Welcome to A Level Psychology at High Storrs

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Welcome to A Level Psychology at High Storrs
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Why study psychology?
For enjoyment - hopefully you will gain a great
deal from the course To understand yourself more,
what you are and why you have become what you
are To understand others more, the way they think
feel and behave and how they experience the world
they live in
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• Interesting and can apply the things learnt to
  new situations.
• Useful for essay writing and practice,
  interesting, enjoyable, good teachers.
• If you want to know why people act certain ways
  it provides answers. It also covers a variety of
  interesting topics, like schizophrenia.
• Because it has helped me understand behaviour in
  others.
• The trip to London was fun and useful.
• Its interesting, but it is demanding.
• Have loved Mrs Pike and Mrs Dewis. You are
  wonderful teachers and will be greatly missed.
• Quite interesting compared to other A-Level
  subjects.

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Specialist areas of psychology are
Educational psychology
Clinical psychology
Occupational psychology
Health psychology
Counselling psychology
Forensic psychology
Sports psychology
Research psychology
Consumer psychology
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Psychology regards itself as a science.
All of these areas of psychology could not
function without evidence.
All sciences have to produce evidence to support
any theories they may have.
To obtain evidence, psychologists and students of
psychology can adopt research methods that are
experimental or non-experimental.
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New AS and A Level from September 2015

• Teaching the new AS and A Levels will start
  September 2015
• First assessment for AS will be 2016
• First assessment for A-level will be 2017
• AS standard will remain the same
• A-level examined at the end of the 2 years of
  study and is separate to the AS
• AS exams will not contribute to A-level assessment

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New AS and A Level

• Question papers will have a selection of multiple
  choice, short answer questions and essay style
  questions
• The AS course is co-teachable with the A-level
• Students who sit the AS exam and then choose to
  continue with the A-level course will be required
  to sit the 3 papers at the end of the A-level
  Remember AS qualifications will not count towards
  the A-level.

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AS and A-level Examination

• AS 2 x 1hr 30 min written exams
• A2 Level 3 x 2 hour written exams
• A selection of multiple choice, short answer
  questions and essay style questions.
• No coursework

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Topics covered

• AS/A2 Social Influence Memory Attachment
  Psychopathology Approaches in Psychology
  Research Methods
• A2 only Biopsychology Issues and Debates A
  choice of 3 of the following Relationships,
  Gender, Cognition and Development, Schizophrenia,
  Eating Behaviour, Stress, Aggression, Forensic
  Psychology, Addiction

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Trips and Visits

• Galleries of Justice in Nottingham,
• Science Museum, Freud Museum,
• National Archives, Science and
• Pseudoscience Conference, Forensic
• Conference

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Trips and Visits

• Visited by
• a District Judge
• a Neuroscientist (specialising in Schizophrenia
  and Forensics)
• PHD students

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Entry Level

• AQA Psychology examining board
• Entry requirements
• - 5 G.C.S.Es at A-C (including C in Maths and
  Additional Science B in English)
• Read the specifications in full at
• www.Aqa.org.uk/psychology
• Taught 5 hours per week
• Loan of textbooks

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Facts and figures

• 4th most popular A Level in the country
• - over 100,000 AS
• - 55,000 A2
• 3rd most common subject studied at Uni.
• - 77,000 undergraduates
• QCA (Qualifications Curriculum Authority)
  arguably as difficult as Biology A Level

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• Helps develop a broad-based set of skills
• - forensic thinking
• - methodology (experimentation)
• - evaluative skills for essay writing
• - moral dimension i.e. ethics
• - extensive reading covering current issues
  i.e. crime, phobias, eating disorders, mental
  illness
• - Overlap with other subjects i.e. biology,
  English, Sociology, Child Development, H S C,
  I.T., History, Statistics

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Preparation for a Psychology degree

• 90 of students surveyed felt better prepared for
  degree level courses after they had done a
  Psychology A Level!

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Employability

• A Level Psychology is an important source of
  employability
• It gives you personal insight
• - scientific thinking
• - critical skills

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Exam Results at High Storrs

• Pass rate 2011 - 98 at A2
• Pass rate 2012 - 94 at A2
• Pass rate 2013 - 98 at A2
• Pass rate 2014 - 98 at A2

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Question Time

• Thank you for listening and visiting our
• open evening
• Any questions?
• If you would like further information
• regarding Psychology then please ring the
• school 0114 2670000 and ask for Mrs.
• Pike