Cambridge Psychological and Behavioural Sciences (PBS) Students and Applicants

Hi all!

Could you tell me, please what it is like to study psychology at Cambridge (as Psychological and Behavioural sceinces) and UCL? Do students have to study mathematics and other science subjects like chemistry and/or physics? Do they take LSAT tests and other analytical reasoning and logical reasoning tests? I am an international student, and I have never studied psychology before.
(Are modules in computer science compulsory?) I prefer a course which is not combined with natural sciences.

Thank you.

Reply 203

Changing Skies

22

Hey, I've moved this to the Cambridge section for you :smile:

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Reply 204

Original post by Changing Skies

Hey, I've moved this to the Cambridge section for you :smile:

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I do apologize if I posted it in the wrong section. (I am a new user)Thank you.

Reply 205

Changing Skies

22

Original post by Evelyn Evans

I do apologize if I posted it in the wrong section. (I am a new user)Thank you.

No worries at all :biggrin:

you're welcome :smile:

I'd recommend posting it in the UCL section too :h:

Reply 206

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2725769

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Original post by Changing Skies

No worries at all :biggrin:

you're welcome :smile:

I'd recommend posting it in the UCL section too :h:

I posted it, but it disappeared :s-smilie:

Reply 207

Changing Skies

22

Original post by Evelyn Evans

I posted it, but it disappeared :s-smilie:

Is it not this one? :h:

Reply 208

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2725769

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Original post by Changing Skies

Is it not this one? :h:

Yes!

Looks like a post needs time to show up :colondollar:

Reply 209

Original post by Evelyn Evans

Hi all!

Could you tell me, please what it is like to study psychology at Cambridge (as Psychological and Behavioural sceinces) and UCL? Do students have to study mathematics and other science subjects like chemistry and/or physics? Do they take LSAT tests and other analytical reasoning and logical reasoning tests? I am an international student, and I have never studied psychology before.
(Are modules in computer science compulsory?) I prefer a course which is not combined with natural sciences.

Thank you.

Hi there! I'm a PBS student that has been through the first year in Cambridge. :smile:

It would be beneficial if you take A level statistics because most of the statistics we learn is a revision of that, with only a little bit of new material. However because the maths portion of the second PBS paper is not so much, you can get away with not having learnt that stuff before. However the pace of the lectures can be quite fast if you're not mathematically inclined, so it would be best to have done some maths before.

Chemistry and physics are definitely not needed. Biology though is very beneficial (again it has to do with the second PBS paper). It would help you immensely if you had biology, especially since you mention that you haven't taken psychology as an A level (I hadn't either!). But I understand that some students taking the course aren't scientifically inclined, so the only way you could get around it is to have basic GCSE knowledge at least.

They understand that people come from a lot of different backgrounds. There are some courses that are linked to the HSPS tripos if you don't want to do natural science papers. Social anthropology, biological anthropology, or archaeology are three very popular papers that people take and as far as I know, you don't need any prior experience with these subjects as they start totally from scratch.

For most colleges, you'll have to send in an essay. But because you don't do psychology, it would be best to apply to a college that requires interview only, like I did.

Computer science is an optional paper and I was the one unfortunate to choose it. Don't take it. Just don't. It's the hardest paper one has to do in this course and it all fell apart pretty quickly. :P

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 210

iammichealjackson

OP

18

Original post by nickyr212

Hi there! I'm a PBS student that has been through the first year in Cambridge. :smile:

It would be beneficial if you take A level statistics because most of the statistics we learn is a revision of that, with only a little bit of new material. However because the maths portion of the second PBS paper is not so much, you can get away with not having learnt that stuff before. However the pace of the lectures can be quite fast if you're not mathematically inclined, so it would be best to have done some maths before.

Chemistry and physics are definitely not needed. Biology though is very beneficial (again it has to do with the second PBS paper). It would help you immensely if you had biology, especially since you mention that you haven't taken psychology as an A level (I hadn't either!). But I understand that some students taking the course aren't scientifically inclined, so the only way you could get around it is to have basic GCSE knowledge at least.

They understand that people come from a lot of different backgrounds. There are some courses that are linked to the HSPS tripos if you don't want to do natural science papers. Social anthropology, biological anthropology, or archaeology are three very popular papers that people take and as far as I know, you don't need any prior experience with these subjects as they start totally from scratch.

For most colleges, you'll have to send in an essay. But because you don't do psychology, it would be best to apply to a college that requires interview only, like I did.

Computer science is an optional paper and I was the one unfortunate to choose it. Don't take it. Just don't. It's the hardest paper one has to do in this course and it all fell apart pretty quickly. :P

I wish i did the computer science paper (from PPS rather than PBS). I know i would have got a third in it, but in the end it woudn't really matter, learning programming is very useful for psychology. Did you learn anything from it in the end (even if it was hard)?

Reply 211

Original post by iammichealjackson

I wish i did the computer science paper (from PPS rather than PBS). I know i would have got a third in it, but in the end it woudn't really matter, learning programming is very useful for psychology. Did you learn anything from it in the end (even if it was hard)?

I certainly learned a lot of stuff, it was awesome to gain programming skills (even if I'm still bad at it) and know the idea behind several algorithms, but I don't necessarily think that it would be useful for psychology specifically, at least with the stuff we learned in the first year. It's still a very risky paper to take, people can't predict whether they will pass the paper. You can very easily just read the textbooks that they recommend without having to take the paper and you'll learn the information at your own pace. The lectures don't make sense and the books will explain all their points much easier and more thoroughly. :smile:

Reply 212

iammichealjackson

OP

18

Original post by nickyr212

I certainly learned a lot of stuff, it was awesome to gain programming skills (even if I'm still bad at it) and know the idea behind several algorithms, but I don't necessarily think that it would be useful for psychology specifically, at least with the stuff we learned in the first year. It's still a very risky paper to take, people can't predict whether they will pass the paper. You can very easily just read the textbooks that they recommend without having to take the paper and you'll learn the information at your own pace. The lectures don't make sense and the books will explain all their points much easier and more thoroughly. :smile:

Ah okay. I used some programming for my third year dissertation and it was really useful, and its a useful skill to learn for the future, although for psychology MATLAB i think is the one to learn...

Compsci is quite harshly marked anyway, about a third of compscs people get 2.2s thirds anyway, let alone PBS people who take the course! I think a third in compsci is better than a first in the education paper anyways- i don't know if they still offer it to PBS people but that was an ACTUAL waste of time.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 213

Original post by iammichealjackson

Ah okay. I used some programming for my third year dissertation and it was really useful, and its a useful skill to learn for the future, although for psychology MATLAB i think is the one to learn...

Compsci is quite harshly marked anyway, about a third of compscs people get 2.2s thirds anyway, let alone PBS people who take the course! I think a third in compsci is better than a first in the education paper anyways- i don't know if they still offer it to PBS people but that was an ACTUAL waste of time.

What was your dissertation about? :smile:

I didn't get to learn MATLAB, I'm really gutted. The NatScis tell me that it's absolutely horrible but I've always been curious to try it!

Haha yup, they still have the education paper, and my friend who took it told me exactly the same thing. She said it was absolutely ridiculous, so I see your point. :P I don't think they're getting rid of the paper any time soon - there are people who still want to take it.

Reply 214

iammichealjackson

OP

18

Original post by nickyr212

What was your dissertation about? :smile:

I didn't get to learn MATLAB, I'm really gutted. The NatScis tell me that it's absolutely horrible but I've always been curious to try it!

Haha yup, they still have the education paper, and my friend who took it told me exactly the same thing. She said it was absolutely ridiculous, so I see your point. :P I don't think they're getting rid of the paper any time soon - there are people who still want to take it.

Well, they should get rid of the education module, as its just a waste of everyone's time. I would have been more annoyed if the other modules weren't really good!

Yeh, well ive applied for two masters, and just looking at the syllabuses one needs MATLAB for analysis of neuroimaging data, the other for making models of evolutionary pressures, so it seems quite widely used! I only used visual basic for applications for managing/analysing data on loads of excel files quickly, nothing particularly fancy! It was on parenting.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 215

Bright_blonde

Original post by nickyr212

What was your dissertation about? :smile:

I didn't get to learn MATLAB, I'm really gutted. The NatScis tell me that it's absolutely horrible but I've always been curious to try it!

Haha yup, they still have the education paper, and my friend who took it told me exactly the same thing. She said it was absolutely ridiculous, so I see your point. :P I don't think they're getting rid of the paper any time soon - there are people who still want to take it.

Can I just ask in what way the Education paper is ridiculous? The content or teaching or something else?

Reply 216