DD struggling with A level psychology

[tricolore]

She did badly in last year’s school exams and has done badly in this year’s too.

I’ve suggested she speaks to her teachers to ask for advice.
DD wants to get a tutor.

She’s getting very upset about it and I’d really like to help (we are willing to fund a tutor if that’s the best option) but at the same time think she’s needs to take some responsibility (make more of an effort to speak to her teachers and ask for guidance).

Not having studied psychology myself (not studied for any A levels in fact) I’d be grateful for some guidance.

TIA

She definitely needs to speak to teachers to find out why she’s doing badly, because even if you did get a tutor you’d need that info!

When you saying doing badly, do you mean failing or just not attaining what she needs/wants? What are her plans after y13 ends?

She definitely needs to speak to her teacher about where she might be going 'wrong'. When I did it I found it was one of those subjects that people either just 'got' or struggled with, no matter how bright/good at other subjects! I think there's a real 'nack' to scoring highly in essays and longer exam questions etc so would definitely be worth speaking to the teacher about it x

I think failing as she’s been awarded a D.
She’s decided to speak to her teacher tomorrow and ask for guidance.
Thank you all for posting.

Definitely get her to speak to her teacher. Can you speak to the teacher too? DS is also Y13 and has also really struggled with A level psychology. He did well at the start of Y12 but then lockdown hit and it went downhill from there. Scraped a C grade at the end of Y12, but was veering between a U (!) and an E last term. He ideally needs a B for the course he wants to do at uni.

What we did last term was:

• I had a long chat with the teacher, talked through the problems he was having, she put together a couple of working strategies that might help him (one useful one was classroom peer work alongside an A* student who 'got' the subject, which definitely helped DS)
• I found an online tutor for an hour a week - (cost about £45 pw) and DS has been able to go over the modules/topics he finds the hardest, work through exam techniques, essay plans etc etc. We will keep this going until the A level exams are finished.
• I helped him structure a study plan (DS has ADHD and is a champion procrastinator) and put together a revision timetable.

He got his mock grade back last week and had pulled things up to a B - was just a couple of marks off an A.

We will see how the 'real' exams go in May/June but we are both definitely feeling less despairing than we were in October!

It is hard but potentially doable if DD is motivated to try. Would definitely recommend a weekly tutor session if this is a financial option, though I appreciate it's not in everyone's budget.

Wishing luck to you and your DD, @tricolore, these kids have had a tough old time and it's no wonder so many students are struggling.

Thank you FP. It’s really helpful to hear your son’s experience. I wish him all the best for his exam this year.

Hi @tricolore my DS is studying Psychology and watches a lot of free tutorials/lectures online. He has A5 paper/highlighters/ to make notes from textbooks etc and has been using a cheap dry wipe board and markers and has been giving me lectures on psychology 😄 ( I haven't studied any A levels ) I agree about your daughter about speaking to her teacher today for advice. Wishing your DS the best of luck with her exams x

Sorry DD x

Can you be a bit more specific on what parts dd is struggling with? Because ds has found it all easy, even though many of his peers struggled with the research methods.

A lot of A level psychology is down to memorising information - memorising names, dates, trials, outcomes.

You really do have to keep hitting the books. Read the books, make notes, make flash cards with the important information on.

I found it like history, you need a good memory.

If she doesn't know why she got a D then she needs to ask her teacher for advice. I know a lot of A-levels require good exam technique

My dd did psychology last year and her teacher used to always say if your answer sounds like it could have come from a random person in a supermarket then you're not going to get the marks - they are looking for technical terms that the person in the supermarket wouldn't know.

When she was revising there was a lot of memorizing of studies in details and listing pros and cons of those studies.

If she goes to the exam board website she can read the examiners comments about the paper. There might be some useful hints about how she can improve her answers.

It's a tricky subject but I'm guessing it's the essay questions that the struggle may be happening with ?

From my knowledge it's an intricate subject and some of the ideas and perspectives are wow

I've been helping my DS with GCSE psychology so I've been doing lots of research online.

The Student Room is an amazing resource. Check out the Psychology Study help part. There is far far more resources for A level than GCSE. But I've been looking through posts tonight and there are posts about how to do 16 markers, where to find all the past papers, people sharing how they've gone up grades, links to revision notes, cards etc.

I'm sure my DS has been losing marks by not including enough detail and by looking at the marking schemes I can see why. Think the marking schemes will be a very good resource for revision!!

Examiner here, less about remembering lots of names/studies as suggested. More about developing a line of reasoning in essays. Understanding questions and being analytical. Many students write a lot of description and get poor marks. Look at past papers, mark schemes and examiner reports...teacher at school will have these. As the topics are being finished now the teacher should be beginning to work on exam techniques which will improve grades. Also the research methods and statistics section carries a lot of marks and is often poorly answered. A tutor is a good idea , also there are student revision seminars put on by exam boards over Easter, if you contact exam board they can tell you more.

The UpLearn programme is fantastic. My dd finally ‘gets’ all the things she didn’t understand before. Worth every penny.

@RoccosGirl

The UpLearn programme is fantastic. My dd finally ‘gets’ all the things she didn’t understand before. Worth every penny.

I'd like to know more about how she uses UpLearn RoccosGirl, do you just have the one subject or all of her A level subjects? How much time does she spend on it per week and have you seen this reflected in her grades?

My DD is struggling with all of her A level choices, especially maths ( recent report predicted grade E). She was 7s and 8s at GCSE and seems to work hard, always completes her homework etc. I think the gap of what has been lost during COVID is finally becoming apparent and DD struggled with the school's attempt at online learning, i.e. 'independent study ' tasks set on the vle from March to July 2020, then Teams lessons, cameras off during the second lockdown, not to mention the multiple isolations over the last two years.

She seems to have a decent grasp of the psychology content but is struggling with the exam technique and essay formats. It doesn't help that she has not had any of her essays marked and returned so has no feedback as to where she is going wrong, or even that she IS going wrong. It's hard to know what the report predicted grade is based on if her work hasn't actually been marked. I'm going to get an appointment at school this week to get some feedback and ask for strategies and support. It's almost like they haven't noticed that she's struggling and seem to think it is ok for her to be running two or three whole grades below her target.

Hey,

I read your posts. I am so glad that he got some support but he should be getting more support.

I have dyslexia but ADHD and dyslexia both make it very hard to retain information and stay focused. My area is special needs & as a former student myself I can give you some good strategies. I went from bottom of the class to getting a 1st degree. Please don't let him feel he it's impossible. I failed my 1st assignment too so I understand how overwhelming it is. I am now a FE tutor so I can explain what I tell my students.

It's important to understand that one teaching method is not suited to all students needs. It may work well with some but those with needs like mine needed to use visual tools to explain information.

For example I used tube to understand research methods. I am deaf but I used subtitles as it kept me focused too.

Use white board and different coloured pens & colour code information that that he may need remember.

As for essays please look at the Weed model it's an amazing structure for essay writing.

Plan assessments before writing them. Then edit at the end as it's important to get all the information down first.

But most of all these with ADHD find it hard to sit still so upload things on YouTube to watch to understand how to form arguments & find a format that works for u and stick to it.

Always apply tutors feedback to your work as they will mark it based on your efforts to correcting and improving what they suggested

I still struggle in certain area of learning such as maths, I am absolutely rubbish but at least i try my best and that is all that masters !!!

Hi

I apologise I didn't see the above message that u explained regarding her not getting any feedback ect ! Basically it's not her fault, this comes to down to poor support & lack of guidance including no feedback. How can students expected be expected to improve work if they don't know how!

Plz message me if I can help you directly free of charge. I hate to see students potential go to waste due to a bad experience in their learning environment