AQA A Level Psychology AO3 revision

Hey!
I'm currently in my first year of A-Levels, and I study psychology (as well as biology and chemistry). I need some help revising the AO3 for psychology.
I'm completely fine with using revision cards and practice questions for the AO1 part, and am retaining the information in that section well. I've really struggled with trying to revise AO3 from revision cards though.
I'm just wondering if any past or current Psychology students can give me any tips on how they revised AO3. I've made mind maps that summarise the AO3 points for each theory and I've made a document full of model answers for 16 mark questions, but I just feel guilty I'm not doing something more active instead of just reading through these documents over and over again and hoping it sticks. I've also been doing practice questions but seem to struggle on the AO3 :/

Thank you!!

Reply 1

Sharonts01

8

Heya. I'm a year 13 and I've finished the spec for aqa psychology. A really interesting topic to use in AO3 evaluations is Issues and Debates (in the year 2 book). This book basically allows you to almost state the obvious in particular evaluations but still make it sound good. For example if you talk about the biological approach you can write an AO3 paragraph using issues and debates saying that it is biologically reductionist (as it breaks down human behaviour into physiological components). Or saying that Asch's experiment was gender biased (especially beta biased) as he only used male participants. Studying this basically prevents you from trying to remember all of the AO3 paragraphs but to formulate one. Evaluation doesn't just have to be based on the book either, you can use your own judgement on the theory/experiment as long as it's backed with some form of evidence.

Reply 2

unbiasedatom

OP

13

Original post by Sharonts01

Heya. I'm a year 13 and I've finished the spec for aqa psychology. A really interesting topic to use in AO3 evaluations is Issues and Debates (in the year 2 book). This book basically allows you to almost state the obvious in particular evaluations but still make it sound good. For example if you talk about the biological approach you can write an AO3 paragraph using issues and debates saying that it is biologically reductionist (as it breaks down human behaviour into physiological components). Or saying that Asch's experiment was gender biased (especially beta biased) as he only used male participants. Studying this basically prevents you from trying to remember all of the AO3 paragraphs but to formulate one. Evaluation doesn't just have to be based on the book either, you can use your own judgement on the theory/experiment as long as it's backed with some form of evidence.

Thank you so much for the advice! This really helps put my mind at rest. I’ve already spent so long trying to remember 3/4 AO3 points for each individual theory! 😂

Reply 3

Sharonts01

8

Yeah I've got really bad memory so this is a way to do it. Also if there is ever an experiment involved you can always evaluate that such as use of lab experiments means high internal validity but poor ecological validity and stuff like that. It's best if you can remember any contradictory research but it's not a must. Let me know if you need anything else. I was in the same boat as you.

Reply 4

absolutelysprout

21

some A03 is common sense or will become common sense to you as progress through the course ie. ecological validity of studies, ethical and social issues, whether an approach or model is humanistic/deterministic/reductionist etc. as said above, issues and debates, which you'll cover in year 2, may help you with your evaluation.
of course, if you want to use studies for your evaluation you will just have to try and revise these regularly. i'm in year 13 now and spaced, repetitive revision has helped me (managed to get A* in my psychology mock), even if it didn't feel like it in the beginning!! regularly test yourself on A03 points even if it's just writing them out from memory and adding the ones you've forgot in a different colour.
keep doing practice questions, practice will help a lot especially for timing and applying your knowledge to stem questions :yes:

Reply 5

j.xxxxxj

16

I do psychology find it hard cant revise have the worst memory actually going to fail

Reply 6

unbiasedatom

OP

13

Original post by entertainmyfaith

some A03 is common sense or will become common sense to you as progress through the course ie. ecological validity of studies, ethical and social issues, whether an approach or model is humanistic/deterministic/reductionist etc. as said above, issues and debates, which you'll cover in year 2, may help you with your evaluation.
of course, if you want to use studies for your evaluation you will just have to try and revise these regularly. i'm in year 13 now and spaced, repetitive revision has helped me (managed to get A* in my psychology mock), even if it didn't feel like it in the beginning!! regularly test yourself on A03 points even if it's just writing them out from memory and adding the ones you've forgot in a different colour.
keep doing practice questions, practice will help a lot especially for timing and applying your knowledge to stem questions :yes:

Yeah hopefully it will just come with time. I find the AO3 points with studies to support the are the ones I tend to do better on, just because I can revise the study in the same way as the AO1. Thank you for your advice, I really appreciate it!

Reply 7

Sharonts01

8

Original post by Jasmine.bx

I do psychology find it hard cant revise have the worst memory actually going to fail

I'm also in your position in terms to finding it hard to remember the information. I would suggest condensing each page into 6 key words (AO1) and then 3 AO3 points you would use for a 16 mark essay. Then test yourself regularly closed book and then fill in missing details using textbooks. I always find that the way we think is a self-fulfilling prophecy. So if we think we're going to fail then it's actually going to happen. So think about all of your strengths and use that to challenge those negative or pessimistic thoughts you may be having.

Reply 8

absolutelysprout

21

Original post by rileymoat

Yeah hopefully it will just come with time. I find the AO3 points with studies to support the are the ones I tend to do better on, just because I can revise the study in the same way as the AO1. Thank you for your advice, I really appreciate it!

no worries!! :smile:

AQA A Level Psychology AO3 revision

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