Psychology-EXAM TIPS! (A2 level)

Heya!! My tutor gave me some really helpful hints today-so I thought I'd share them with you. Hope they help!

1. Try not to write a lenghty introduction to your answer-you won't get marks for it unless it relates to the question. Try to write around three lines in order to get yourself focused on the exam question.

2. PLAN!!!! Examiners love a student who is able to struture their essays-so do a quick plan! Don't spend too long-just a few minutes will do just so you know how you are going to structure your essay.

3. Filter out all your knowledge-pick out the most relevant bits that relate directly to the question-be SELECTIVE. You don't have time to write down the whole topic AND evaulate it at the same time. STICK TO THE QUESTION!!!

4. Remembering the names and dates of research is helpful-but don;t try to remember all of them-stick to key researchers such as Bandura, Freud etc.

5. If you don't have already-get yourself an exam specification-ut tells you EXACTLY what you need to to know! You can't go wrong!! It may mention key studies that you must know foryour topic.

6. Don't write a conclusion that summarises everthing you have just said in your answer-it won't get you marks and is a waste of time. Make your conclusion ANALYTICAL so that it brings together rather than summarises all your A01 and A02 points-suggest further theory/explanations but try to avoid your own personal view-points!! (unless relevant to the question)

7. READ READ READ THE QUESTION (obviously lol) A questions starting with ''Discuss the......'' will obviously have more content and will want more theoretical knowledge than a question starting with ''outline and evaluate'' do exactly what the question says. Also, look at the number of marks allocated so you know how long you should spend on each question.

8. FINALLY- If you are doing approaches in you psychology exam, the scenario will more than likely will be able to be explained by the behavioural approach-so revise this approach thoroughly!!!!!

Pixie xXx :p:

Reply 1

Robbolo

Thank you

Seem pretty common sense, but a few little nuggets there i didnt know, so cheers.

Im sure this will help others too :biggrin:

Reply 2

benni

ah. just sat for my A2 specialist choice trial paper today. I am under the CIE board...

you have made some good points there. My teacher also said we have to be selective about the information we study and remember. cause we just cannot fit in the whole chunk into our heads, and vomit it back out.

you mentioned exam specification, is that the syllabus guide?

Reply 3

pixie-lily

hey,

yeah erm, i guess the syllabus guide are basically the same thing....but I found the specification is more detailed!

xXx

Reply 4

benni

what board are you on? there are some CIE papers with examiner reports(not marking scheme) here... http://rapidshare.com/users/G2T33Q

:smile:

Reply 5

Lara C.

benni

what board are you on? there are some CIE papers with examiner reports(not marking scheme) here... http://rapidshare.com/users/G2T33Q

:smile:

weve been told that no intro in necessary, neither is a conclusion which doesnt help to evaluate your material.

theres soooo much to remember, any tips on that? thanks,

Reply 6

benni

well, as for my specialist choices, health and IO psy, there are 8 topics each. with each topic divided into 3 subtopics. i basically draw out mindmaps and pick out specific points/examples from each subtopic. basically stay close to the syllabus and choose the stuff u need to remember. say for example, methods for reducing/managing stress. there are plenty. but im only remembering cognitive, meditation methods. but whatever you choose to remember, do so properly.

as for evaluation , i have a rough framework of questions/issues to throw at the topic. For example on stress, i'd question the methods used my psychologists to measure stress, and how unreliable/valid they are.

i might be barking up the wrong tree here, cause you might be on a different board, so i dont knw the structure of the questions. hope this helps.

Reply 7

hs_honey

I find writing out timed essays, having them graded by a teacher until they are worth an A and revising from them is the best way to go about it. It helped me get 90/90 on PYA4 and 93/100 on PYA3. Personally i wouldn't waste time writing a lengthy intro or conclusion because time is limited. Unless its vital for you to plan so you remember i would advice don't waste time on planning either because when your in A2 you need all the time you can get to write a 24/30 mark essay.This is useful because you breaking down the content you have to learn and just need need to learn the essentials. For AO2 we use a system called MERIT M= Methodology i.e. criticisms in methodology E= Ethics i.e. lack of informed consent and the consequences R= Relevant Research i.e. research which supports the study I= Issues and Debates i.e. it may be andocentric reserach therefore there is a bias etc. and T= Theoretical Applications i.e. whether the theory can be used for future hypotheses etc. You will also learn that there is general A02 which you can write for evaluation i.e. most of the data in psychology is era specific etc. Hope this helps :wink: