Psychology A Level with no GCSE?

[lurchersforever]

DD is considering her A level choices and is very interested in psychology as a fourth A level. I'm worried about her doing 4 anyway and with her not having done psych GCSE it concerns me that she could really struggle with all the unknown content. She definitely wants maths and FM and then is considering English lang, French and psych - 2 of the 3. She did brilliantly at both French and English GCSE and I wish she wouldn't complicate things with psych, which I think she is drawn to as a novelty.

I do appreciate it's her choice, btw, but wondered what others think and would appreciate either advice or reassurance!

About 95% of my son's friends are planning to do Psychology A-Level and none of them have taken it at GCSE (the school don't offer it). So I'm sure she'll be fine. AFAIK, you don't even need Psychology A-Level to do a Psychology degree.

I've never seen a school offer psychology as a GCSE so it must be very uncommon. It's very normal for a student to study for the first time as an A Level. She could always drop a subject if she feels 4 is too many.

I think doing something new might bring about renewed enthusiasm.

The vast majority of pupils taking A Level Psych won't have done it at GCSE. As a previous poster said, you don't even need Psych A Level to undertake it as a degree.

DD did A level psychology despite not having done it for a GCSE (I don't think the school even offered it as a GCSE) and she did really well and got a B.

TBH it's a really interesting subject to take. I never did it as a subject but got really fascinated when she'd talk about it.

I think it’s quite normal to not have done the GCSE in psychology. In terms of picking 4 she can consider dropping one after her first year to concentrate on the full A levels.

There is no need to do GCSE Psychology in order to do A-level, and no requirement to have done it at A-level to do it at university, far from it.

Most unis would want a range or science A-levels or sciences with some humanities. University level psychology is a scientific subject. Maths and biology are particularly useful. English and sociology also quite common in the mix. Languages fine. So if she wants to take it further she should be fine with that selection, but check UCAS website and individual unis for detailed information.

As others have said, no need to worry about having not done it for GCSE.

Is she wanting to do maths at university ? Is that why she’s doing further maths? It’s quite common to do 4 A-levels if 2 of them are maths and further, but unless she’s doing Maths or a heavily maths related degree then no need for further maths.

These are surprising replies and a relief. Her school does offer GCSE psych and her friends who have taken it say it's a lot of work, which was part of my worry, though they seem to say everything is hard except English! Weird that it's so popular at A level and yet not even taught at GCSE.

My ds is enjoying both psychology at A level - definitely no psychology gcse offered at his school
Eng lang is very different to gcse but he’s enjoying that very much too

You could buy your DD a GCSE study guide and she'd be able to read up on the main themes and principles of Psychology before starting her A Level - if she enjoys reading it, she'll be fine doing the A Level.

DD is doing A levels in maths, biology, psychology and French, so not very different from your DD's. Psychology GCSE wasn't an option for her. She does find quite a lot of the content pretty boring, and there's a lot of it, so definitely worth having a look beforehand. She's pretty good at maths so for her that is the least work, biology and psychology are the biggest in terms of content.

DS is doing it, no GCSE

It's his favourite subject

Lots of subjects are offered at A'level and not offered at GCSE, and even if there is a GCSE it isn't highly thought of e.g. Law.
And lots of student moan that subjects are hard, but it's really because they aren't really interested.
I would say English is hard. Maybe they just have great English teachers?

DD did both English language and psychology at a level and found they complemented each other well. Be aware though that language a level is nothing like the gcse. She’s currently doing a joint honours in language and literature and says that her first year language modules were mostly all things she’d covered at a level.

@lurchersforever It’s a lot more popular than it was. 25% increase in take up in last 5 years but A and A star just below 20%. Physics A and A stars are just below 32%. That’s the issue really. It’s a science but with no prior knowledge required it tends to attract a different type of student. It is probably not attracting the scientists who need a specific science for their degree. Psychology won’t get you into engineering, physics or chemistry degrees for example . I tend to see it as a science that few degrees actually require but students enjoy it.

It’s the 2nd most popular A level after maths, which is very interesting considering so few schools offer it at GCSE.
It’s also useful for straddling the science/humanity requirement. For example some universities (Eg Bath) like you to have sciences and essay subjects for certain degrees. Obviously OPs daughter is already covering that requirement with maths and English.

@NotDonna Students don’t need the GCSE though. It’s a bit like Economics, Business Studies and Sociology. It complements other A levels but not in the most valued group of A levels according to Cambridge.

My DD did psychology without having done a GCSE in it - to be fair I have never known anyone who has! It may well be easier to have not. DD did A level biology and spent a lot of the time being told to forget what she had learnt for GCSE as it was now wrong!

Not many schools do psych GCSE. So most a level students won't have done it. It's fine.

Exactly @TizerorFizz how could it be the second most popular A level if you did need it at gcse when hardly any schools offer it.
Not sure what relevance Cambridge’s preferred subjects are. I’m sure they have students who have an A level in psych - again, esp given it is 2nd most popular after maths.

@NotDonna Only because Cambridge list their preferred academic A levels, including sciences.It’s not on the first division list. I’m not saying dc don’t have it but C have views on it!

My young person is doing a degree in Psychology after first studying it at A level. Lots of stats at degree level so the maths will come in handy. As others have said, it's counted as a science. Content heavy at A level, so a passion for the subject helps!