AIM

Enable students to:

• demonstrate knowledge and understanding of psychological ideas, processes, procedures and theory

•  analyse and evaluate psychological ideas, information, processes and procedures in relation to content and make judgements, draw conclusions and produce developments or refinements of psychological procedures based on their reasoning and synthesis of skills 

•  evaluate therapies and treatments including in terms of their appropriateness and effectiveness 

•  show how psychological knowledge and ideas change over time and how these inform our understanding of behaviour 

•  demonstrate the contribution of psychology to an understanding of individual, social and cultural diversity 

•  develop an understanding of the interrelationships between the core areas of psychology 

•  show how the studies for topics relate to the associated theory

CONTENT

The course is comprised of two units:

ASSESSMENT

There are two written papers for Psychology taken at the end of the course, one for each unit of study. Each paper is equally weighted at 50% of the total course award. 

The structure of the papers is the same, and includes a selection of multiple choice, short answer and extended writing responses based on unseen case study material. 

Each examination is 1 hour 45 minutes in duration. 

OTHER INFORMATION

The nature of the specification and assessment methods require strong literacy and analytical skills to achieve a good grade. 

In addition, some topics require numerical calculations and the use of ratio analysis, therefore requiring good mathematical understanding.