Revising Psychology A level

Hi,
Could anyone give any tips/advice on how to best revise for Psychology, how you made revision material, things you found useful etc

Also I feel as if I don’t know how to answer exam questions properly especially 12 and 16 markers, so if anyone could help with that I would be really grateful. Sometimes I’m not sure how to structure them or what info and how much of it do I need to include. I do aqa.

Thanks

Reply 1

studying12345

11

Hi. I'm a year 13 psychology student and I'm predicted an A*.

I revised psychology using flashcards. Here's a list of what I did.

- I printed off the specification.
- Go through the AOs (Assessment Objectives) and familiarise yourself with them.
- I used quizlet to make flashcards. So i put the bullet points of the spec onto one side of the flashcard and the corresponding information on the other side. (For some bullet points, the information was a lot so I split them).
- I then printed them off and memorised them.
- The key thing is I did most of it as I went along. Although some topics, I didn't but I tried my best to the note making as I went along and memorised as much as I could for end of topic tests.
- I also did lots of practice papers and when i finished those, I did all the sample questions in the textbook.

For 16 markers, 10 marks is for evaluation (AO3) and 6 marks is for knowledge (AO1). If the 16 marker has a scenario, I believe it's 3 marks for AO1, 3 marks for AO2 (application) and 10 marks for evaluation.

So for 16 markers, I would usually do 6 points of AO1, or 3 points with more explanation for each point. and then I would do 3 evaluations (in a PEEL structure).

I did AQA.

Any other questions, feel free to ask :smile:

Reply 2

6th form student

OP

13

Original post by studying12345

Hi. I'm a year 13 psychology student and I'm predicted an A*.

I revised psychology using flashcards. Here's a list of what I did.

- I printed off the specification.
- Go through the AOs (Assessment Objectives) and familiarise yourself with them.
- I used quizlet to make flashcards. So i put the bullet points of the spec onto one side of the flashcard and the corresponding information on the other side. (For some bullet points, the information was a lot so I split them).
- I then printed them off and memorised them.
- The key thing is I did most of it as I went along. Although some topics, I didn't but I tried my best to the note making as I went along and memorised as much as I could for end of topic tests.
- I also did lots of practice papers and when i finished those, I did all the sample questions in the textbook.

For 16 markers, 10 marks is for evaluation (AO3) and 6 marks is for knowledge (AO1). If the 16 marker has a scenario, I believe it's 3 marks for AO1, 3 marks for AO2 (application) and 10 marks for evaluation.

So for 16 markers, I would usually do 6 points of AO1, or 3 points with more explanation for each point. and then I would do 3 evaluations (in a PEEL structure).

I did AQA.

Any other questions, feel free to ask :smile:

Thanks for your help.
With key studies for each topic, do you have to know them in a lot of detail or would I be ok putting them on flashcards too?
What other subjects do you do?

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 3

studying12345

11

Original post by 6th form student

Thanks for your help.
With key studies for each topic, do you have to know them in a lot of detail or would I be ok putting them on flashcards too?
What other subjects do you do?

Hi. I'm so so sorry for the late reply! I haven't been on TSR for a week!

With key studies, the ones that are named in the spec you have to know inside out! But, if there are any in your textbook that are mentioned that are not named in the spec, you may not need to know in so much detail. But, they can still ask you to refer to "a research study" and you will need to mention some of those. It's best to know as many as you can.

So, for example in the psychopathology topic, Beck's negative triad theory and Ellis's ABC model theory are named in the spec, so you'll have to know them inside out. However, Mowrer's two process model of explaining phobias is not mentioned in the spec. However, the behavioural approach to explaining phobias is mentioned in the spec which is Mowrer's model. So even though he is not mentioned specifically, you would still need to know his theory to answer a question about the behavioural approach to explaining phobias, but you could get away with not knowing his name since he's not specifically mentioned.

I'd suggest knowing as many as you can. Definitely focus on the specific ones mentioned in the spec, but it's also just as important to know the others. Every year, exam questions get harder and harder, and the boards try to twist questions and make them more challenging. So, it's best to put them on your flashcards and know as many as you can so they can't catch you out!

Also, I'm doing Sociology, Business Studies and EPQ (extended project)! :smile:

If you have anymore questions, please don't hesitate to ask!

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 4

6th form student

OP

13

Thanks a lot. :smile:

Would you recommend any revision guides/resources that you found useful?

Reply 5

studying12345

11

The core textbooks (my school used the illuminate publishing green hair and pink hair books written by Cara Flannagan) were what I used mostly for my notes, as they have exactly everything you need. The revision guide versions of these (links below) are quite good, they've summarised everything really well. Although, if you were to solely use these you'd probably get a C or B. The core textbooks have got more information on each topic and have extra evaluations (knowing the extra evaluations as opposed to the normal ones is better as they make you stand out!).

I'd suggest using the core textbooks to learn everything and make notes on, and then use the revision guides after to check you know all the core stuff. If you want to get an A or A*, you need to know the extra little bits in the core textbooks.

Also, the website, Simply Psychology, has some really good summary pages. If you ever don't have your textbook on hand, use it! Saved me so many times. Also Tutor2U has some great example essay booklets for each topic (although they are quite expensive). The link to the social influence one is this: https://www.tutor2u.net/psychology/store/social-influence-aqa-a-level-psychology-topic-essays

https://www.amazon.co.uk/AQA-Psychology-Level-Year-AS/dp/1908682442

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Psychology-Level-Year-Revision-Guide/dp/1908682450/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=AQA+Psychology+for+A+Level+Year+2+-+Revision+Guide&qid=1585754863&s=books&sr=1-1

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 6

6th form student

OP

13

That's great, thank you for the help! :smile:

Revising Psychology A level

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