Psychology
Head of Department: Mr G A Ashfield
Am I suited to this course?
Entry requirements: A pass grade in English and Maths at GCSE is preferable to follow the AS or A level course, and essential if you wish to read Psychology at a higher level.
You should be interested in people of all ages and willing to read and constructively criticize key studies in Psychology. A Psychology qualification is relevant to any occupation that deals with people e.g. medical, education, public service, leisure, retail etc.
What will we study?
The AS course has three units:
Unit 1 covers Cognitive Psychology (memory, forgetting and eye-witness testimony), Social Psychology (obedience to authority, prejudice reduction) and Developmental Psychology (the work of Piaget and the implications for education).
Unit 2 covers the Learning Approach (how people learn as a result of classical and operant conditioning and social learning theory), Psychodynamic Approach (the work of Freud, psychosexual stages, dreaming and the unconscious mind) and Physiological Psychology (genetics, sleep theory and dreaming).
Unit 3 is coursework. Each student produces one project, roughly 1500 words long based on their own practical research to be handed in immediately after the February half term. It is assessed externally.
Each unit carries 33.3% of the total marks. Units 1 and 2 are assessed by a written exam paper lasting 1.5 hours.
The A2 course covers a further three units. Unit 4 is Criminal Psychology and Sports Psychology. Unit 5 is Child Psychology and Research Methods (theory). Unit 6 covers Synoptic Issues, Perspectives and Debates. There is no coursework in A2. Units 4, 5 and 6 are assessed by three 1.5 hour exams. All 6 units carry a weighting of 16.7%.
What work will I do?
Students take notes from various sources including books and video. You will be required to write constructed essays for homework and revise for unit tests at the end of each section. You will use IT to investigate some areas of Psychology.