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Should I pick psychology a level or essay based subjects?

I'm currently waiting for my GCSE results and I'm extremely anxious as I don't think I'll achieve the grades to meet the entry requirements to take the subject psychology which are grade b's in science maths and English. I think I will get the b's in maths and English however I am very worried with science as after looking at unofficial mark schemes I think I'll get 2 c's which are very high and if I'm lucky might scrape into b's.

If I don't meet these requirements I am thinking of taking essay based subjects such as English lit ,re ect however I don't enjoy re. Is it possible to retake the science subjects (core and additional) whilst doing the psychology as? I really want to go to a good uni and some say you need b's at GCSE to take a course involving psychology

Reply 1

foureyes_

Psychology at a2 is severely essay based just so you know...
And im not sure if the requirements have changed but i remember people in my class having c's in sciences so i don't think you need to worry that much

Reply 2

blackened_sky

Yeah Psychology is like 80% essay based

Reply 3

cherryred90s

Original post by blackened_sky

Yeah Psychology is like 80% essay based

More like 95% :tongue:

Reply 4

blackened_sky

Original post by cherryred90s

More like 95% :tongue:

Well, my A2 paper had a significant portion on stats and crap, though essays still took up 99% of my time. God what an awful subject. Ruined my life.

Reply 5

cherryred90s

Original post by blackened_sky

Well, my A2 paper had a significant portion on stats and crap, though essays still took up 99% of my time. God what an awful subject. Ruined my life.

what exam board were you with? My first A2 paper was 100% essay form, second was around 95% essay form. How do you think you've done?

Reply 6

blackened_sky

Original post by cherryred90s

what exam board were you with? My first A2 paper was 100% essay form, second was around 95% essay form. How do you think you've done?

AQA, yeah you're right, forgot there was 2 papers, still though on our second the stats section made up for a good portion of the marks I believe.

Errr I got an E lol. I resat my A2 year this year.. Cept I dropped Psych after Christmas cause I just could not be arsed anymore. A Levels - not my thing.

Reply 7

cherryred90s

Original post by blackened_sky

Mine was OCR but our exam layouts were similar (I think) , I resat too lol, psychology can be the devil sometimes.

Reply 8

cherryred90s

Original post by cathartic

I had 2 Cs for science at GCSE, I still got let on to the course. There's not even any science in it, that's probably why they let me on. I've never heard of anyone retaking additional science modules. It will be too much especially if you're doing 4 AS subjects. I think your school/college will let you on the course with a little persuasion

Reply 9

blackened_sky

Original post by cherryred90s

Mine was OCR but our exam layouts were similar (I think) , I resat too lol, psychology can be the devil sometimes.

I had OCR for History and it was HELL. The 24 mark essays I did for Psych were babies in comparison to the 60/70 mark ones I had to do for History! Still managed to do better in History though lool

Reply 10

Euthymic223

The current Psychology A-level is heavily essay-based, but as I presume, the OP is likely entering Year 12 and there will be a new specification for study. This new specification is a lot more like the current Biology A-level, and includes a mixture of short-answer, medium-answer and extended-answer questions but no essay-based questions.

There are no more essays but there are a couple of extended answer questions in each paper, with the core being short-medium answer questions.

I'd recommend psychology any day even though the emphasis on essay-style questions is going to be much lower next year. It is a really interesting course with a lot of topics that one can relate to and is extremely broad in its reach. Psychology is a hub-science and ranges from more humanity-based areas like social psychology to science-based areas like behaviourism or biological psychology.

It's one of those subjects that is pretty broad so can suit a variety of learning styles. Go for it, and if you don't like it then change it for something else.

Reply 11

Scurve

Original post by cathartic

Get a job instead. No sense studying psychology and unable do a level maths or any science. You might not be cut out for academics.

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Reply 12

Kittyboy

Don't take psychology. My friend took it and said that she hated it. Well, if you don't like writing essays then don't take it.

Reply 13

markvr

Honestly, only do Psychology if you have a decent memory. It is basically one big memory test. It is essay based in the sense that you have to structure your answer in a cohesive manner, but a part from that it is just studies, some more studies, a lot of dates and more studies.

Reply 14

dis0rder

that's like saying 'should i drink water or just h2o' :wink:

psychology is essay based, not so much at AS level but A2 kills you with all the essays

Reply 15

Mfreeman

Original post by cathartic

I achieved a Grade C in maths and additional and 2 C's in English at GCSE and i've just sat my AS levels in Psychology, Sociology, English Lit and RE. I don't think you can retake the science subjects but you can asked for them to be remarked if your close to the grade boundary.
Its only preferable for B's at GCSE in uni but honestly I was panicking about it and they told me they mainly focus on your A-Level results so don't worry about it!
They'll only be asking for B's in science for a small part of the psychology course but if you go and talk to the psychology department i'm sure they'll tell you its more about understanding the basics than having 100% in it! its only simple science (only ever bits of biology) so its not hard!
As for English or RE go for the one you enjoy the most, on results day ask for the breakdown of the courses and talk to the teachers and they'll be able to help you make a decision. hope this helped a bit!!
Good luck for your results!

Reply 16

iammichealjackson

Original post by cathartic

Hi. Pretty much everyone on here is talking about psychology a level but as far as i understand you want to do it at uni? Its worth checking the specific unis that you want to apply for actually have GCSE requirements - not all do. However, it was pretty common for people to redo a GCSE in year 12.

Psychology at university is very science based, and i'd assume having a C in biology would look quite bad, since psychology requires at least a basic understanding of biology.

Reply 17

PsychologyNerdy

AS there are 2 essays, 12 marks each, one in each paper. A2 PSYA3 is 100% essay based and PSYA4 is 66% essay based. Memory is definitely key to psychology. Maths at grade B is normally required and usually english. I don't think any universities I applied to asked for specific science GCSEs, but I was doing Biology at A Level. I ended up with a C at A Level and I still got in