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Is Psychology a 'weak' subject at A level and Degree level?

I've heard in others posts that Psychology is not considered a strong subject. What are your opinions on this? keep bias to a minimum!

Reasons would be great! :smile:

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Reply 1

emiliee21

I think its just average, although I have seen that Cambridge consider it to be a weak A level

Reply 2

Howbeit

Original post by emiliee21

I think its just average, although I have seen that Cambridge consider it to be a weak A level

That's what I saw, do you know where Oxford stand on it?

Reply 3

pardonmyfrench

I think Oxford and Cambridge are definitley the same on their biases on subjects: they consider Psychology to be a slightly weaker A level and would want it to be supported by 2 more traditional ones, but at degree level, I wouldn't say that it is considered a weak subject at all!

Reply 4

GodspeedGehenna

The a level is pretty awful.

People who criticise the degree usually have no idea what it actually contains.

Reply 5

beepbeeprichie

Psychology is one of the most flawed disciplines in the academic world. It's also done a lot of evil stuff.

Reply 6

Howbeit

Original post by beepbeeprichie

Psychology is one of the most flawed disciplines in the academic world. It's also done a lot of evil stuff.

What do you mean by flawed? And I understand the practices in the 20th century in some institutions were horrible...

Reply 7

Howbeit

Original post by GodspeedGehenna

The a level is pretty awful.

People who criticise the degree usually have no idea what it actually contains.

Can you explain that any further? Is the degree a big jump?

Reply 8

SophiaKeuning

It's not considered to be as weak as other A Levels (you know the ones), the only unis that would complain about it are the top ones. To be honest, I know people who do psych and geography and they all agree that psych is harder. What's up with Geography being classed as one of the harder ones? :K:

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 9

GodspeedGehenna

Original post by RobertWhite

Can you explain that any further? Is the degree a big jump?

The degree is absolutely nothing like a level.

Reply 10

Howbeit

Original post by GodspeedGehenna

The degree is absolutely nothing like a level.

Ah, hopefully it gets even more interesting. Are you required to know lots of names at degree level?

Reply 11

GodspeedGehenna

Original post by RobertWhite

Ah, hopefully it gets even more interesting. Are you required to know lots of names at degree level?

You need to know a lot of papers, yes, but not just the arbitrary memorisation of names and criticisms.

Reply 12

aeterno

At A-level, apparently yes.
At degree level, no.

Reply 13

Uzzy?

From alevel to degree is a massive jump. Most people who say Psychology is a 'weak' subject or more recently its 'common sense' usually have no idea of what it involves. :no:

I wouldn't say its weak. I enjoy it and its pretty challenging too.

Reply 14

SpeedyDesiato

Well, I got an offer from Oxford and I currently study Psychology A level. I do, however, also study Maths and English Literature, so...

Reply 15

GodspeedGehenna

Original post by beepbeeprichie

Psychology is one of the most flawed disciplines in the academic world. It's also done a lot of evil stuff.

Feel free to elaborate.

Reply 16

nuodai

This thread comes up quite a lot and people always say that Oxbridge don't like it, but I'd beg to differ. A publication by Cambridge [here] says it might be suitable for some courses. And if anecdotal evidence is anything to go by, they based my offer on Maths, FMaths and Psychology (when they could have chosen French instead of or as well as Psychology).

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 17

SpeedyDesiato

Original post by RobertWhite

I'm annoyed they don't make the A level harder :mad:

The A Level isn't exactly easy. There's a reason that 100% UMS is often around 55/75 marks.

Reply 18

Marsha2112

Well.....I do it for AS with while doing A2s in Further Maths, Physics and Chem. It's the "easiest" to understand, but it's the only subject I ever do homework for, and I got the lowest module result for it in January out of all my subjects, despite putting the most hours of revision in.

Reply 19

SpeedyDesiato

Original post by Marsha2112

Yeah, I'd say that a lot of the concepts/theories are pretty alright to grasp. An excess of dopamine could lead to Schizophrenia.

It's number of different proofs and synoptic understanding you need to show that make it a more demanding topic.