Psychology Department
Curriculum
Advanced Level:
The department prepares students for the OCR specification which from September 2008 will consist of two modules at A.S. level and two modules at A2 level.
The A.S. course introduces students to the five core areas of Psychology: social, cognitive, developmental, physiological and individual differences through the study of 15 core studies. Students also get a taste of how psychologists conduct their research, through carrying out four practical investigations.
The A2 course builds on this knowledge through the study of two applied areas. The department currently offers Health and Clinical Psychology and Forensic Psychology. Students also study theoretical approaches and methodology in depth. There will be no coursework requirement from September 2009.
The modules are summarised in the table below,
A.S. Level:
Unit 1 |
Psychological Investigations – examined via a two hour written paper consisting of mainly short-answer questions. |
Unit 2 |
Core Studies – examined via a two hour written paper consisted of short-answer and structured essay questions. |
A2 Level:
Unit 3 |
Options in Applied Psychology – examined via a two hour written paper consisting of structured essay questions. |
Unit 4 |
Approaches and Research Methods – examined via a one and a half hour written paper consisting of structured essay papers, (this was previously assessed externally as coursework). |
I.B.
The I.B. specification sums up Psychology as the ‘meeting ground for both the natural and the social sciences’ as it approaches the study of behaviour in a systematic way whilst also having a philosophical approach to the subject matter. The subject is offered at both standard and higher level in Group 3 and the course content is summarised in the table below,
Standard Level:
Content |
Examination |
Perspectives – biological, cognitive and learning. |
One written paper of 2 hours, consisting of 3 compulsory short-answer questions with one extended response question |
Options – one from comparative psychology, cultural psychology, the psychology of dysfunctional behaviour, health psychology, lifespan psychology, psychodynamic psychology, social psychology. The department has selected the psychology of dysfunctional behaviour. |
One written paper of one hour, consisting of one question from of a choice of three for the chosen option. |
Research methodology – introduction to research methods, ethics, quantitative research methods. |
|
Simple experimental study – (no inferential statistics). |
Internal assessment with external moderation. |
Higher level:
Content |
Examination |
Perspectives – biological, cognitive, learning, humanistic. |
One written paper of two hours, consisting of four compulsory short-answer questions and one extended response question. |
Options – two from comparative psychology, cultural psychology, the psychology of dysfunctional behaviour, health psychology, lifespan psychology, psychodynamic psychology, social psychology. The department offers the psychology of dysfunctional behaviour and social psychology. |
One written paper of two hours, consisting of two questions from two different options. |
Research methodology – ethics, quantitative and qualitative research methods. |
One written paper of one hour, consisting of three compulsory questions on research methods. |
Experimental study, including inferential statistics. |
The experimental study is assessed internally and moderated externally. |
(Note – the syllabus will be changing slightly from September 2009).
