Psychology
Exam Board: AQA
Psychology is a very popular subject to take at KS5, particularly because it is – for most – a fresh subject, that is relevant to everyday life.
Overview of the Course
The course covers a wide range of topics and encourages students to explore why people think, feel and behave the way we do. We investigate human behaviour in a variety of scenarios, such as when feeling peer pressure, when recalling a traumatic event, or during mental illnesses like schizophrenia. We also conduct regular research projects, where students truly become psychologists.
Course Outline
The A Level course covers Introductory Topics, Psychology in Context and Issues & Options.
In Year One we cover:
- Social Influence – conformity and obedience
- Memory – models or memory and explanations of forgetting
- Attachment – human and animal attachments and theories of attachment
- Clinical Psychology and Mental Health – symptoms, explanations and treatments of phobias, depression and OCD
- Approaches in Psychology – the assumptions of the key psychological perspectives
- Biopsychology – impact of biological systems and structures on human behaviour
In Year Two we cover:
- Relationships – factors affecting attraction and theories of romantic relationships
- Schizophrenia – classification, explanations and treatments
- Forensic Psychology – offender profiling and explanations of offender behaviour
Throughout the course we also learn about Research Methods (such as strengths and limitations of a variety of investigative approaches) and a range of Issues and Debates (e.g. is human behaviour caused by nature or nurture?).
Psychology is taught and assessed as a science, therefore has a significant mathematical component. Students need to learn how to gather and analyse data from research studies. 25% of the A Level marks are awarded for Research Methods, and 10% are mathematical questions.
Who should consider Psychology?
Psychology is a worthwhile course for those interested in a career that involves working with people. Careers where Psychology would be useful include medicine, law, social work, occupational therapy, speech therapy, teaching, business management, advertising, media, counselling, personnel management and much more. Psychology is seen as an excellent preparation for higher education courses such as Psychology, Social Sciences, Sociology, Politics, Economics, Medicine, Philosophy, Business, Law and Media, to name just a few.
Entry requirements
To gain a place on this course you will need to get at least a grade 6 in GCSE English (because there are exam questions which require extended writing skills), and a minimum grade 6 in GCSE Mathematics, (because there is a significant maths content in the A Level course). It is not necessary to have studied Psychology before.
Ms Wisden, Curriculum Manager Psychology
j.wisden@rugbyhighschool.co.uk
What our students say
"I chose to study psychology because I wanted to take a new subject that linked with my other two (Biology & Chemistry), while still being different.
One of the things I like best about it is the varied ways of learning, including case studies, scenarios, theories and practical experiments.
This subject has enabled me to develop my writing and thinking skills by making me select only key information and condensing it all down."
Cristian C