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bunchofrosies · 8 years ago

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How To Get An A* In A-Level Psychology

Hi All!

So I feel like this is something a lot of people doing Psychology will ask me when I tell them I got an A*. Some people have told me “You’re so smart, of course you got an A*”, but really I did so much revision for Psychology, and so I’m going to give you guys some tips on how to do the same. So, to give you guys some background I studied AQA A-Level Psychology on the new reformed A-Level. At AS I got a B, and at A2 I got an A*. So while this blog will mainly be for people on the AQA specification the advice I give can help people on other exam boards too! So the specification is split into three papers in A2, each each paper as a different set of topics that are examined on.

Paper One: Social Influence, Memory, Attachment and Psychopathology.

Paper Two: Biopsychology, Research Methods and Approaches.

Paper Three: Issues and Debates, (Three options which will be chosen by your school mine were: Gender, Schizophrenia, Aggression).

No matter what topics your teachers choose the advice I give you will be relevant to all. So let’s get started

Pick the right text book

The CGP revision guides are a no go for an A*. They are far too basic, and barely have any evaluation. The text book I mainly used was the Oxford text book with the cat on the AS and dog on the A2. These text books are incredible, they have so much information, and lots of practice questions. Alongside that the Illuminate Publishing ‘green haired girl’ and ‘pink haired girl’ revision guides were good for some areas. For example, the green haired girl book had AO3 for the ‘role of the father’ which were not in the Oxford text book. However, with the Illuminate books their AO1 and AO3 are in nowhere near enough detail to be able to achieve an A*, and therefore should be added to when you do your revision from the Oxford text book. The links for these text books will be below:

Oxford - AS and Year 1 Textbook

Oxford - A2 and Year 2 Textbook

Illuminate - Year 1 Green Haired Girl Book

Illuminate - Year 2 Pink Haired Girl Book

2. Exam Technique

Firstly, within exam technique I will share what I did in each exam in terms of timings and order of answering questions. In every paper I did all the shorter marks first, and when I encountered any question with eight + marks I would do a quick bullet pointed plan on it and then move onto the next shorter mark question. Then at the end I would go back and do the essay questions. This is a clever technique for a number of reasons, most people usually do the shorter mark questions in a very quick time and therefore by doing all of those first you can see how long you have left to write the essays. For example, in one paper you may have two sixteen mark essays and an eight mark essay, and you may have thirty forty five minutes left in the exam, that way you can allocate fifteen minutes for each question, which even that may be excessive. Having as much time as possible for essays is extremely important as these are the biggest chunk of your marks, and you get more marks for quality over quantity.

Make sure when you answer essays you follow this structure:

A small AO1 section - do not go over the top with the amount of AO1 as this is only six of sixteen marks in a big essay.

For AO3 always signpost with statements such as ‘A strength of...’, ‘A weakness of...’ and ‘A limitation of...’.

For AO3, follow the same structure of each paragraph

Signpost: Introduce the point and clearly state whether it is a strength, weakness or discussion point.

Make relevant evidence or explanation: use a study or explanation to evidence your point.

Explain in relevance to the question focus: link the evidence back by explaining how it shows a strength or weakness of the theory.

You should aim for each essay to have around four paragraphs of AO3, however if you do not have the time to do this DO NOT try and squeeze a small paragraph in that is unexplained properly. The mark scheme emphasises the quality of evaluation and therefore having two very well written and relevant AO3 is much better than having four tiny and generic evaluation points.

3. Revision

In terms of revision for Psychology I did mind maps from the Oxford books, and I did these once in lots of detail in different colours. I then wrote the essay for that topic. For example, if I had just done the mind map for ‘Types of Long Term Memory’ I would then write the essay for that, with AO1 written in one colour, AO3 strengths in another, weaknesses in another and discussion in another. Then I would condense these down into essay plans with bullet points to summarise each paragraph. I did this for every single topic.

I also made posters for the studies, on these I would very simply state the participants, the procedure, and the findings of the study. This made it so much easier to memorise the exact statistics for the studies.

4. Past Papers/ Specimen Papers

Now once the learning has finished this is when you start doing past papers or specimen papers. It is vital to do ALL of them as similar questions can come up each year. And to make it less daunting having done all the essays already you can just test that you know the info by making an essay plan for it but then not writing the essay if you don’t want to. However do have at least one attempt of each paper in timed conditions, as timing is what most people struggle with.

You should aim to mark your own work as well and try and work out what the mark scheme asks of you. And be a harsh marker. Don’t do the “Yeah, I was gonna put that” be harsh and be honest.

5. Learn Research Methods

Research Methods is 40% of your marks. This means that even though it has its own section in Paper 2, it comes up on every paper... In my Paper 1 that I did in 2017, the entire Social Influence section bar two shorter marks were research methods! And one that I would definitely revise loads is statistical tests, make sure you learn when to use them, I did this through posters and flashcards.

6. Videos

On the day of my exams I went onto YouTube. I never do intense revision on the day of exams, I try to chill out, I might test myself a little bit and discuss things with my friends but I very rarely did any note taking or anything intense. Instead I watched videos on Tutor2U, their videos on last years AS papers examiners reports were so informative as were their revision videos. I’ll link them here but watch them at any stage of your revision because they are a good way vary how you revise. I’ll also link some other channels which are good for watching if you want to revise in a different way, but make sure you don’t just watch the videos, take notes or repeat what they say. Make sure it sinks in.

Tutor2U

CrashCourse

So, the most important thing to remember is that as long as you put in the work you will get the grade you deserve. Whether that’s an A* or a C, if you worked hard then well done!

I hope this helps everyone and if you have any questions that I haven’t answered please don’t hesitate to send me a message!

Whoosh,

Rosie :)

#a level #sixth form #college #student room #a level psychology #psychology #a* psychology

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bunchofrosies · 8 years ago

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How To Pick Your A-Levels

Hi All,

So I haven’t stuck to my schedule at all as I guessed I wouldn’t because I’m awful! But oh well! But I’m sick at home, and decided why not offer some advice to students doing their GCSE’s and thinking about picking their A-Levels! So, for a lot of people this is stressful because you go from being forced to do certain subjects like English and Maths to being able to completely choose everything you want to do! Which is exciting, but a lot of pressure because people tend to worry about making the wrong decision. So here are some tips that I have for picking the perfect A-Levels for you.

1. Pick A-Levels you are interested in

This is an obvious one, do not just pick A-Levels because you are good at them or find them easy at GCSE. Pick A-Levels that you are genuinely interested in the topics they discuss. Even if you’ve never studied that subject before if it sparks an interest in you do it! Because everyone finds at A-Level the subjects you enjoy, you enjoy revising and therefore it doesn’t feel like such a task to revise. For example, for me, Psychology and Business were so easy to revise for because I loved the subjects, I loved the teachers and I had a genuine interest in the subject. However, at AS Philosophy and Ethics confused and bored me, so I didn’t really revise. The only reason I got the grade I did was because of predictions of the questions, and having some really good teachers.

2. Do NOT pick subjects because you have heard they are easy

I fell into this trap. My GCSE RE teacher sold Philosophy and Ethics to me because she said it was easy and we talked about the meaning of life, and made posters... Boy was I disappointed! Yes, we made posters and did cover interesting topics but it was NOT easy in the slightest... Especially since I missed the entire Cosmological Argument due to going on a trip to Belgium... But that’s another story. Philosophy and Ethics is a very complex subject and one of the hardest A-Levels you can take, especially in the jump from GCSE to A-Level. And this goes for most subjects. Maths is one especially I have heard. I walked into my GCSE Maths exam not doing a single bit of revision and got a high A, at A-Level you have to revise for every single subject! So to sum up, expect every A-Level subject to be difficult because they are, not just in content, but the exam technique but the sheer amount of information you need to learn.

3. Find out what exam boards your chosen college or sixth form uses for different subjects

Okay, I never did this but I really wish I had. The exam board your sixth form or college uses can change everything. Someone doing AQA English Lit may have a completely different experience to Edexcel. Once you know what exam board they use, research into the qualification: find out about whether it is linear or reformed A-Level; whether it has coursework; how much is exam based; what texts you may need to learn; whether it is open or closed book and many other deciding factors. These may help narrow down your decision, if you prefer an element of coursework but the course doesn’t offer one, then question whether you would excel in it. If you think you would enjoy the subject none-the-less then this may not deter you from taking it as an A-Level, but researching into the topics may make it easier to decide between subjects.

4. Figure out what the end goal is

This is quite important. You need to be asking yourself why you are doing A-Levels. If it is to go to University start researching University entry requirements. I wish I had done this as having certain A-Levels for certain courses is compulsory or may help with a reduced offer. If you want to study Medicine for example you need to take two science subjects which are usually Chemistry and Biology, or sometimes Maths. So those would be A-Levels you would take. This can also help motivate you to do well in your GCSE as some Universities have GCSE requirements too. For example, for my course at Warwick I was offered AAB at A-Level and needed an A in GCSE Maths and an A in a Humanities subject. So if you know that now you can work to gain that grade now. It’s a win win really.

5. Don’t just fit the option blocks

So I did this, and so many people did. At most schools they have option blocks because they can only afford to offer a certain qualification if a certain amount of people subscribe to the course. Or because of timetabling. For example my school offered French and Music in block C, and combined them in one box as French//Music. So it was basically course that had the most students would be offered and the other one would be cut... Which was ridiculous because they offered German and Spanish to two students, even though French had way more people interested. This affected my friend who had to take BTEC ICT instead of French, which in the long run she did well and got a D* but it meant missing out on a subject she was interested in. So if your school or college has option blocks that mean you can’t do the subjects you want to, have a look at other schools in the area, some with more funding will not even have option blocks and some will have option blocks which fit perfectly for your A-Levels. This also goes for picking a subject just because you have a spare option... If you have a spare option research into all the subjects in that block. I really wish I had taken Accountancy over Philosophy and Ethics but I chose Philosophy and Ethics anyway because my Block B was free.

6. Don’t just pick a subject because your friends are too

So many people fall into this trap. Think of it this way. It’s not your friends who are gonna be stress revising a subject next Easter because they picked a subject they didn’t enjoy just because their friends did it. It’s so hard to think of going to a lesson and having no friends. But you really do gain friends or you find people you weren’t exactly friends with but you liked and could be friends with. For example, none of my friends were taking Philosophy and Ethics and I took it anyway, and found two girls I liked that I sat with until another friend transferred from another subject. Be responsible for your own future.

Those are some tips I have for you guys I hope they help!

As always if you have any questions or need help and advice just message me and I will message you back as soon as I can!

Whoosh!

Rosie :)

#a level #school #sixth form #student room #advice #warwick uni #warwick university #university blogger

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bunchofrosies · 8 years ago

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UCAS and University Experience

Hi All!

So, to begin my university series I have decided to start with my University Application experience through UCAS, and how my AS Levels went and reveal what university I will be going to. So in 2016, I completed my AS exams in Psychology, English Literature, Business Studies, Philosophy and Ethics and General Studies (GS was forced on us by our school – yawn). And much to my disappointment I did not do brilliantly at AS, I received BBBDD, with the D’s being in GS and English Literature. This was a huge disappointment for me as I was potentially considering applying for Oxbridge had I got good grades given recommendation from a progression tutor at my school. However, while this had not been my main goal it was a disappointment to find I had not done great in one of my favourite subjects. Now, this was my own fault to some extent, while my school did not provide us with the right resources or even the right criteria to pass the exams, I should have taken it upon myself to find out what was on the specification and mark scheme.

However, my not so brilliant grades became my saviour as I am the type of person where when something becomes difficult I immediately push myself to achieve and prove that I am better than what originally happened. And so, because I preferred English Literature to Philosophy, I dropped Philosophy. After all, what’s life without a challenge. And so when it came to UCAS predictions instead of AAA I got predicted AAB, since my English grade was 2 raw marks below a C. Now, those were the grades I sent off to UCAS with my application as discussed with my Head of Year. He had full faith in me, and only allowed my high predictions due to the earliness of my application, since I handed my personal statement draft to him a week after term had started since I finished it in the summer. I was so proud of my personal statement and I am so happy with how it turned out, and I think it really did help doing it over the summer to help me get my offers. Since everyone usually submits their applications in November/December, the universities have more time to really study your application, and they have more spaces to offer. Think of it logically, if I had sent my application off in November, the universities may have only glanced over my application and I would have been in competition with multiple people, and those people potentially having more experience or better grades than myself.

So, I had my reference being written, my head of year had checked over my application, and I had to think clearly and cleverly about which universities I wanted to apply to. So since I couldn’t apply to Oxbridge I decided to stay close to home, and living in the Midlands is the best place to be for that. And so, my five choices were the University of Warwick, the University of Birmingham, the University of Worcester, the University of Coventry and Aston University, and I applied to study their individual versions of Management.

The first university I heard back from was the University of Birmingham, around two weeks after I’d applied, and at that time I thought this would be my firm as the grades were AAB, and a Russell Group uni! Next, I received Worcester’s offer of 112 points (equivalent to BBC), which I always knew would be my insurance. Then I received Aston, with an AAB, or a ABB if I firmed. And then, I received Warwick’s offer of AAA maybe a month after I had originally sent off my UCAS. And finally Coventry sent me an offer last of ABB. So I received offers from all 5 of my choices. And I genuinely believe that that was mostly because of how early I got my application in!

Now one amazing thing that happened was the day before my applicant day at Warwick I had received an email telling me to check my UCAS as I was applicable for a reduced contextual offer. This offer basically meant that because I went to a school that was a lower performer I was able to get a lower offer, and it is the reason why so many of my friends and people I went to school with got unconditional offers (honestly, I think half of my year got unconditionals and at least two people had all five offers unconditional). This is an amazing system that has been added and I’m so grateful because I got an offer of AAB from Warwick. So I went to the applicant day and I absolutely loved it, I loved the facilities, the campus, the lecturers, the course, everything I fell for. And so I firmed it. (I did visit UoB but it wasn’t for me if I’m honest).

And so I got cracking, I really knuckled down and I achieved A*ABD, (the D was in GS, which no one cares about anyway). And so, I have a place at Warwick University. The 8th best university in the UK, and the 5th best business school in the UK. And honestly I could not be happier.

So I’m ready to start the next chapter of my journey. And I’m going to blog about as much of it as possible – mainly to share this experience with others, especially those hoping to attend Warwick as I’ve been obsessed with university bloggers and vloggers since I was accepted.

Whoosh,

-Rosie

#warwick uni #university #university of warwick #warwick freshers #warwick su #warwick #warwick blogger #freshers

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