A level Psychology?

If she finds psychology so interesting, I would highly recommend doing Maths A-Level instead

Psychology is also a really hard A-Level to get top results in compared to Maths

I have to disagree with these two comments. Maths A level is much more difficult, and not recommended unless the student can achieve an 8 or 9 at GCSE.

IMO part of the reason Psychology is such a popular A level choice is because it is a new subject, and often 16 year olds struggle to choose their 3rd subject.

DD really wanted to study psychology. It was the first subject she definitely wanted to do. Then reality hit, and she hated it. She found it boring, extremely content heavy and unchallenging. Loads of students dropped it after a few weeks. DD stuck it out until AS levels then dropped it after achieving an A, much to the chagrin of the (lovely) psychology teacher who told her she was throwing away an A*.

DD had started with 4 A level subjects, and she wasn't coping with the workload so dropping down to three was the sensible option because she upped her grades in two of her other subjects at A level.

I did psychology as an a level. I went on to do a law degree and am now an in-house lawyer at a FTSE 100.

I would encourage your daughter to pick the subjects she's interested in. Consequently, she'll be engaged and do well.

I did psych AS and A Level (along with history and English) and it was my highest scoring grade. I loved it, so interesting and varied skills needed. I still quote and talk about things I learnt in it.

I went onto do history at Leeds, got a 2.1 and ended up working in the NHS. Got offers from all the RG unis I applied for too.

I think it's a nice contrast to the other subjects she's taken, and is seen as academic. Nice to learn something different too!

Sorry, meant to add, the 3 maths GCSEs were more than adequate to cope with the maths element of psychology.

dd's already doing further maths GCSE. AS maths is an option but like I said she's really not keen

OP, this was my DD too, she did maths, further maths and statistics GCSEs but was never keen enough to take the subject any further.

She's slightly different from your DD in that she's a hardcore scientist (BSc, MSc, currently applying for PhDs) and did psychology along with biology and chemistry, but has never regretted it and has never found it to be anything other than positive in her subsequent academic career.

I took Psychology A level over 20 years ago, and went on to get a degree in it, I had no issues with getting offers from good universities. I think it was probably the hardest of my A levels (others were maths, German and English Lit).

As others have mentioned, it’s a broad subject which needs maths, science and essay writing skills

DD2 is another who took Psychology as a second science - in her case to do a Marine Biology degree and got offers from all the universities she applied to - top unis in that field. It isn't an easy A level at all, very content heavy, you need really solid maths but you also need to be good a writing.

She's finding it really useful, especially the statistics and research methods components. Later on when she gets into the Conservation modules of the degree there will be sections on behaviour modification in humans where it will also come in handy. Don't underestimate how tough it is and don't write it off.

OP, in regard to A-level psychology a lot of it depends on exam board as well.

There are loads of branches of psychology and my school had to pick the units that we would be tested on. From what I remember we covered

• memory
• relationships
• abnormal psychology

Among a few others - can't remember!

But it might be worth asking the school for their syllabus to see if she would actually be interested in the content.

I had some friends who went to university to study psychology and they said the first year of their degree was just what we had covered at A level.

I teach on a UG psychology course at an RG uni, and I think it's increasingly rare (certainly compared to when I was an undergrad myself) for students to come to do a Psychology degree without having done A Level Psychology. It is possible, but you'd have a lot of extra reading to do in the first couple of terms to get up to speed.

Also, if her heart doesn't lie with sciences, do make sure she realises that psychology is a science. There's quite a lot of biology/neuroscience content, you do experiments and write up lab reports. As others have said, there's also quite a lot of statistics involved, although if she's doing further maths GCSE, I'd imagine she'd be fine ability-wise, it'd just be a question of her interest levels. I'd suggest a trip to a good bookshop to browse some A Level Psychology textbooks, and see if she finds all the chapters interesting, rather than just one or two.

My DD is studying A Level Psychology as it counts as a 2nd science at a lot unis for a Biology Degree. (Durham,Bath,Nottingham) etc. She knew she wouldn't get an A in Chemistry or Maths so took Psychology instead. She doesn't love it but obviously "gets it" as is predicted an A*.

Re Maths - I did strongly suggest she took Core Maths as a 4th subject which is between GCSE and A Level which she is pleased she took as it's helped with both Pyscology and Biology A level.

DD is currently doing it, and it's certainly not an easy option - you need to have got at least a 6 in maths, and I think in Biology too if you did triple science as there is a lot of biology in it too. I can't see how Eng lit would possibly be a "stronger" option?

I think I'd have to disagree on swapping psychology for maths. I agree that degree level psychology is heavy in statistics and research methods but I don't think that it's worth doing a whole A-level in maths to prepare for that.

I don’t think you need to have actually done A level maths to do a psychology degree - I think you have to have be pretty capable in it though. Not necessarily capable of getting an A* at A level, but if you scraped through GCSE maths, you’d struggle at uni with psychology.
I did a psychology degree, and a lot of people on my course did not realise the stats involvement. If you don’t like maths, there’s a lot of it to slog through.
OP, does she have any ideas of what she wants to do at uni?

I did maths, further maths, psychology and sociology A level. Psychology degree, and now work in finance. Psychology is popular at A level and degree and it has a wide range within in, the stats, the more social side, the very biological side (down to neuron level and how exactly they work), essay writing, research, so shows a variety of skills and interests.

I had some friends who went to university to study psychology and they said the first year of their degree was just what we had covered at A level

But at least they'd road-tested the subject and not signed up for three years studying something they had never done before!

@ChnandlerBong

Keen to get some input on this one please

dd is in Y11 and has been completely dazzled by the idea of doing psychology at A level.

While I agree it's an interesting subject, am a bit concerned about how it would be seen when it comes to UCAS forms etc.

FWIW she's a bright kid. She plans to do history and German as the other 2 subjects but I wonder if English lit or economics would be stronger options. She likes both but psychology is currently winning out.

Most students do better in subjects they enjoy and are interested in.

I studied psychology A level over 20 years ago - went on to do a degree in it. It was an interesting but hard degree. I then did law and that was a walk in the park compared to psy degree

Psychology is not a soft option. I definitely wouldn’t swap it for maths!

I did A Levels in Law, Maths and Psychology. Psychology was not looked down on compared to the others by all means.

I think I'd have to disagree on swapping psychology for maths. I agree that degree level psychology is heavy in statistics and research methods but I don't think that it's worth doing a whole A-level in maths to prepare for that.

If she would be interested in doing psychology as a degree - a lot of the cohort that do the course come from a social science/essay based subjects and as such the course normally has introductions to research methods, quantitative and qualitative work, statistical analysis etc.

I have completed a psych degree and gone on to complete an international criminology degree which was primarily research methods as it was a "research route" geared towards those intending to go on to PHD study.

Even then, while there is statistical analysis and the use of certain databases, it's all taught from scratch and also involves the qualitative side of research design etc which would be covered at a more basic level in A-level psychology.