A Level Psychology
Pre-course
study/preparation
Please read all of this information very carefully and follow
instructions.
Useful Resources
Studying A Level Psychology involves extensive wider reading around the subject. Each source will
include slightly different information so in order to enhance your knowledge, understanding and skills you
will need to read a variety of sources.
Text Books
In September, you will be provided with a copy of the following text books:
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Edexcel AS/A level Psychology, Karren Smith (covers both years of the A Level course).
Edexcel for A Level Book 1 Psychology, Christine Brain (covers year 1 of the A Level course).
If you are planning on buying any text books to further support your education please choose from the
following list:
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Edexcel Psychology AS/A level Year 1 Student Guide, Christine Brain (year 1) – Biological
psychology and leaning theories (with issues and debates).
Edexcel Psychology AS/A level Year 1 Student Unit Guide, Christine Brain (year 1) – Social and
Cognitive Psychology (with issues and debates).
Edexcel Psychology A level Year 2 Student Unit Guide, Christine Brain (year 1) – Social and
Cognitive Psychology (with issues and debates).
Edexcel Psychology A level Year 2 Student Unit Guide, Christine Brain (year 1) – Social and
Cognitive Psychology (with issues and debates).
Edexcel A Level Psychology (my revision notes), Ali Abbas
Edexcel for A Level Book 2 Psychology, Christine Brain (covers Year 2 of the A Level course)
CGP Essential Maths Skills for A Level Psychology.
There is no need to buy them all, please ask if you would like advice on which would be most suitable for you. Please
do check amazon and ebay as second hand books are a lot cheaper than new!
Where to borrow books from?
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The school library.
Miss Wilkinson in room 12.
A public library.
Other people who have studied Psychology.
The internet
As always, be very careful when using internet sources (which can be written by anyone). Some reliable
websites for A Level Psychology include:
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www.psychologyrocksblog.wordpress.com/ – Aimed at A Level Psychology students studying the Edexcel
specification, written by an awesome Psychology teacher!
www.psychologywizard – Aimed at A level Psychology students studying the Edexcel specification, written by
a Psychology teacher.
www.simplypsychology.org – Aimed at A Level Psychology students studying the AQA specification, written
by a Psychology teacher/university lecturer. Really useful for a wide variety of topics including research
methodology.
www.holah.co.uk - Aimed at A Level Psychology students studying the OCR specification, written by a
Psychology teacher. Really useful for research studies in lots of detail and it’s interactive.
Help and support
Please join the facebook group ‘Psychology @ Saltash.net’. This will give you access to lots of lovely people who have
studied or are currently studying A Level Psychology and should be able to answer any questions you may have fairly
quickly! I also use this group as a means of communicating e.g. to set cover work if I am going to be absent, to
remind you of deadlines etc so it is important that you do join (any issues with this please let me know before
September).
You can also email me ([email protected]) with any questions or concerns, but you may not get an
immediate response, especially at the weekends and in the summer holidays! If at all possible, use the facebook
group.
You can also see me in school – I am usually in room12 or the Sixth Form office.
Organisation
You will need a lever arch file and 6 divider cards ready with you for the first lesson (any problems with this please
let me know before September).
Online Summer Course – Introduction to Psychology
Please follow the instructions below to complete the online course and record evidence of this. If you are
unable to do this for any reason please let me know (there must be a very good reason!) and I will set you
some alternative work to complete instead.
Please go to www.coursera.org/learn/introduction-psych and click on enrol now (this must be done by
June 30th).
Click ‘sign up’
Login with facebook or set up with email and password.
Click ‘enrol now’
Select ‘full course, no certificate’ and click ‘continue’
Click ‘Start learning’
You can then work your way through the reading, videos and assignments at your own pace. Some of the
assignments will not be available to you as you are not paying for the full certificate, but you should
complete and pass those which are available to you. When you have passed each assignment please
screen shot/take a picture as evidence (if you do not do this you will be given additional work to
complete).
When you want to access it again later you have to click ‘go to my courses’ and then ‘go to course’ after
signing in.
Optional/Additional Task 1 – A Psychological research study
Psychology involves conducting practical research and analysing the results to draw conclusions about the
nature of human behaviour. Using the internet/text books to do some initial research select a research
study which interests you and complete the following:
Reference
(name and date)
Aim/s
Methodology/
Procedure
Results
Conclusions
Optional/Additional Task 2 – Evaluation
Psychology involves evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of research. Use the internet/textbooks as
well as any of your own ideas to complete the following table in relation to the research study you looked
at in task 1. You may wish to consider issues such as; validity, reliability, whether the results are likely to be
representative of other people’s behaviour, ethics, whether the findings are likely to offend or worry
people, whether the findings may have some useful real life application, whether other research supports
or refutes the findings.
Strengths
Weaknesses
Optional/Additional Task 3 – The nature/nurture debate
Psychology involves discussing many different issues and debates. One of these is the nature/nurture
debate. Use the internet/text books to find answers to the following questions.
1. Outline what is meant by the nature/nurture debate?
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2. Identify one human behaviour/characteristic/trait that is thought to be influenced by both nature
and nurture.
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3. Explain how this behaviour/characteristic/trait is thought to be influenced by nature.
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4. Explain how this behaviour/characteristic/trait is thought to be influenced by nurture.
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Optional/Additional Task 4 – Science
Psychology involves discussing many different issues and debates. One of these is the extent to which
Psychology should be classed as a Science. Use the internet/text books to find answers to the following
questions.
1. What is science? Please list 5 characteristics of science:
a. Science involves…
b. Science involves…
c. Science involves…
d. Science involves…
e. Science involves…
2. Select one aspect of Psychology and explain why it is not considered to be scientific (this can be a
research study, research method or topic area).
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3. Select one aspect of Psychology and explain why it is considered to be scientific (this can be a
research study, research method or topic area).
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