How much hard work is psychology a level

How much revision would you have to do to get an A in psychology? It’s a lot of case studies and I’m not very good at remembering names and details

How much of the questions require you to recall specific knowledge and how much is applying knowledge to the question

Are the grade boundaries high or low
Is it hard or easy to remember all the case studies

Reply 1

University of Strathclyde Student Ambassador

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Original post

by Caspcasp33

How much revision would you have to do to get an A in psychology? It’s a lot of case studies and I’m not very good at remembering names and details
How much of the questions require you to recall specific knowledge and how much is applying knowledge to the question
Are the grade boundaries high or low
Is it hard or easy to remember all the case studies

Hi there! (:

Generally not really a specific time amount for how much revision you should be doing or how easy/hard it is to remeber as its different for everyone! - didnt do a-levels myself but done higher psycology (scottish qualifications) and found a looooot of memorising too!😅 lots and lots of care studies! - i'd reccomend having a look at some past papers if they are available to get a sense of how questions are structured, also doing these questions yourself and then getting your teacher to mark is a great way of knowing where you can improve! (:

Revision wise, i was trying to do a few questions at the beginning of the week on what i previously covered in class the week before, handing them in to teachers to get feedback & then later in the week/weekend going over these, making improvements & also consolidating whatever it was i was doing that week in class😊 - depends on how busy you are with your other subjects/commitments but found that to be okay for me and meant i was mixing it up with the types of revision i was doing to keep it a bit more engaging!

hope this helps, best of luck!!

Emily
Year 3, Chemistry
Official University Of Strathclyde Rep

Reply 2

UoNstudents

Official Rep

Original post

by Caspcasp33

How much revision would you have to do to get an A in psychology? It’s a lot of case studies and I’m not very good at remembering names and details
How much of the questions require you to recall specific knowledge and how much is applying knowledge to the question
Are the grade boundaries high or low
Is it hard or easy to remember all the case studies

Hey @Caspcasp33 !!

I did Psych A level and got an A*, it was my favourite subject and I want a career in psychology so I was super motivated to do my best in it. That being said, this is what I found..

Getting an A in psychology doesn’t usually mean memorizing every single detail of every study. It’s more about knowing the key studies really well; what was done, the main findings, and their strengths and weaknesses, and being able to apply them to questions. Most exams are a mix of recall (describing studies or theories) and application (linking them to scenarios or evaluating them), so it helps to focus on understanding rather than rote memorisation.

For case studies, you don’t need to remember every tiny detail. Try to focus on the researcher, year, method, main findings, and key evaluations. Using summary sheets and mind maps helped me so much to recall information, especially names and dates. Grouping studies by topic also helps you apply them to different questions without having to remember them separately each time.

In terms of grade boundaries, they vary by exam and year, so its difficult to give an estimate to what they will be this upcoming year or next. I found the grade boundaries for an A or B to be achievable, an A* would require some prep and memorisation for sure.

The main challenge is often applying your knowledge rather than just remembering it, so practicing past papers and linking studies to theories or real-life examples is one of the most effective ways to prepare. I did past papers as my main source of revision, alongside writing essay questions for absolutely every single question that could possibly come up (taken from past papers and making my own ones up); this was all in one document that I have saved, and any smaller 2-8 marker questions could be pulled from the essay because it had descriptions and evaluations already in there. It is practically a cheatcode to write essays and use them for revision. Colour code them based on evaluation/description etc, or however you want to distinguish between them.

Let me know if there's any more advice I can help you with.
Aimee, 3rd year psychology student @ UoN. Official UoN Student Rep

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