Yes and no. Taking psych at a level will most certainly help and make it easier to understand, but it's not always completely necessary. And if you put in the hard work and effort, you can definitely do well. Also, if you're taking biology a level, that may make it a bit easier. I imagine there is some overlap.
Original post by UNI17c
Is taking psychology a level essential to take a psychology degree at uni? I want to take psychology at uni but haven't taken psychology A level.
Nope. I didn't take psychology at A level and I'm doing just fine at university studying psychology
Original post by UNI17c
Is taking psychology a level essential to take a psychology degree at uni? I want to take psychology at uni but haven't taken psychology A level.
Hello, from my personal experience I would say that you definitely don't need to have done psychology at A Level in order to do it as a degree. Most psychology degrees assume no prior knowledge, so all the basics will be taught throughout your first year anyway. That being said, there is some benefit to having previous experience of the subject, especially in regards to knowing the basics of statistical tests and research methods. I would recommend maybe picking up a few books on psychology (The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat is a classic, but there are plenty of others out there too) and just having a go at reading them to see how much you understand. If you really wanted to then you could watch a video on the basics of psychology statistics and research methods but this is only if you're actively worried about being behind! I think most people find it fairly easy to pick up on everything as long as they attend the lectures, seminars, etc during first year.
Best of luck with your applications!
-Kat (2nd Year Psychology Undergraduate @ Lancaster University)
There's a short answer to this and a long answer to this.
The short answer is that in principle Aby necessary background knowledge required will be contained in any specified A-level subjects ans they won't assume any background beyond those. In this case if A-level Psychology isn't required they won't expect any specific background knowledge from it.
The slightly longer answer is that whole they may not require from an admissions perspective or explicitly assume from a teaching perspective specific knowledge, some backgrounds may correlate with better success on some degree programmes and/or they may implicitly assume some level of familiarity with a general background. In the case of psychology for a number of courses (e.g. Oxbridge, UCL, KCL, Bath) the courses are reasonably scientific and so not only do they expect you to have met their entry criteria which usually require a science A-level, but it may also be that students with more scientific background beyond the minimum requirements are better equipped to deal with parts of the course those without that background find challenging - and it may be that the other areas of the course are managed equally well by all students on the course, so in effect having that background is advantageous.
A parallel example also arises among numerate STEM degrees (e.g. physics, CS, engineering) where FM is often not a requirement but may correlate with better success early on the course, enabling students to build stronger foundations to succeed overall on the degree. So while not required, students with that background may find it is an advantage.
To go back to your original question though for psychology I've never gotten the impression it's considered specifically useful to have done A-level Psychology specifically versus just scientific subjects generally (which may in a broad sense encompass A-level Psychology).
It was actually the case about 10 or 15 years ago under an older A-level spec that unis at the time sometimes indicated that it was a bit of a "liability" and they had to "unteach" some concepts which were presented in the A-level in a way which did not represent how the subject was taught at degree level (although I think this is no longer the case).
The short answer is that in principle Aby necessary background knowledge required will be contained in any specified A-level subjects ans they won't assume any background beyond those. In this case if A-level Psychology isn't required they won't expect any specific background knowledge from it.
The slightly longer answer is that whole they may not require from an admissions perspective or explicitly assume from a teaching perspective specific knowledge, some backgrounds may correlate with better success on some degree programmes and/or they may implicitly assume some level of familiarity with a general background. In the case of psychology for a number of courses (e.g. Oxbridge, UCL, KCL, Bath) the courses are reasonably scientific and so not only do they expect you to have met their entry criteria which usually require a science A-level, but it may also be that students with more scientific background beyond the minimum requirements are better equipped to deal with parts of the course those without that background find challenging - and it may be that the other areas of the course are managed equally well by all students on the course, so in effect having that background is advantageous.
A parallel example also arises among numerate STEM degrees (e.g. physics, CS, engineering) where FM is often not a requirement but may correlate with better success early on the course, enabling students to build stronger foundations to succeed overall on the degree. So while not required, students with that background may find it is an advantage.
To go back to your original question though for psychology I've never gotten the impression it's considered specifically useful to have done A-level Psychology specifically versus just scientific subjects generally (which may in a broad sense encompass A-level Psychology).
It was actually the case about 10 or 15 years ago under an older A-level spec that unis at the time sometimes indicated that it was a bit of a "liability" and they had to "unteach" some concepts which were presented in the A-level in a way which did not represent how the subject was taught at degree level (although I think this is no longer the case).
Original post by artful_lounger
To go back to your original question though for psychology I've never gotten the impression it's considered specifically useful to have done A-level Psychology specifically versus just scientific subjects generally (which may in a broad sense encompass A-level Psychology).
Studying psychology at A-level offers very little advantage other than being already familiar with the content already, although that's nothing that can't be fixed with doing some pre-reading before university. As I stated above, I never did psychology at A-level and I'm finding it alright. But I do agree that doing sciences does provide an egde - particularly biology. Most of psychology these days is basically biology and neuroscience in disguise, and so my course mates who haven't studied biology clearly struggle a lot more with the content. Maths helps a little with the statistics element of psychology too.
(edited 9 months ago)
Original post by Scotland Yard
Studying psychology at A-level offers very little advantage other than being already familiar with the content already, although that's nothing that can't be fixed with doing some pre-reading before university. As I stated above, I never did psychology at A-level and I'm finding it alright. But I do agree that doing sciences does provide an egde - particularly biology. Most of psychology these days is basically biology and neuroscience in disguise, and so my course mates who haven't studied biology clearly struggle a lot more with the content. Maths helps a little with the statistics element of psychology too.
Yep, that's exactly what I've heard from other psychology students in the past - the A-level is really neither here nor there specifically other than maybe some experience with stats, but biology they found quite helpful and sometimes the stats content of maths!
Helpful to see that's still the case
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