NV Top Tips
1. Read through the syllabus: Unlike AS psychology where you were given 20 core studies and expected to know everything about them, A2 is more detailed and luckily, more specific. The syllabus clearly states what part of the study you need to know (and you bet you have to know it really well) and there are no surprises in the paper, I promise.
2. The importance of paper 3: Unlike most other A level subjects I know, psychology has only ONE paper that tests your A2 knowledge. This might sound like it's a good thing but it really isn't. Firstly, it's a three-hour long paper. For my exam, I was sitting a freezing classroom, my fingers were numb and rigid from writing so much so fast and my bladder was about to burst- NOT a pleasant experience. Secondly, if, for some unfathomable reason, you ignore everything on this page and don't write the paper well enough; you do not get another chance to make up for it by doing well on another component (like a practical paper). And if those reasons were not enough, the paper weighs half of your entire A level grade! In other words, this paper will either help you make it or break it.
3. Understand what is expected of you: Before diving into all the theory and memorisation the syllabus requires, do go through past paper questions and see what they ask. Are you asked to evaluate or define or describe or design? Or all of them? That way, when you're studying, you know what to learn as a definition and what concepts you might be asked to evaluate. This helps refine and streamline your learning which is mighty useful when there's so much to memorise in the first place.
4. Read the original study at least once and highlight and annotate important things. No ifs, no buts. Just do it. I know it's a pain. You'll thank me later.
5. For certain sections where you are allowed to choose a study, pick one that has information easily available on it. For example, you might have a resource book which has information on that study. Don't go after complicated and rare studies, you won't impress the examiner if you get all the details jumbled up.
6. Start learning the boring details from day one: In your answers, you will be required to quote studies. You need to remember the name of the researcher and the year in which the study was published. If you can remember the name of the study, brilliant. If not, you can briefly describe it. For example: The Oedipus Complex was explored in the study "Little Hans" (Freud, 1909). OR. Freud explored the Oedipus Complex by understanding a young boy's phobia of horses in 1909. The first method is preferred but both will get you marks. I will post images of my list below which I later converted to a tabular form. I wrote, erased and re-wrote the list on my white board for a few days before my exam to remember it. (I wish I had started on day one.)
7. Specialist choices: In CIE A2 psychology, you are given five areas of psychology and you can choose any two to study. Your choices are health, education, organisations, abnormality and environment. If you're sure of your career path, then it is most sensible to choose relevant areas. However, if you're not sure, most students choose health and abnormality (organisations being the next favourite). This is because these topics are universally interesting, somewhat applicable to everyday life and most importantly, have a lot of resources on them that are easily available. Since I was sure I wanted to pursue a career in medicine, naturally, I chose Abnormality and Health. Hence, most of the things on this page will be relevant to these topics.
8. The paper is straightforward, the content is difficult: The paper is easy enough to roughly predict what can be asked. Each specialist choice will have three sections. Section A has short-answer questions; usually a definition and short explanation. Section B has two essay-style questions. The first will ask you to " describe what have psychologists found out about..." and the second will ask you to "evaluate what psychologists have found out about...". Since, there are only six chapters per specialist choice, you can prepare answers for these. Section C is tricky because you need to apply what you've learnt. Remember themes, debates and approaches from AS? Yeah, it's time to revise that again!
For my general study tips, click here.
2. The importance of paper 3: Unlike most other A level subjects I know, psychology has only ONE paper that tests your A2 knowledge. This might sound like it's a good thing but it really isn't. Firstly, it's a three-hour long paper. For my exam, I was sitting a freezing classroom, my fingers were numb and rigid from writing so much so fast and my bladder was about to burst- NOT a pleasant experience. Secondly, if, for some unfathomable reason, you ignore everything on this page and don't write the paper well enough; you do not get another chance to make up for it by doing well on another component (like a practical paper). And if those reasons were not enough, the paper weighs half of your entire A level grade! In other words, this paper will either help you make it or break it.
3. Understand what is expected of you: Before diving into all the theory and memorisation the syllabus requires, do go through past paper questions and see what they ask. Are you asked to evaluate or define or describe or design? Or all of them? That way, when you're studying, you know what to learn as a definition and what concepts you might be asked to evaluate. This helps refine and streamline your learning which is mighty useful when there's so much to memorise in the first place.
4. Read the original study at least once and highlight and annotate important things. No ifs, no buts. Just do it. I know it's a pain. You'll thank me later.
5. For certain sections where you are allowed to choose a study, pick one that has information easily available on it. For example, you might have a resource book which has information on that study. Don't go after complicated and rare studies, you won't impress the examiner if you get all the details jumbled up.
6. Start learning the boring details from day one: In your answers, you will be required to quote studies. You need to remember the name of the researcher and the year in which the study was published. If you can remember the name of the study, brilliant. If not, you can briefly describe it. For example: The Oedipus Complex was explored in the study "Little Hans" (Freud, 1909). OR. Freud explored the Oedipus Complex by understanding a young boy's phobia of horses in 1909. The first method is preferred but both will get you marks. I will post images of my list below which I later converted to a tabular form. I wrote, erased and re-wrote the list on my white board for a few days before my exam to remember it. (I wish I had started on day one.)
7. Specialist choices: In CIE A2 psychology, you are given five areas of psychology and you can choose any two to study. Your choices are health, education, organisations, abnormality and environment. If you're sure of your career path, then it is most sensible to choose relevant areas. However, if you're not sure, most students choose health and abnormality (organisations being the next favourite). This is because these topics are universally interesting, somewhat applicable to everyday life and most importantly, have a lot of resources on them that are easily available. Since I was sure I wanted to pursue a career in medicine, naturally, I chose Abnormality and Health. Hence, most of the things on this page will be relevant to these topics.
8. The paper is straightforward, the content is difficult: The paper is easy enough to roughly predict what can be asked. Each specialist choice will have three sections. Section A has short-answer questions; usually a definition and short explanation. Section B has two essay-style questions. The first will ask you to " describe what have psychologists found out about..." and the second will ask you to "evaluate what psychologists have found out about...". Since, there are only six chapters per specialist choice, you can prepare answers for these. Section C is tricky because you need to apply what you've learnt. Remember themes, debates and approaches from AS? Yeah, it's time to revise that again!
For my general study tips, click here.
Online resources I referred to:
1) Psych Tutor - CIE A Level and IB psychology
2) Blog Psychology - CIE A Level psychology
3) Psychlotron- Psychology resources relevant to CIE, AQA and OCR boards
Books I referred to:
1) Cambridge International AS & A Level Psychology Revision Guide by David Clarke
2) Psychology for International AS & A Level Revision Guide by Craig Roberts
3) Heinemann Psychology for OCR A2
1) Psych Tutor - CIE A Level and IB psychology
2) Blog Psychology - CIE A Level psychology
3) Psychlotron- Psychology resources relevant to CIE, AQA and OCR boards
Books I referred to:
1) Cambridge International AS & A Level Psychology Revision Guide by David Clarke
2) Psychology for International AS & A Level Revision Guide by Craig Roberts
3) Heinemann Psychology for OCR A2
Use the contact form below to send your answers/reviews/questions to me and I'll upload them! Let's help each other! #GROUPSTUDY
Psychology and Abnormality
NV Notes:
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Treatments for schizophrenia | |
File Size: | 173 kb |
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NV Sample Answers
Please use them as a guide only.
Also, I apologise for the multiple pdfs for the same answer; I'm still learning different formats and ways to upload files.
Please use them as a guide only.
Also, I apologise for the multiple pdfs for the same answer; I'm still learning different formats and ways to upload files.
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Psychology and Health
NV Notes:
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Other resources:
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NV Sample Answers
Please use them as a guide only.
Also, I apologise for the multiple pdfs for the same answer; I'm still learning different formats and ways to upload files.
Please use them as a guide only.
Also, I apologise for the multiple pdfs for the same answer; I'm still learning different formats and ways to upload files.
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Other resources contributed by Husna Humaira
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Sample study plan 1 |
Sample study plan 2 |
AS exams: June; A2 exams: November (same year)
Total time = 5 months Study time = 3 months = 12 weeks Revision time = 2 months = 8 weeks Study- 12 chapters in total (6 per section). Therefore, 1 chapter = 1 week Revision- 4 weeks to revise theory and 4 weeks to do past paper questions Note: Don't lose hope, it's not as bad as it looks. Be consistent, stay determined and dedicated. It's just a few months of hard work, you will thank yourself for it on results day. This is a very generalised plan- you may spend more time on certain chapters like Schizophrenia and lesser on others like Models of Abnormality but make sure that in the end, it all balances out so that you still complete studying in time. |
AS exams: June; A2 exams: June (next year)
Total time = 10 months (excluding holiday/time off) Study time = 7 months = 28 weeks Revision time = 3 months = 12 weeks Study- 2-3 weeks per chapter Revision- 6 weeks to revise theory and 6 weeks to do past papers Note: This might seem like a lot of time but don't sit back. You will probably have other subjects to study too. More time means you can study in more depth and almost guarantee yourself a good grade. Pace yourself so that you don't end up having to study the same material over and over again as you'll eventually get sick of it. |