AQA A2 Psychology A

So I want to carry on psychology this year when i return for A2 on Wednesday. The problem is, I've been terrified by 'horror stories' from people in the above years, and my teacher who set us synoptic paragraphs homework at the end of last year after the AS exams without even explaining what they are.
Is it as hard as everyone is making it out to be and my teacher has already made it?

I got a B in my AS exam and really enjoy it.

Reply 1

theresheglows

Original post by sophiecorah

I won't lie, A2 is harder than AS, you have to know the material really well and prepare for the essay questions really thoroughly - I wrote essay outlines for all of the possible topics that could come up in the essay questions.

It is really interesting though, so don't be frightened by it, there is a lot to remember but it isn't very difficult to understand; as long as you keep up with the work as you go along (because there is a lot to learn), and study thoroughly you will be fine. If your teacher doesn't explain things thoroughly, I recommend investing in some good revision guides (they're useful anyway!), my favourite was the Exam Companion ones, and the Complete Companion was really good too (it's like a textbook).

Reply 2

MarvelAgent

No doubt that A2 Psychology is harder than AS Psychology, in terms of volume of knowledge that you are required to learn, not necessary the difficulties of the knowledge. There is a lot to learn, especially in PSYA3, but as long as keep on top of it, try to learn it after each lesson and do it in successive step, that it should not be an problems.

Also at A2 you will be taught how to incorporate IDAs into your evaluation, which will allow you to develop skills that allow you to write much developed and detailed AO2, so I would not worry too much about that. If you are worry about the essay element of A2, you can always write an draft essay for every single topic in PSYA3 and get your teacher to mark it and then just reproduce something similar in the exam.

Trust me, if you work hard in Psychology, your hard work will pay off!!

Reply 3

sophiecorah

Thank you. can someone please explain what a synoptic paragraph actually is?

Reply 4

MarvelAgent

Original post by sophiecorah

Thank you. can someone please explain what a synoptic paragraph actually is?

Synoptic element are usually part of A2 exam or incorporated into A2 exam, which just meant drawing on knowledge from AS in your A2.

So... I am wondering whether your teacher want you to write an paragraph on some aspect of A2 topic that link to your AS knowledge, so for example one of the topic in PSYA3 is Aggression, which mention about vicarious learning (Learning by observe other getting reward and punished), which is essentially operant conditioning by watching others, which is also something you did at AS.

Reply 5

Jkizer

Meh i wouldn't say A2 is a lot harder, rather just laborious with all the memorising you have to do (I personally think it has similar amounts of content to AS)

Synoptic points are basically points which you could chuck into almost every essay - Highly recommended to cut down on the amount of memorising you need to do - Most common are reductionist & deterministic (You'll learn them quite early when you start)

Somehow i managed to get an A* in psychology, which was probably helped by the low grade boundaries in A2 - Make sure you dont fall into the trap like the majority of students of writing crappy A02 points

AQA A2 Psychology A

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