1

g_Beth_t

Hi there.

First things first, the edexcel psych paper 2 is on two optional topics, plus research methods, I don't know if you already knew this. Having a quick look at the AQA spec, it seems you will have studied perception and language, thought and communication already, which are two of the optional topics, so I'd suggest you do those.

For resources, Quizlet and StudySmarter have various sets of flashcards for Edexcel psych, but they don't always have all the topics, so you'd have to look through them.

https://quizlet.com/kane_st885/sets - this person has multiple sets for psychology.

https://www.youtube.com/@crashcourse/playlists - Crash Course has a bunch of psychology videos, although not all of them apply. They do mention some of the studies though, like Phineas Gage.

Another tip, for facing paper 2, is that it will be pressed for time. It's an hour and twenty and you will have three essays to get through plus other short answers. I don't know how good your essay writing is (probably better than mine), but you should really try to figure out exactly how much information is enough and learn the AOs really well. This applies or all the essays, but particularly for paper 2 when there isn't as much time.

For the studies, you have to know some pretty detailed info, such as number of participants, so I'd maybe recommend making revision cards or little posters or something that you can look over each day. Even stick a bunch of them around the house and look at them everyday.

My last tip is just write as many of those papers as you possibly can before your exam. There aren't a bunch available as tit's relatively new, but just redo them if you run out. It just gets you super used to the way they ask questions and how they expect you to respond, because sometimes the answer they want can seem a bit far fetched.

Anyway, sorry for the long reply, but I hope this is somewhat helpful and I hope you do well in your exams :smile:

Reply 2

MarinaKat

Hello! Sorry for the late-ish reply,

Thank you so much for the tips and resources, you have no idea how much this helps me. I actually didn't know that we only needed to do 2 of the topics in paper 2 so that's a huge weight off my shoulders. I'll make sure to check out the resources linked and try your revision techniques! I've got two Edexcel psych past papers printed out that I'm going through now and I'm starting to grasp it a lot better.
Truly thank you so much for your help, this helped me wrap my head around it a lot more.

Have a wonderful rest of your day/weekend and best of luck in your studies! :biggrin:

Reply 3

g_Beth_t

Original post by MarinaKat

You're welcome!

Yeah, it's nice that it's only two. Plus, as you are technically doing it externally you can pick which ones you do (like I have) and then in the actual paper you just tick which two you have done and then just answer those questions. Also, don't forget that there is a full paper set in the sample assessment material for psych on Pearson's website, so that's an extra practice paper you can do :smile: