Psychology AS/A Level

General information

Psychology is often defined as the scientific study of human behaviour and experience. This course offers an introduction to psychology and assumes no previous knowledge of the subject. Although an A Level in psychology confers no professional recognition, it would certainly be useful to anyone wishing to pursue a career in education, nursing, social work, or personal management, or considering applying to do a degree in psychology. Additionally, this course would be relevant to anyone who is simply interested in why people behave the way they do!

Full specification information can be found online at the AQA website under Psychology B - 1186/2186 (AS/A2).

Course content

The AS section of this course consists of two modules:

• Unit 1 - Introducing Psychology. Includes key approaches, gender development and research methods.
• Unit 2 - Social and Cognitive Psychology and Individual Differences. Includes social influence or social cognition, cognitive psychology of memory or perception, and individual differences of anxiety disorders or autism.

The A2 section of this course consists of two modules:

• Unit 3 - Child Development and Applied Options. Includes social, cognitive or moral development; cognition and law; mood disorders and schizophrenia; stress and stress management; substance abuse and forensic psychology.
• Unit 4 - Approaches, Debates and Methods of Psychology. Includes psychological approaches and comparisons, and debates in psychology, such as freewill and methods in psychology - inferential statistics.

Teaching and assessment

The AS course is examined by means of two exam papers. These are written papers consisting of three questions, for which each exam duration will be one hour and 30 minutes. The A2 year is examined by means of two exam papers.These are written papers consisting of three questions, for which each exam duration will be two hours. The marks for all four papers will contribute towards the final A2 grade awarded.

Entry requirements

Seven GCSEs (including English Language) with grades of C or higher, and BB in two academic GCSE subjects (e.g. from Core Science, Additional Science, separate GCSE sciences, English, Mathematics, History, Geography).

Students with vocational qualifications at Level 2 or other non-standard entry qualifications should contact the guidance team at the college for advice.

Progression

A Level Psychology allows you to progress into higher education or into employment. The skills of analysis and application that you will acquire on this course will be very useful if you plan to progressin to higher education, where you must be able to think and work independently. Many psychologists go on to pursue careers in such fields as clinical psychology, education, nursing, social work, and human resources management.

Dates and times

This course begins in September. The duration of this course is two years.