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essay help

Please could someone give me some advice on the best way to stucture a psychology AQA essay?

Am I right in thinking its 6 marks for AO1 and 10 marks for AO3?

Ive been told to try and aim for 3 evaluative points in each essay but how would I write these, do I intertwine them into the A01 or not? Or is it just purely a paragraph on A01 and then 3 evaluate paragraphs for A03?

Also would I need opposing points to each evaluative point?

Thank you!
Original post by Ellie098
Please could someone give me some advice on the best way to stucture a psychology AQA essay?

Am I right in thinking its 6 marks for AO1 and 10 marks for AO3?

Ive been told to try and aim for 3 evaluative points in each essay but how would I write these, do I intertwine them into the A01 or not? Or is it just purely a paragraph on A01 and then 3 evaluate paragraphs for A03?

Also would I need opposing points to each evaluative point?

Thank you!

Hi!

I do AQA A-Level Psychology so hopefully I can offer some good advice!

The way my teacher taught me is to split the question like this:
AO1 - 6 marks
AO3 - 10 marks

The AO3 is worth more marks because in AS you would only be expected to recall 2 evaluation points but in A2 it is better to have 3 evaluation points so you can be sure to gain all 10 marks. The perfect evaluation will have an equal amount of strengths and weaknesses but from experience, this is not always possible!

If you can add opposing points, then that's great! Do not get too worried if you can't think of any though. Keep your PEEL paragraphs clear and concise and you will be fine.

A paragraph or two on AO1 is fine, but it really depends on how much you need to write in order to answer the question. The best thing to do is read what the question is asking you to put. Do not start waffling because you will waste time and might forget to add something important.

I hope this helped!
@Ellie098

I forgot to add it in the above post but does this structure help?

Let's say the question was asking:

'Outline and evaluate Zimbardo's research into conformity'
(16 marks)

A01
Introduction -> Define what the question is asking you. Using the above example, we would start by defining conformity.
Paragraph 1 -> What did Zimbardo do? Outline the procedure/method.
Paragraph 2 -> What did Zimbardo find? How did the prisoners conform to social roles and why?
Paragraph 3 -> Briefly explain the BBC prison study. Do not spend too much time on this part!

A02
PEEL paragraph 1
PEEL paragraph 2
PEEL paragraph 3
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Ellie098
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Original post by 5hyl33n
Hi!

I do AQA A-Level Psychology so hopefully I can offer some good advice!

The way my teacher taught me is to split the question like this:
AO1 - 6 marks
AO3 - 10 marks

The AO3 is worth more marks because in AS you would only be expected to recall 2 evaluation points but in A2 it is better to have 3 evaluation points so you can be sure to gain all 10 marks. The perfect evaluation will have an equal amount of strengths and weaknesses but from experience, this is not always possible!

If you can add opposing points, then that's great! Do not get too worried if you can't think of any though. Keep your PEEL paragraphs clear and concise and you will be fine.

A paragraph or two on AO1 is fine, but it really depends on how much you need to write in order to answer the question. The best thing to do is read what the question is asking you to put. Do not start waffling because you will waste time and might forget to add something important.

I hope this helped!

Thank you! this helps massively

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