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AQA A-level Psychology 7182 - Paper 1, 2, 3, - 04, 08, 14 of June [Exam discussion]

Hello all!

After recently sitting my A level psychology and receiving an A* (Full UMS across each paper) I thought I'd help you guys out! I am now off to university and looking to start my own website to help A level psychology students out... but for now I thought id start off in the student room to gain some audience.

Just as a reminder, this is help for both AS and A2. Obviously the topics for A2 will differ from everyone. I did Relationships, Schizophrenia and Aggression... so I'm afraid I can't help out with the other topics in A2 (everyone does issues and debates!!)

A2 exams will be set out as follows (following from last year)

Paper 1:
-Social influence
-Memory
-Attachment
-Psychopathology

Paper 2:
-Approaches in Psychology
-Biopsychology
-Research methods

Paper 3
-Issues and Debates
- Relationships (this may differ for you!)
-Schizophrenia (this may differ for you!)
-Aggression (this may differ for you!)

I will be adding useful links and key dates for exams in due time. I look forward to help you psychologists out! Any questions should be answered within the day, so feel free to inbox me too.

Scroll to see replies

Original post by Psychology_Guru
Hello all!

After recently sitting my A level psychology and receiving an A* (Full UMS across each paper) I thought I'd help you guys out! I am now off to university and looking to start my own website to help A level psychology students out... but for now I thought id start off in the student room to gain some audience.

Just as a reminder, this is help for both AS and A2. Obviously the topics for A2 will differ from everyone. I did Relationships, Schizophrenia and Aggression... so I'm afraid I can't help out with the other topics in A2 (everyone does issues and debates!!)

A2 exams will be set out as follows (following from last year)

Paper 1:
-Social influence
-Memory
-Attachment
-Psychopathology

Paper 2:
-Approaches in Psychology
-Biopsychology
-Research methods

Paper 3
-Issues and Debates
- Relationships (this may differ for you!)
-Schizophrenia (this may differ for you!)
-Aggression (this may differ for you!)

I will be adding useful links and key dates for exams in due time. I look forward to help you psychologists out! Any questions should be answered within the day, so feel free to inbox me too.



Hi! I'm in A2. What revision would you suggest doing at this part of my A Levels?
Original post by larkspurs
Hi! I'm in A2. What revision would you suggest doing at this part of my A Levels?


Hi there,

It may seen like very early days but trust me, the more you crack down on it now, the easier the rest of the year becomes and more knowledge you build up in due time.

I shall suggest what I did in my final year; I cracked down very early on my revision (I was very much a nerd!) This may seem like a lot of effort as I type it, however it was worth it as when I came to my weekends I did not have as much to do, but also because I had neat written and typed notes compared to my classmates making notes last minute.

My tips:

- Before each lesson, read through the notes on your previous lesson. Normally you would have two teachers in sixth form, one being seen less than the other; so it is especially important to view your notes from the previous lesson with the teacher you see less often! trust me it is worth it and you will gain an understanding of the lesson ahead.

- read ahead! Look at the spec and see what you have to cover in that topic- stick it in the front of your file! KNOW what you have to know!

- After each day, I sat down and wrote notes on the lesson I had that day in my 'neat' notebook. This IS EFFORT but again- IT IS WORTH IT. If you leave this all to the weekend it will just pile up and this idea will be flawed. instead, you can maybe type it out; make it colourful! If this seems like too much, maybe make it every other day? whatever fits round your timetable but do not leave it too long!

Hope that has helped!
Original post by Psychology_Guru
Hello all!

After recently sitting my A level psychology and receiving an A* (Full UMS across each paper) I thought I'd help you guys out! I am now off to university and looking to start my own website to help A level psychology students out... but for now I thought id start off in the student room to gain some audience.

Just as a reminder, this is help for both AS and A2. Obviously the topics for A2 will differ from everyone. I did Relationships, Schizophrenia and Aggression... so I'm afraid I can't help out with the other topics in A2 (everyone does issues and debates!!)

A2 exams will be set out as follows (following from last year)

Paper 1:
-Social influence
-Memory
-Attachment
-Psychopathology

Paper 2:
-Approaches in Psychology
-Biopsychology
-Research methods

Paper 3
-Issues and Debates
- Relationships (this may differ for you!)
-Schizophrenia (this may differ for you!)
-Aggression (this may differ for you!)

I will be adding useful links and key dates for exams in due time. I look forward to help you psychologists out! Any questions should be answered within the day, so feel free to inbox me too.


Can you pm me pls as I can't send but can reply🙏
Hi mate I saw your post on one of my threads , would you mind if I send you a few essays to mar tomorrow.

Also I don't get how to revise lool , basically I make model essay plans , give them to my teacher to mark , then come home and write up the essay again colourfully , then memorise it , is that a good way to revise ?

I'm also really struggling on bio psychology specifically inhibitory and exchibitoy I think that how u spell it lool , synaptic transmission and neurotransmitters, could you send me notes on that or any material would be much appreciated.

ALso I don't get the design your study on rm.12 marks

How many days you reckon to study psychology a week , and hours and how to memorise effectively I noticed I forget quite quickly model 16 mark essays.

Sorry for mumbling on.

In my final year
(edited 6 years ago)
Original post by Psychology_Guru
Hello all!

After recently sitting my A level psychology and receiving an A* (Full UMS across each paper) I thought I'd help you guys out! I am now off to university and looking to start my own website to help A level psychology students out... but for now I thought id start off in the student room to gain some audience.

Just as a reminder, this is help for both AS and A2. Obviously the topics for A2 will differ from everyone. I did Relationships, Schizophrenia and Aggression... so I'm afraid I can't help out with the other topics in A2 (everyone does issues and debates!!)

A2 exams will be set out as follows (following from last year)

Paper 1:
-Social influence
-Memory
-Attachment
-Psychopathology

Paper 2:
-Approaches in Psychology
-Biopsychology
-Research methods

Paper 3
-Issues and Debates
- Relationships (this may differ for you!)
-Schizophrenia (this may differ for you!)
-Aggression (this may differ for you!)

I will be adding useful links and key dates for exams in due time. I look forward to help you psychologists out! Any questions should be answered within the day, so feel free to inbox me too.


I'm also struggling on a03 peel point for gender bias would appreciate if you could pm me your essay on this or help me out. I use the pink hair book but for some reason the a03 don't make sense on it.
Hi, that's literally my goals because I wanna do psychology at uni!! I wanna ask how you structure 16 markers and in terms of revision, how did you revise like was it flashcards, mind maps etc..? It would be helpful if you could perhaps show me just one of your revision notes so I can get an idea of it. Also, how many essays did you do and what other subjects did you do with psychology!! Thank you so much
Original post by 1_Zainn_
Hi mate I saw your post on one of my threads , would you mind if I send you a few essays to mar tomorrow.

I'm also really struggling on bio psychology specifically inhibitory and exchibitoy I think that how u spell it lool , synaptic transmission and neurotransmitters, could you send me notes on that or any material would be much appreciated.



Hi there!

Thats good you are planning your essays; just keep practicing that- eventually you'll get the hang of it and you'll be able to do it reasonably quickly when it comes to the exam as you will have time constraints!

However I do not recommend memorising essays; some of your examples and key researchers may overlap between your topics and you can use useful links between them to support your knowledge and really impress the examiner.

And id be happy to give you feedback on your essays- Just PM me and I will send you my email to send it to.

Biopsychology will be assessed on Paper 2.

I did A level Biology and this is one of their topics; however in the case of psychology, I will keep this simple and only go into the detail you need to go into to gain all your marks. If someone would like me to go into ore detail (e.g. using calcium, acetylcholine, acetylcholinesterase and sodium ions, just let me know- It makes more sense adding it in, however this is NOT essential and most likely to confuse those who do not do biology)

A Synapse is a gap between two neurones by which a nerve impulse (or action potential) must be transmitted chemically; It consists of the Pre-synapstic Neuron, Post synaptic neutron, Synaptic vesicles containing neurotransmitters, the synaptic cleft and the post-synaptic receptor site.

Neurotransmitters are chemicals that diffuse across the synapse to the next neurone (from the PRE to the POST synaptic neurone)

I suggest looking at a picture to help. You may be asked to label them in the exam.

When an action potential reaches the pre-synaptic neurone, This causes the synaptic vesicles, containing neurotransmitters, to fuse with the pre-synaptic membrane. This releases the neurotransmitter into the synaptic cleft.

The neurotransmitters diffuse down a diffusion gradient towards the post-synaptic receptor sites. They bind to these receptor sites and are complementary. This then opens up certain ion channels in the post-synaptic membrane to allow the action potential/nerve impulse to continue.

Once this message as been transmitted, the neurotransmitters that are bound to the receptor sites are broken down by enzymes, and then taken back up by the pre-synaptic neurone (this is known as 're-uptake'). Following this, the vesicles in the pre-synaptic neurone are replenished with new neurotransmitter.

Neurotransmitters can either have an excitatory effect or an inhibitory effect.

Excitation is when a neurotransmitter increases the positive charge of the post-synaptic neutron; This increases the likelihood that the neurone will fire and pass on the action potential. It is said to be depolarised. (For example, adrenalin causes excitation of the post-synaptic neutron, making it MORE LIKELY TO FIRE)

Inhibition increases the negative charge on the Post Synaptic neurone, making it less likely to produce an action potential. It is said to be hyper-polarised. An example of a neurotransmitter that has an inhibitory effect is serotonin.

Hope that has helped to far.
Original post by BubblegumPops
Hi, that's literally my goals because I wanna do psychology at uni!! I wanna ask how you structure 16 markers and in terms of revision, how did you revise like was it flashcards, mind maps etc..? It would be helpful if you could perhaps show me just one of your revision notes so I can get an idea of it. Also, how many essays did you do and what other subjects did you do with psychology!! Thank you so much


Original post by 1_Zainn_
I'm also struggling on a03 peel point for gender bias would appreciate if you could pm me your essay on this or help me out. I use the pink hair book but for some reason the a03 don't make sense on it.


Original post by Hdheimdnbf
Can you pm me pls as I can't send but can reply🙏


Hi all,

I am getting a lot of messages on 'how do I revise?' etc etc.

To avoid the constant questions I will post it all here now.

How should I revise?
- This all depends on YOU. How do you learn?

- Are you a Visual learner? Then maybe you should work on some mind maps, making them colourful. Bear in mind not to spend too much time on decorating- Get your information down! Neat and concise.

- Are you an Auditory learner? Then maybe record yourself saying out loud your notes and listening back. This may sound cringe; but I did this sometimes and it worked occasionally.

- Mix it up! don't just stick to one method; you'll get bored of it.

- Don't overload yourself with work. Sit down each night or every other night and write up notes you did in class that day. That way, you have your weekends a little less stress free and when it comes to the hard revision, your neat notes are already made for you and BY YOU!.

- Start looking over AS topics early. Paper 1 is practically all your work from last year- keep up to date with it! Maybe have a look over one topic (e.g social influence) each week? DO NOT NEGLECT LAST YEARS CONTENT.

- There is no better revision guide than the one you make yourself. Don't waste money on endless revision guides; realistically it will sit in the corner of your desk and you won't touch it; you don't learn by just reading the book... do it yourself!

How did I revise?!
- My teacher provided me with a workbook half filled in; so we filled in the blanks using our own research, things we learned during class and the textbook (however we did not use the textbook often)

- I made flashcards occasionally, however only for topics I found the hardest (for example, I made flashcards for relationships and schizophrenia only)

- I mader neater versions on my notes (typed and handwritten)

- I used a whiteboard frequently! Id let myself have around 5-10 minutes reading one topic (for example, localisation and function of the brain). Id then go on my whiteboard and write down as much as I can remember from what I just read. I then look back on the things I missed and after doing this a few times, the information sticks. YOU LEARN BY FORGETTING- you will go 'oh yeah, I remember that!' and it will eventually be glued. Try it! If it doesn't work, try something else... everyone is different however this worked for me.

- I typed in my exams and I found time constraints a massive issue. Closer to exam season I would sit down twice a week with my teacher, put a timer for 20 minutes during my lunch break and he would give me a random essay to type during that time (16 markers). PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE under times conditions when you are comfterable with the content! There is nothing worse than not finishing an exam paper.

- Mindmaps and colourful notes personally never worked for me- I spent too much time trying to make my notes 'pretty' and Never really remembered the information. In this case I just used highlighters in my typed notes to highlight the researchers names (e.g. in pink) and key words (e.g. in blue). This seemed to work better in my case.

How many essays did I do?
No I did not write out each essay; this would have taken forever!
I DO NOT advise memorising essays, as your research and key ideas can be used as evaluation points on other essays, linking your topics accordingly will impress the examiner.

What other subjects did I do?
Have a look on my profile!

I will be posting about Gender bias, how to plan 16/12 markers and how to plan the research methods 'design a study' questions tomorrow.
Nice thread - moving to Psychology forum.
Original post by The Learn Ranger
Nice thread - moving to Psychology forum.


Cheers!
Original post by Psychology_Guru
Cheers!


Yep the email I have sent , thank you
Reply 12
Original post by Psychology_Guru
Hello all!

After recently sitting my A level psychology and receiving an A* (Full UMS across each paper) I thought I'd help you guys out! I am now off to university and looking to start my own website to help A level psychology students out... but for now I thought id start off in the student room to gain some audience.

Just as a reminder, this is help for both AS and A2. Obviously the topics for A2 will differ from everyone. I did Relationships, Schizophrenia and Aggression... so I'm afraid I can't help out with the other topics in A2 (everyone does issues and debates!!)

A2 exams will be set out as follows (following from last year)

Paper 1:
-Social influence
-Memory
-Attachment
-Psychopathology

Paper 2:
-Approaches in Psychology
-Biopsychology
-Research methods

Paper 3
-Issues and Debates
- Relationships (this may differ for you!)
-Schizophrenia (this may differ for you!)
-Aggression (this may differ for you!)

I will be adding useful links and key dates for exams in due time. I look forward to help you psychologists out! Any questions should be answered within the day, so feel free to inbox me too.


First of all, major congratulations on your grade!!!!

I really want to do Psychology at University, I really enjoy it and I thought I was doing well, but I ended up getting a D at A-Level (so I'm resitting to get a better grade). I wanted to ask which textbook you would recommend for the course? My teacher is no good so I had to do a lot of learning myself and I feel like the textbooks we have are lacking?

Thank you for taking the time to help us all out, you're really kind :smile:
This is very useful. I am a first year A level psychology student. I hope to keep in touch with you.
Reply 14
Original post by Psychology_Guru
Hello all!

After recently sitting my A level psychology and receiving an A* (Full UMS across each paper) I thought I'd help you guys out! I am now off to university and looking to start my own website to help A level psychology students out... but for now I thought id start off in the student room to gain some audience.

Just as a reminder, this is help for both AS and A2. Obviously the topics for A2 will differ from everyone. I did Relationships, Schizophrenia and Aggression... so I'm afraid I can't help out with the other topics in A2 (everyone does issues and debates!!)

A2 exams will be set out as follows (following from last year)

Paper 1:
-Social influence
-Memory
-Attachment
-Psychopathology

Paper 2:
-Approaches in Psychology
-Biopsychology
-Research methods

Paper 3
-Issues and Debates
- Relationships (this may differ for you!)
-Schizophrenia (this may differ for you!)
-Aggression (this may differ for you!)

I will be adding useful links and key dates for exams in due time. I look forward to help you psychologists out! Any questions should be answered within the day, so feel free to inbox me too.


How did you structure your 16 markers? My teacher has taught us the PEEEL method so we only have to write 3 evaluations instead of 4/5: point, evidence, evaluation, evaluate the evaluation( strength/criticism) and link back. But I'm struggling to find a 'evaluate the evaluation' point for all 3 paragraphs.
Thanks x
Reply 15
Hi! im doing AQA psychology AS level. im going to take it to A2 next year. but i was wondering, what revision guide is BEST to use for psychology?? what are your tips to get highest marks? how did you focus across all of your subjects? :smile:
This is from the topic relationships from OCR A2 Psychology.
Can you give me any advice on how to improve the following please? :smile:



Animal study to support the influence of SCN: (EVALUTATION POINT)

The influence of the SCN has been demonstrated in studies involving animals. Decoursey et al. destroyed the SCN connection of 30 chipmunks, returned them to their natural habitat, and observed them for 80 days. Their sleep/wake cycle disappeared and they were killed by predators. Although this study shows that the role of SCN in establishing the sleep/ wake cycle, it uses chipmunks, which would not be appropriate to generalize to humans. Instead, a chimpanzee would have been a more appropriate choice, due to their DNA being almost identical to humans. However, there are ethical issues in using this method as animals were exposed to considerable harm, and subsequent risk. Therefore, this study is not a reliable source of determining the influence of SCN.


Light affects the sleep wake cycle (EVAUATION POINT)

There is research support to show that light affects the sleep/wake cycle. Campbell and Murphy demonstrated that light may be detected by skin receptor sites on the body, even if the same information is not received by the eyes. They woke 15 participants up at various times, and a light pad was shone on the back of their knees. The researchers found that they produced a deviation in their sleep/wake cycle by up to 3 hours in some cases.This shows that light receptors on the skin were able to determine the general time of day just with the use of light. A limitation of this study is the small sample of participants, which affects the reliability of results because it leads to a higher variability, which may lead to bias. Moreover, the light used was artificial light. If natural light was used, there may have been a difference in results. This questions the validity of the results, and whether they can be generalized to everyone.


Influence of exogenous zeitgebers may be overstated (EVALUATION POINT):

There is research to show that the influence of exogenous zeitgebers may be overstated. Miles et al. recounted the story of a blind man from birth, whose circadian rhythm was 24.9 hours. Despite exposure to social cues, his sleep/wake cycle could not be adjusted, and so he had to take sedatives at night to keep up with the 24 hour pace. This shows that external cues may not be as significant in regulating the circadian rhythm. However, a limitation of this study is that it only included one person, which is not generalizable to the rest of the population. Furthermore, this was a recount by Miles. A recount may not have accurate recall, and so he may have given inaccurate information. Therefore, this validity of this study is questionable. There have been other studies, with larger samples, to show that exogenous zeitgebers have an influence on the sleep/wake cycle such as Siffre, Ashoff and Wever.

Thanks
I'm guessing you do psychology at university!! Any tips for personal statement??:smile:
Reply 18
doing both aggression and schizophrenia, so you are my king my queen my lord and saviour mate
Reply 19
Hi, I'm also doing AQA psychology AS level. I have a question which I'm struggling to answer for Bio psychology, 'Explain the nature of synaptic transmission (6 marks)'

I've already written a paragraph but it doesn't seem right: 'An electric impulse travels along the axon of the neuron that is being transmitted. This will then trigger the pre-synaptic neuron to release chemical messages called Neurotransmitters. These chemical messages diffuse across the synapse and bind with the receptors.'

Any help would be appreciated.

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