AQA A-Level Psychology
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Course version · 7182-2025Exams from 2027Change version
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Explore your topics
25 study areas
Introductory topics in psychology4 topics
- Social influence15 objectives
- Memory13 objectives
- Attachment17 objectives
Clinical psychology and mental health
Clinical Psychology and Mental Health19 objectives
Psychology in context3 topics · 3 subtopics
Issues and options in psychology11 study areas
- Issues and options in Psychology3 objectives
Issues and debates in psychology
Issues and debates in Psychology18 objectives- Relationships14 objectives
- Gender19 objectives
- Cognition and development15 objectives
- Schizophrenia23 objectives
- Eating behaviour21 objectives
- Stress25 objectives
- Aggression23 objectives
Forensic psychology
Forensic Psychology12 objectives- Addiction22 objectives
Mathematical skills1 topic · 4 subtopics
Assessment and exam guidance
Assessment Objectives
Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of scientific ideas, processes, techniques and procedures.
Apply knowledge and understanding of scientific ideas, processes, techniques and procedures: in a theoretical context; in a practical context; when handling qualitative data; when handling quantitative data.
Analyse, interpret and evaluate scientific information, ideas and evidence, including in relation to issues, to: make judgements and reach conclusions; develop and refine practical design and procedures.
Exam Structure
Paper 1: Introductory Topics in Psychology
2h
Duration
96
Marks
33.3%
Weighting
Paper 2: Psychology in Context
2h
Duration
96
Marks
33.3%
Weighting
Paper 3: Issues and Options in Psychology
2h
Duration
96
Marks
33.3%
Weighting
Tips and common mistakes
Common Exam Mistakes
Pitfalls to avoid in your exams
- •Confusing NSI and ISI; correction: NSI is about being liked, ISI is about being right.
- •Ignoring identification; correction: explicitly distinguish identification from compliance and internalisation.
- •Misunderstanding Asch's group size findings; correction: conformity peaks at three confederates and plateaus.
- •Writing that participants were paid to continue or were not allowed to stop. They were told the money was theirs whatever happened, and the pressure came from four verbal prods.
- •Confusing the agentic state with not caring. Participants showed real moral strain, sweating and protesting while they continued.
- •Quoting 65% for every variation. Each situational variable has its own figure, and the credit comes from the comparison with the baseline.
- •Describing the Authoritarian Personality as obedience to anyone, when the account is specifically about submission to perceived superiors and hostility to perceived inferiors.
- •Treating the agentic state and legitimacy of authority as one explanation. Legitimacy is a property of the authority; the agentic state is the mental state of the person obeying.
Top Examiner Tips
Expert advice for exam success
- •Use examples like adopting a student lifestyle (identification) versus becoming a vegetarian permanently (internalisation).
- •Link Asch's variations (group size, unanimity, task difficulty) to NSI and ISI.
- •Match the explanation to the stem: a uniform or an impressive setting calls for the situational variables, while an upbringing or a set of rigid attitudes calls for the dispositional explanation.
- •An essay is stronger if the situational and dispositional explanations are set against each other rather than described one after the other.
- •Quote the figures. Obedience dropped is worth little; obedience dropped from 65% to 47.5% in the Bridgeport office is the creditable version.
- •Validity and ethical criticisms earn evaluation credit only when you state the consequence for what the study is able to claim.
- •Resistance is nearly always examined through a scenario, so name the concept, quote the cue from the stem and then explain the mechanism, rather than explaining the concept in the abstract.
- •The strongest evaluation contrasts the two explanations, since one is situational and the other dispositional.
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