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WJEC PY4 21st June 2011 exam

Hey ya everyone, I didnt see a thread for this exam in june just thought it would be nice if we could use this to help each other coming up to the exam.

Much appreciated if we could help each other with:
anything you dont understand
essay plans
key word definitions e.g. gender bias, free will etc.
essay structuring
grade bounderies to reach target grades
revision notes
and anything else :smile:
many thanks and good luck for june :smile:

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I've got this exam - it's a lot of essays to learn!

I'm currently using the book written by examiners (not WJEC examiners - thank you wellpastmybedtime) to write my essays as well as class notes, but the book is really helpful and has definitions in there for essays and tips on how to improve your writing style to get top marks. You need to expand on the info given though because it is a bit basic in parts, it's probably designed to bump up your essays rather than be the sole source of information.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-Companion-Psychology-Students-Book/dp/1850085714/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1302795095&sr=8-1

Would highly recommend buying this book if you haven't already.
(edited 13 years ago)
Reply 2
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Howbeit
19
I swear the WJEC exam board for this course is a joke? All the students just 'learn' an essay to which they regurgitate in the exam.
Original post by RobertWhite
I swear the WJEC exam board for this course is a joke? All the students just 'learn' an essay to which they regurgitate in the exam.


Most A-levels are like that.
Reply 4
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Original post by SpicyStrawberry
Most A-levels are like that.


I have never found that, but know it happens. Teachers should not teach like that either, it makes the students poorly prepared, especially if they are going on to university. I'd like to see them regurgitate an essay there.
Original post by RobertWhite
I have never found that, but know it happens. Teachers should not teach like that either, it makes the students poorly prepared, especially if they are going on to university. I'd like to see them regurgitate an essay there.


Yeah I completely agree, with WJEC it's just a matter of learning an essay that you have written to the best of your ability and repeating it in an exam.

It should be stopped really, because exams are supposed to test your understanding not your memory skills after all!
Reply 6
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Original post by SpicyStrawberry
Yeah I completely agree, with WJEC it's just a matter of learning an essay that you have written to the best of your ability and repeating it in an exam.

It should be stopped really, because exams are supposed to test your understanding not your memory skills after all!


Exactly. In my psychology class I come out with some pretty damn good definitions for things and the teacher told them to write it down and learn it! I felt like protesting that, that isn't the point! We are with AQA though so hopefully they'll have more trouble. :sneakydevil:
Original post by RobertWhite
Exactly. In my psychology class I come out with some pretty damn good definitions for things and the teacher told them to write it down and learn it! I felt like protesting that, that isn't the point! We are with AQA though so hopefully they'll have more trouble. :sneakydevil:


Fair enough :tongue: Yeah my teacher's tried using past student answers to give as model answers to the class but that doesn't prepare people at all it just gives them a false sense of security and I've heard examiners hate model answers anyway!

I wish people would use their initiative more, and the people who put the effort in to write the answers get the credit they deserve. It's not really fair using someone else's work and regurgitating it and getting the same grade.
Original post by SpicyStrawberry
I've got this exam - it's a lot of essays to learn!

I'm currently using the book written by the examiners to write my essays as well as class notes, but the book is really helpful and has definitions in there for essays and tips on how to improve your writing style to get top marks. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-Companion-Psychology-Students-Book/dp/1850085714/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1302795095&sr=8-1

Would highly recommend buying this book if you haven't already.




Our teacher has told us NOT to get this book :s-smilie: ... Though I'm thinking I might just anyway.
Reply 9
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Original post by SpicyStrawberry
Fair enough :tongue: Yeah my teacher's tried using past student answers to give as model answers to the class but that doesn't prepare people at all it just gives them a false sense of security and I've heard examiners hate model answers anyway!

I wish people would use their initiative more, and the people who put the effort in to write the answers get the credit they deserve. It's not really fair using someone else's work and regurgitating it and getting the same grade.


I know. I'm annoyed too because I make up some good definitions for when I want to explain a particular word off the top of my head and then if I ever want to use it I know another 30 people are too!

They will fail at university. ^^
Original post by The Cello Ninja
Our teacher has told us NOT to get this book :s-smilie: ... Though I'm thinking I might just anyway.


How come? It's written by the examiners, so it should have the stuff you need to get by. It's not got absolutely everything though and there are areas where you need to expand yourself but it should help with revision.
Reply 11
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mel0n
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We were never given any book :ninja: (I've completed the A2).. surely you can still get a high mark without it!
Oh dear- a that will not doubt get me a negative rating here.

But I have to ask - what is it you expect an A level specification to do? What do you think an A level is for anyway? What do you think your teachers should be doing?

Then what happens when they do all those things and nearly all of you fail? ( which does happen when teachers teach rather than teaching to spec and exam).

Now, I can speak here from a clutch of good exam passes although that doesn't make me a " good" teacher it makes me an exam mill operator.

WJEC is not the easiest A level despite that no surprises essay style of questions. Its a good specification for mid to high ability range students. It is not good for low to bottom range students.

The book so mentioned is a good one and worth getting but there are a few errors in it especially on the PY2 section and the A2 book is superficial but it will do the job. But lets get this right - it is NOT written by examiners. Not WJEC examiners anyway.

There is a book due out written by WJEC examiners. I have it on order but it wont be published until June now ( thats my understanding).

But the book that exists is good enough for the time. I would get it ( although its possibly a bit late now)

As for those key words and made up definitions. be careful. Although most examiners claim to " hate" model answers, the whole point is that those answers contain the key words that they are looking for according to the mark scheme. If you do not use them then you may lose marks. This is particularly true of AQA ( used to teach that before WJEC) who wont give any marks for an answer not matter how well explained if it doesn't have certain words used.

WJEC are at least clear about that hence the no surprises on the questions, (although they do mark somewhat harder for that dispensation) unlike AQA who wont put it in black and white and students come unstuck.
Original post by SpicyStrawberry
Yeah I completely agree, with WJEC it's just a matter of learning an essay that you have written to the best of your ability and repeating it in an exam.

It should be stopped really, because exams are supposed to test your understanding not your memory skills after all!


StrawberrySpice, you cannot test a persons unless unless you can test their knowledge base

. Psychology is a new subject for many at A level ( they haven't done it before) therefore they have no knowledge base. If you look at the WJEC specification it tests BOTH knowledge base and understanding. It does it systematically ( like any good science).

Yes, you do have to learn a lot because at AS you are putting in a knowledge base ( A2 has far more emphasis on evaluation and critical skills ). You may be able to learn essays and re write them ( thank G*d you can , because if you couldn't a lot of students whose abilities and skills are more limited would never pass A levels but it is a requirement that teachers do get such students through A level and on to University ( that target of 50% in higher education set by the government of the time a few years back has not bee rescinded)

As a teacher I work to that and despite what you and other students here may think in my school at least I am questioned if any student does not do well ( let alone fail) and am under pressure to pass them all regardless of ability ( and I have some very poor ones). As I said previously, what do you want here? To pass the exam or for me to teach you some psychology? I can do the latter very nicely but it may not get you those grade A's you want. getting those requires some for of skill teaching and teaching to exam . That is experience talking!

I have been teaching A level psychology for over twenty years now and it has never been easy to get students a pass on this course with any exam board. Higher grades are most difficult for most students ( yes some can do it without a sweat, but they are usually intelligent and good academic all rounders anyway!). Its hard work and tenacity and regurgitation and anything else it takes. Anyone, teacher or student who says differently is misguided or misguiding you or both.
Now, my advice would be - get out there and study. You only have a few weeks left to the exam.

Good luck - and work hard and learn those essays and you stand some chance.
Reply 15
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mel0n
17
If anyone needs any help with anything I might be able to help. I covered memory, forensics, disorders and controversies :yy:
Original post by wellpastmybedtime
StrawberrySpice, you cannot test a persons unless unless you can test their knowledge base

. Psychology is a new subject for many at A level ( they haven't done it before) therefore they have no knowledge base. If you look at the WJEC specification it tests BOTH knowledge base and understanding. It does it systematically ( like any good science).

Yes, you do have to learn a lot because at AS you are putting in a knowledge base ( A2 has far more emphasis on evaluation and critical skills ). You may be able to learn essays and re write them ( thank G*d you can , because if you couldn't a lot of students whose abilities and skills are more limited would never pass A levels but it is a requirement that teachers do get such students through A level and on to University ( that target of 50% in higher education set by the government of the time a few years back has not bee rescinded)

As a teacher I work to that and despite what you and other students here may think in my school at least I am questioned if any student does not do well ( let alone fail) and am under pressure to pass them all regardless of ability ( and I have some very poor ones). As I said previously, what do you want here? To pass the exam or for me to teach you some psychology? I can do the latter very nicely but it may not get you those grade A's you want. getting those requires some for of skill teaching and teaching to exam . That is experience talking!

I have been teaching A level psychology for over twenty years now and it has never been easy to get students a pass on this course with any exam board. Higher grades are most difficult for most students ( yes some can do it without a sweat, but they are usually intelligent and good academic all rounders anyway!). Its hard work and tenacity and regurgitation and anything else it takes. Anyone, teacher or student who says differently is misguided or misguiding you or both.


I'm not disputing that teachers aren't questioned if most of their students fail, they should be, but not if the students couldn't be bothered revising or something, it should only be in very serious circumstances because it's not necessarily the teacher's fault students do badly in exams.

When in my class and I or someone else writes an A-grade essay my teacher has the tendency to give it out to the whole class to learn and regurgitate which makes me a bit frustrated. They ask if they can give it out, but I would feel like a mean idiot if I said no! Maybe it's my fault really, but it's a difficult position.

I just wonder sometimes why a small amount of members of the class should put in all the work while the rest of the class doesn't do much and just learns what everyone else has written? That's the criticism I have with this exam - it's harder to distinguish between good and bad candidates if the whole class has been given the same essays and information to learn, it doesn't really prepare for university where that wouldn't be allowed. After thinking about it it is probably just the way my college has taught it, it does explain why most of the students leave with A/B grades!

I understand that teachers have to put across the knowledge in any way they can which can include simply giving info out to learn and repeat in the exam because of time constraints and different levels of ability, fair enough, but it would probably be better if the students weren't spoon-fed everything and encouraged to do their own reading around to add bits to make their work more original.

I'm not saying you don't do that I'm sure with all your experience you are an excellent teacher :smile: but that's just my experience at college.

Maybe it's better if the class gets given out some notes and then they are given guidance on how to expand on them. I get that this makes people more likely to get worse grades if they don't do it, but as a teacher I'm guessing you can't force people to learn and do things in their own time, but that is their decision as adults if they want to do less work?

I just don't see how it's fair that for this exam you can learn model answers you have not necessarily written yourself. It's nothing really on the teacher's part because I totally understand that with the time you are given to teach the syllabus there are little alternatives, but I'm sure you can understand it can be a bit frustrating!
(edited 13 years ago)
Reply 17
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mel0n
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Original post by SpicyStrawberry


I just wonder sometimes why a small amount of members of the class should put in all the work while the rest of the class doesn't do much and just learns what everyone else has written? That's the criticism I have with this exam - it's harder to distinguish between good and bad candidates if the whole class has been given the same essays and information to learn, it doesn't really prepare for university where that wouldn't be allowed.



I'm not trying to argue with you here, I promise :p: But not all colleges/schools do that! When I studied the exam my teacher would only photocopy something someone had done if it was, say, general findings or something! Whenever I went to him with an essay or something that had maybe some 'extra research' in it that we weren't told about in class he'd always say it'll be looked on favourably because it's not something everyone in the class will have. He didn't say 'we'll share this out in the class so everyone can learn it' or anything. I think the problem seems to slightly be your school in this case, not the exam board :dontknow:

I understand that teachers have to put across the knowledge in any way they can which can include simply giving info out to learn and repeat in the exam because of time constraints and different levels of ability, fair enough, but it would probably be better if the students weren't spoon-fed everything and encouraged to do their own reading around to add bits to make their work more original.


Same again :dontknow: I don't think all colleges do this. In all honesty my teacher did give out part-model answers. In that he wrote bits of them and then left HUGE blank spaces for us to go off and find our own work, but this was only for people who wanted to do that. In fact you'd probably get higher marks in an exam if your essay isn't a carbon copy of everyone else's. The examiners can't deduct marks for a good essay even if everyone has the same one written, but they can sure be more favourable to the anomalous paper that is fairly unique in comparison :smile:
Original post by mel0n
I'm not trying to argue with you here, I promise :p: But not all colleges/schools do that! When I studied the exam my teacher would only photocopy something someone had done if it was, say, general findings or something! Whenever I went to him with an essay or something that had maybe some 'extra research' in it that we weren't told about in class he'd always say it'll be looked on favourably because it's not something everyone in the class will have. He didn't say 'we'll share this out in the class so everyone can learn it' or anything. I think the problem seems to slightly be your school in this case, not the exam board :dontknow:



Same again :dontknow: I don't think all colleges do this. In all honesty my teacher did give out part-model answers. In that he wrote bits of them and then left HUGE blank spaces for us to go off and find our own work, but this was only for people who wanted to do that. In fact you'd probably get higher marks in an exam if your essay isn't a carbon copy of everyone else's. The examiners can't deduct marks for a good essay even if everyone has the same one written, but they can sure be more favourable to the anomalous paper that is fairly unique in comparison :smile:


Fair enough :smile: Maybe it's just my college :tongue: It might just be that because the questions are known and we know exactly what can be asked this has meant that our college has gone down the line of handing out model answers to learn, and this has encouraged bad habits where people are less likely to want to put their own extra bits in. Makes sense I guess!

Thank you for not being mean, a lot on here tear you to shreds if they have a different opinion! :redface:
(edited 13 years ago)
Reply 19
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mel0n
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Original post by SpicyStrawberry
Fair enough :smile: Maybe it's just my college :tongue: It might just be that because the questions are known and we know exactly what can be asked this has meant that our college has gone down the line of handing out model answers to learn, and this has encouraged bad habits where people are less likely to want to put their own extra bits in. Makes sense I guess!

Thank you for not being mean, a lot on here tear you to shreds if they have a different opinion! :redface:


Yeah! I'm not sure if other teachers in my college gave their classes model answers, but mine didn't really.. In the first year, for the first set of exams, we were given what might be more of a model answer but generally not in A2 really. I guess it would be really annoying, having put the effort in then others are getting credit for it.. How've you been finding the course in general? And what topics are you doing for PY4? There's a thread on here somewhere that a lot of us that did the A2 last year used to post in and there's some useful resources in there that we posted up etc :smile:

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