Mrs G Gummings - Lead Teacher

A Level

Exam Board AQA

Course Code - 7181

Specific requirements

Grade 6 in English and a minimum of 5.5 in Combined Science

What will I study?

Year 1: Social Influence, Attachment, Psychopathology, Memory, Approaches in Psychology, Biopsychology, Research Methods, Active Student Research.

Year 2: Issues and Debates in Psychology

PLUS options from:

  1. Relationships, Gender, Cognition and Development
  2. Schizophrenia, Eating Behaviour, Stress
  3. Aggression, Forensic Psychology, Addiction

Assessment methods

3 x written exam (2 hours each) with a selection of multiple choice, short answer questions, extended answer questions and essay questions.
Formal internal mock exams.
No coursework but continuous lesson assessment via exam style questions/essays

Where does it lead?

Where won’t it take you? The study of human thought and behaviour is relevant to all courses and careers where you will inevitably have some dealings with other human beings! Furthermore, as it is equally rooted in both the arts and science/maths you will be well equipped for a wide range of future possibilities. Professional psychologists work in all manner of environments, including advertising, sport, education, the military and the NHS. However, many professions and industries now recognise the importance of psychology as a key factor in improving performance and well-being, and it is thus a highly desirable and adaptable qualification to have. 

Clinical psychologist 
Counselling psychologist
Education mental health practitioner 
Educational psychologist 
Forensic psychologist ·
Health psychologist
High intensity therapist 
Occupational psychologist ·
Psychological wellbeing practitioner
Education
Military
Human Resources
Advertising

Wider Reading

Films to Watch

12 Angry Men (1957)
A Beautiful Mind (2001)
Goodwill Hunting (1997)
Frances (1982)
Memento (2000)
RainMan (1988)
On flew over the Cuckoos Nest (1975)
Radio 4- Psychology Podcasts
All in the Mind
Mind Changers ( both by Claudia Hammond)
The Life Scientist (Jim Al- Khalili)
Infinite Monkey Cage
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00snr0w/episodes/downloads

Read- Non fiction

Bad Science and Bad Pharma (Ben Goldacre)
Bounce (Matthew Syed)
Doctoring the Mind (Bentall)
Love at Goon Park (D Blum)
Opening Skinners Box (Lauren Slater)
Quirkology (Wiseman)
Sex, lies and brain scans (Sahakian and Gottwald)
The psychopath test (Ronson)
The Red Queen: sex and the evolution of human nature (Ridley)

Fiction

Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (Mary Shelley)
Lord of the Flies (Golding)
One Flew over the Cuckoo’s nest ( KESEY)

Case Studies to find:

A real boy: How autism shatters our lives and made a family from the pieces. ( Stevens)
As nature made him- the boy who was raised as a girl (Colapinto)
Genie: Escape from a silent childhood (Rus Rymer)
Memory’s Ghost: the strange tale of Mr M and the nature of memory (Hilts)

Magazines

Psychology Review- published 4 times a year
The psychologist