Edexcel A-Level Psychology
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Course 9PS0Official specification (opens in a new tab)
Course version · 9PS0Version from Sept 2015Change version
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Explore your topics
30 study areas
Content Overview and Assessment Expectations1 topic
Paper 1: Foundations in psychology13 study areas
- Topic 1: Social psychology2 objectives
- Content103 objectives
- Methods83 objectives
- Studies: Classic study8 objectives
- Key questions20 objectives
- Key questions: Suitable examples16 objectives
- Practical investigation8 objectives
- Practical investigation: Suitable examples16 objectives
- Issues and debates120 objectives
- Studies: One contemporary study from the following29 objectives
- Topic 2: Cognitive psychology6 objectives
- Topic 3: Biological psychology2 objectives
12 of 13 shown
Paper 2: Applications of psychology17 study areas
- Content103 objectives
- Methods83 objectives
- Studies: Classic study8 objectives
- Key questions20 objectives
- Key questions: Suitable examples16 objectives
- Practical investigation8 objectives
- Practical investigation: Suitable examples16 objectives
- Issues and debates120 objectives
- Studies: One contemporary study from the following29 objectives
- Topic 5: Clinical psychology2 objectives
- Studies: One contemporary study on schizophrenia1 objective
- Studies: One contemporary study on another disorder, from the following: Depression2 objectives
12 of 17 shown
Paper 3: Psychological skills10 study areas
- Methods83 objectives
- Issues and debates120 objectives
- Topic 9: Psychological skills5 objectives
- Synoptic review of studies5 objectives
- D.0 – Arithmetic and numerical computation9 objectives
- D.1 – Handling data21 objectives
- D.2 – Algebra5 objectives
- D.3 – Graphs2 objectives
- Appendix 4: Formulae and statistical tables - Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test process8 objectives
- Appendix 4: Formulae and statistical tables - Critical values for Spearman’s rank1 objective
Assessment and exam guidance
Assessment Objectives
AO1
30%-35%Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of scientific ideas, processes, techniques and procedures
AO2
30%-35%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
AO3
35%-40%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
Pearson Edexcel A-Level (9PS0)
Paper 1: Foundations in psychology
2h 15m
Duration
90
Marks
35%
Weighting
Paper 2: Applications of psychology
2h 15m
Duration
90
Marks
35%
Weighting
Paper 3: Psychological skills
2h
Duration
80
Marks
30%
Weighting
Tips and common mistakes
Common Exam Mistakes
Pitfalls to avoid in your exams
- •Emptying the revision notes onto the page when the question sets a context. Detail that ignores the scenario earns knowledge credit only and caps the answer well below the top band.
- •Treating evaluation as a list of one-line criticisms. An undeveloped point such as the sample was biased, with no statement of the consequence, sits in the bottom level of the mark scheme.
- •Describing a study at length when the command word is assess or discuss, so most of the writing lands in the wrong objective.
- •Ignoring the tariff and writing a paragraph for a two-mark definition while writing four lines for a twenty-mark essay.
- •Using reliable to mean trustworthy. Reliability is consistency, and a consistently biased measure is perfectly reliable and completely invalid at the same time.
- •Asserting that a laboratory study lacks ecological validity with no reason attached. The real question is whether the task distorts the behaviour being measured, and for obedience to an authority figure a laboratory may be a fair model.
- •Saying a sample of forty is too small without saying what that does. The weakness is the narrow range of people represented, not the raw number of them.
- •Treating subjectivity as a fatal flaw in qualitative research instead of a feature handled by reflexivity, triangulation and a clear audit trail.
Top Examiner Tips
Expert advice for exam success
- •Read the tariff as a plan: a twenty-mark extended response needs description, application to the stimulus and sustained evaluation, plus a conclusion that answers the question actually asked.
- •Underline the scenario details before you start, then check that every paragraph refers back to at least one of them.
- •Paper 3 is synoptic, so examples may be drawn from any topic area, and the classic studies are explicitly examinable there.
- •Definitions and short-answer items sit at the front of each section and are the fastest marks on the paper, so do not save them until the end.
- •Each term is worth a mark when defined precisely in a short-answer item, and the same terms scaffold extended responses, so learn a one-sentence version of each that you can write without thinking.
- •When asked to evaluate a study, take two of these ideas and develop each one fully rather than naming all six in a list.
- •Paper 3 questions on the classic and contemporary studies regularly target generalisability or reliability directly, so attach a concrete sample detail to every study you revise.
- •A comparison item rewards explicit linking: state the shared feature, then the difference, then which method is stronger and why.
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