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How did you get an A/A* in Psychology AQA

Hello, just finished my mocks and given a low A and i'm just wondering how much revision and what methods A* psychology students used to get their grade.
I'm willing to put lots of work in and i'm currently creating a plan on what I'm going to do in the next 2 months, and im just looking for guidance.
Should I still be creating notes/flashcards? As I've created quite a lot however some sub topics I do have non, but I still feel confident on quite a lot of the content.
Anyways, here's the main questions:
How many hours a week/day did you put in 2 months before A levels?- or how many do you recommend for me?
What were the main methods you used upcoming to exams?

Reply 1

condemned-tantru

hey

Reply 2

Student180036

Original post

by condemned-tantru

hey

Reply 3

UoNstudents

Official Rep

Original post

by Anonymous

Hi there!

I got an A* in 2023 psych A level (AQA). For me, I have a document on my laptop (about 50 pages worth) of essay plans for absolutely everything and anything that could come up. Within these essays, there are the shorter answers within them too! Aka descriptions, evaluations, ao1,ao2,ao3 etc.

I'd start creating essay plans based on past papers and try and think of your own based on learning objectives of each topic. I also loved mindmaps and banging out past papers. Flashcards never worked for me, nor did revising with other people. Personal preference and cliche to say its what works for you but I'd absolutely advise essay plans and revision timetable before anything.

Hours a week was difficult because I still had lessons and sometimes I had other plans etc. When I went on study leave a few weeks before the exams I did about 7 hours a day, like a school day (for all 3 A levels). I have a habit of burning myself out (even three years later in my final yr of uni) but its quality over quantity. The 7 hours consisted of past papers which are usually 2hours timed and marking them, going over essays and reading extra etc. Use your time smartly rather than tiring yourself out doing nothing but reading over notes.

Hope it all goes well for you!

Aimee, UoN Student Rep

Reply 4

LancashireRep4

Official Rep

Original post

by Anonymous

Hi Anom,

This is a great question! I also studied A-level psychology so I would love to add my input. 😊

Firstly, I do highly recommend continuing to make flashcards on any new topics learnt. I found the best way to do this is straight after getting home from sixth from. I would spend about 30-45 minutes summarising topics from the day and creating revision content.

When it comes to sub-topics you are confident in, you do not necessarily need to dedicate a lot of time to revising them. I recommend focusing on topics you are weaker in first and then covering more confident topics when you have time to ensure your knowledge of them is still great.

When it comes to hours and revision methods. This should be entirely tailored to your learning. For example, I did 3+ hours most weekdays and 5+ on weekends. I can confidently say this does not work for everyone and I had friends who did 1-2 hours on weekdays and a few hours on weekends and they got excellent grades. The most important thing is to not work beyond your limit to avoid burnout. Make time for your hobbies, socialising, etc, in order to let your brain relax.

When it comes to revision methods, if you enjoy making flashcards you may also enjoy having another person to revise with. Personally, I use to ask family and friends to ask me the question and I would "teach" it to them. If you can explain it in a way they understand, they you have got it!

I hope this helps, please feel free to ask me any questions,
-Sophia (University of Lancashire)

Reply 5

Student180036

Original post

by UoNstudents

Hi there!
I got an A* in 2023 psych A level (AQA). For me, I have a document on my laptop (about 50 pages worth) of essay plans for absolutely everything and anything that could come up. Within these essays, there are the shorter answers within them too! Aka descriptions, evaluations, ao1,ao2,ao3 etc.
I'd start creating essay plans based on past papers and try and think of your own based on learning objectives of each topic. I also loved mindmaps and banging out past papers. Flashcards never worked for me, nor did revising with other people. Personal preference and cliche to say its what works for you but I'd absolutely advise essay plans and revision timetable before anything.
Hours a week was difficult because I still had lessons and sometimes I had other plans etc. When I went on study leave a few weeks before the exams I did about 7 hours a day, like a school day (for all 3 A levels). I have a habit of burning myself out (even three years later in my final yr of uni) but its quality over quantity. The 7 hours consisted of past papers which are usually 2hours timed and marking them, going over essays and reading extra etc. Use your time smartly rather than tiring yourself out doing nothing but reading over notes.
Hope it all goes well for you!
Aimee, UoN Student Rep

Yeah I heard essay plans are a very good resource. I'm going to start doing these, did you just do them for 16 markers and did you make them physically or digitally- if it makes a difference.
Also, I was wondering like if I have these essay plans, should I use them to look at when practising 16 markers, or should I be re-reading over them.

Thanks for your help.

Reply 6

UoNstudents

Official Rep

Original post

by Student180036

Hey! @Student180036

I did them all digitally on a word document, honestly its personal preference I only did them digitally because my hand would definitely tire out doing a hundred essays!😅 I dont think it makes too much of a difference, as you'd be comparing your answers to past papers/ new questions to them and learning from them.

You can look over them when practicing both 1,2,4,6,8,12,16 markers and re-reading over them if that helps you revise as well. I made 8-16 marker answers, but the short answer description or evaluation questions can also be relevant when looking at the essay answers! ☺️

I'd advise reading the question and then answering it in your own time then marking it against the exemplar one you have written in the document - if that makes sense?

It really was the greatest revision hack I did for myself, saved me a lot of time.

Aimee, UoN Official Student Rep

Reply 7

Student180036

So you created the word documents for each 16 marker, using notes.
Write 16 Makers, with no notes.
Mark using essay plans.

Also, did you just make essay plans for all the 16 markers that have came up in past papers or did you just do them for every subtopic.
Would you be able to send me or give a link to one of the essay plans just so I get an idea of what I'm trying to include.
Thank you for your help.

(edited 1 month ago)

Reply 8

UoNstudents

Official Rep

Original post

by Student180036

So you created the word documents for each 16 marker, using notes.
Write 16 Makers, with no notes.
Mark using essay plans.
Also, did you just make essay plans for all the 16 markers that have came up in past papers or did you just do them for every subtopic.
Would you be able to send me or give a link to one of the essay plans just so I get an idea of what I'm trying to include.
Thank you for your help.

@Student180036 hey,

Yeah that's basically it. I did make plans for those that came up but I also made up my own from the learning objectives or just content from the lesson. Sometimes it was really broad like 'discuss XX' or 'to what extent does X explain X'.

I can't attach my whole document because its REALLY long unfortunately (i've tried!), but here are a few examples. they're not essay essays but mostly notes put together!

Describe and evaluate biological approach to explaining OCD
A01- genetic explanation suggests OCD is inherited with specific genes that cause OCD. COMT gene and SERT gene. Diathesis stress model. Neural explanation suggests abnormal levels of neurotransmitters are implicated in OCD. Orbitofrontal cortex-caudate nucleus loop. Reduced level of serotonin associated with obsessions and dopamine linked to compulsions. Serotonin key role in operation of OFC and caudate nucleus, whilst dopamine is main neurotransmitter of basal ganglia.
A03- reductionist: ignores other factors for example, does not take into account cognitions and learning. Some psychologists suggest OCD may be learnt through classical conditioning and maintained through operant conditioning, for example, dirt is associated with anxiety and this association is then maintained through operant conditioning, where a person avoids dirt and continually washes their hands. This hand washing reduces their anxiety and negatively reinforces their compulsions. Such explanations are supported by a successful treatment of OCD called exposure and response prevention, which exposed patient to stimulus whilst also being prevented from carrying out their compulsions (Albucher- 60-90% success rate). It is also deterministic; biological explanation states if an individual has the presence of COMT or SERT gene, or a lower level of serotonin they are pre-programmed to develop OCD, which is not the case for everybody. This is a weakness because this theory of OCD ignores free-will and how an individuals free choice can also have an influence on their behaviour.
A03- neural explanation is correlational not causational. Evidence to suggest OCD patients have abnormal levels of neurotransmitters or abnormal brain structure but this doesn’t mean this is what causes OCD. Therefore, other factors like learnt behaviour or environment must play a role in the cause of OCD. The neural explanation may be a symptom of the illness not the cause of it itself.
A03- success of drug therapy. Antidepressant’s work on serotonin system, these drugs are effective in reducing symptoms of OCD. Suggests serotonin is involved with OCD.
A03- research support. Menzies et al used MRI to produce images of brain activity in OCD patients and their immediate family (also had healthy control group), OCD patients and relatives had reduced grey matter in OFC suggesting high levels of activity in OFC is because of ‘minor worries’ resulting in anxiety and obsessional thoughts. Supports neural explanations with the use of objective and empirical data which adds validity.
A03- evidence to support genetic explanation. Lewis found that patients with OCD and saw 37% of them had parents with the disorder and 21% had siblings with the disorder. Research from family studies provide support for a genetic explanation to OCD, although it doesn’t rule out other factors such as environment.
A03-evidence to support genetic explanation comes from twin studies which provided strong evidence for genetic link. Nestadt et al found 68% of identical twins and 31% of non-identical twin’s experience OCD. Also found that OCD sufferers are 5x more likely to develop OCD in comparison to the control group of people and their families.
A03- alternate explanation. The fact not all twins from Nestadt’s study share OCD tendencies despite sharing the exact same genetics suggest it cannot be genes alone that cause OCD and it is oversimplified. A diathesis-stress model may be better suited to explaining OCD as it factors in both genetics and environmental factors. It would be more appropriate explanation as it effectively explains why identical twins may not share the same disorder and offers a more holistic approach to explaining ocd.
A03- Another weakness is family members may often display different forms of OCD behaviour; while some adults become obsessive about constantly washing dishes, children may become obsessed with arranging dolls for example. If the disorder was indeed inherited it would be assumed that the behaviour would be similar between family members but this is not always the case. This is where psychological explanations may be better suited as the child may learn the obsessive behaviour from their parents modelling it. They may then demonstrate the same tendencies due to learning rather than genetics. This may actually explain the high concordance rates among family members as the behaviour may be learned from one another rather than genetic.

Discuss research into circadian rhythms. Refer to evidence in your answer.
A01- circadian rhythms are rhythm that lasts for around 24 hours a day. One example is sleep/wake cycle: controlled by external environment (external zeitgeber) of light and the fact why we are alert during daytime and drowsy at night is because of daylight and by endogenous pacemakers (suprachiasmatic nucleus), which is the body’s internal biological clock.
Siffre investigated the effect of the removal of light (exogenous zeitgeber) on the circadian rhythm of sleep/wake cycle. He spent periods of time in a cave completely devoid of natural light and sound (2 months in Alps and 6 months in Texas). In each case, his biological rhythm settled down to a 25-hour rhythm despite removing the exogenous zeitgeber, highlighting the circadian rhythms persistence.
A03- supported by Aschoff and Wever. Studied ppts living in a bunker – had no windows and only artificial light which the ppts were free to turn on and off as they pleased. They found ppts settled into longer sleep/wake cycle of 25-29 hours. These results suggest that circadian rhythms are about 24-25 hours and operate in absence of external cues.
A03- methodology: siffre was a case study as it only affected one person, and other research only has few participants, so population validity is low and has generalisability issues. Trying to establish nomothetic laws about biological rhythms based on idiographic research is inappropriate as there is a lot of diversity and different biological issues with different people, e.g., insomnia, suggesting more research needs to be carried out. Only Siffre himself took part in the study. The sample is unrepresentative of the general population. Sleeping patterns can vary between ages and genders- women have longer cycles than men, teenagers sleep for longer than older people.
A03- breached ethical issues. The sleep deprivation Siffre experienced had a negative effect – he experienced low mood and reported long lasting psychological effects such as increased aggression months after the study had finished. Breaching the BPS ethical guidelines left him in a different psychological state to that in which he entered. Breaching the guidelines means that it is harder to gain permission to repeat the experiment, reducing the reliability of the findings. Androcentric (siffre was a male)-females are psychologically different to males as we have menstrual cycle so therefore our other cycles could be controlled in different ways.
A03- lacks ecological validity. The study was conducted underground in an environment the ppt was not used to. External factors such as the change in temperature could have negatively affected his sleep, altering how much he needed. The unrealistic environment means ecological validity of the study is decreased and cannot be generalised to wider population as people in their sleep/wake cycle do not wake up in caves in Alps or Texas.
A03- real world application – chronotherapeutic. The specific time that patients take their medication is very important as it can have a significant impact on the treatment success. It is essential that the right concentration of a drug is released in the target area of the body at the right time the drug is needed. For example, heart attacks most likely occur early morning, so these medications have been developed to be taken at 10pm but are only released at early morning like 6am-noon.
A03- temperature may be more important than light in determining biological rhythms. Buhr found that temperature controls our body clock rather than light. Although light may be the trigger, SCN transforms information about light levels into neural messages that set the body’s temperature. Body temperature fluctuates in a 24 hour circadian rhythm and small changes in body temperature can send a signal to body clocks. It causes organs to become more active or inactive.
Ao3- individual differences- Duffy found that ‘morning people ‘prefer to rise early – 6am – and go to bed early -10pm, whereas evening people prefer to wake up and go to bed later (1am-10am). This demonstrates that there may be innate individual differences in circadian rhythms.

Discuss reliability and validity in diagnosis and classification of schizophrenia.
A01- reliability refers to the level of agreement on the diagnosis by different psychiatrists across time and culture. Validity refers to the extent to which schizophrenia is a unique syndrome with its own characteristics, signs and symptoms. Some issues include comorbidity, symptom overlap and cultural and gender bias.
A03- the classification of schizophrenia involves using either the DSM 5 or ICD 10. Both classification systems vary in their criteria, such as DSM proposing only 1 positive symptom needs to be present for a month whilst ICD 10 suggests 2 negative symptoms must be present for a month; already this could lead to different diagnoses between clinicians depending on which classification system they use. The DSM 5 is also American-based, suggesting there may be a cultural bias and imposed etic as American classification of abnormality is used upon people of different cultures, and what one symptom of schizophrenia is in one country may not be a symptom in another.
A03- positive symptoms such as hallucinations or hearing voices may be more acceptable in African cultures because of the cultural beliefs, for example communication with ancestors and therefore people are more ready to acknowledge such experiences. When reported to a psychiatrist from a different culture, these experiences might be seen as bizarre and irrational as the psychiatrists are culturally biased to what is deemed normal in their own culture and therefore ethnocentric unknowingly. Escobar has pointed out that white psychologists may tend to over-interpret symptoms of black people during diagnosis, such factors include cultural differences in language and highlights the issue of validity of diagnosis between cultures.
A03- Copeland gave a description of a patient to 134 USA and 194 British psychiatrists. 69% of US diagnosed schizophrenia but only 2% of British gave the diagnosis, may suggest symptoms are misinterpreted. Calls into question reliability of diagnosis as it suggests patients can display same symptoms but receive different diagnosis because of their ethnic background.
A03- research suggests there is an issue of reliability between diagnosis. Cheniaux highlighted the lack of interrater reliability of diagnosis. One psychologist diagnosed 26% of patients with schizophrenia using DSM, and 44% using ICD. The other diagnosed 13% using dsm and 24 using ICD. This supports the classification and diagnosis of the disorder is lacking in reliability. Rosenhan’s “being sane in insane places” study also shows the issues of reliability and validity. Confederate acted as pseudo-patients and displayed only 1 symptom telling professionals they were having a hallucination and staff never detected their sanity and diagnosed them with schizophrenia even after behaving normally in the ward and being detected by real schizophrenic people. Suggests doctors had no valid method of defecting the disorder and any diagnostic material that makes such errors cannot be reliable nor valid.
A03- comorbidity refers to the presence of two disorders at the same time. Buckley found that 50% of sz patients also had a diagnosis of depression, 29% had PTSD and 23% had OCD. This supports the view that there are problems with validity in classification and diagnosis, as the two disorders could be one and lead to the delay of correct treatment.
A03- an ethical issue is that the use of diagnoses people can be labelled, and this label might not be accurate or valid. The label could then lead to them becoming stigmatised and affect their life e.g., employment or lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy. However a benefit of being labelled is that it can lead to appropriate treatment, which can help the sufferer and labels can make their condition known to work places who can implement measures that can assist the person which makes the workplace feel safer for sufferer and other staff whilst increasing productivity in the work place so contribute to taxes and earn their salary.
A03- there is an issue of gender bias in the diagnosis of schizophrenia. Loring and Powell found that after selecting male and female psychiatrists to diagnose sz in either males or females, 56% of males were given a diagnosis whilst 20% of females were given a diagnosis. This gender bias did not seem to be evident amongst female psychiatrists suggesting diagnosis is influenced not only by gender of patient but gender of psychiatrist as well. This affects validity.

then some were more simple because I knew the content reallly well, such as
Discuss research into conformity to social roles.
A01- Zimbardo
Ao3- high internal validity +maintained degree of control, tried to have some ecological validity i.e., surprise arresting them at their house.
Ao3- ethical issues protection from harm and deception and informed consent
Ao3- unrepresentative sample of 24 normal healthy American males so low population validity and low ecological validity as most guards claimed they were acting and lack of mundane realism due to many unpleasant prison experiences left out such as racism and unwanted homosexuality.
Ao3- altered the way US prisons are run though, e.g., juveniles accused of federal crimes are no longer housed with adult prisoners due to risk of violence against them.

I also did a lot of background reading, which helped me understand the content and gave me more to talk about/evaluate!

Hope this helps?
Aimee, UoN Official Student Rep

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