A level Psychology?

[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.

Psychology is an extremely popular subject and nearly every 17yo I know is doing it at A level. It involves a lot of skills; scientific research, evaluating, understanding human behaviour. I can't see why it wouldn't be respected by universities tbh. At DS's 6th form college you need a grade 6 in Maths & English GCSE to be able to do it, so it's academic too.

Psychology was the second most popular A level subject last year and I don't think it would hold her back whatever she wanted to study at university, especially in combination with two strong subjects like history and German.

It has the reputation of being an easy subject It's not. There's a lot of content to learn and you need decent maths (as of course you do with economics).

Disclaimer: my daughter studied it at university and is now training to teach it. She loves it!

My eldest did Psychology (and Politics and Geography) and got an offer from everywhere he applied (all RG if that matters) for a competitive / oversubscribed subject.

My youngest is also doing Psychology and I would expect the same.

They are at a selective school which only offers subjects which are well regarded.

Of course I’m sure someone will come along and say otherwise 😀

Depends what she wants to do at uni and whether she needs to have a different relevant subject to get in to the course.

Also there's no point of her doing something that looks good like chemistry or maths etc but her doing shit in it.

She may as well pick subjects she is interested in and do well in them.

I picked psychology, history, biology and chemistry. Loved chemistry but did the worst in it so dropped it at AS.

Ended up getting A* A B

IMO that looks a lot better than other subjects but getting mid range C grades.

If she finds psychology so interesting, I would highly recommend doing Maths A-Level instead. This will be far more useful in case she wants to take up psychology at uni. Any social science at uni will be heavy on statistics and Maths A-Level is absolutely essential for this. Psychology is also a really hard A-Level to get top results in compared to Maths (check the stats for percentage of A's and so forth). I have a MSc in experimental psychology and the two A-Levels I would highly recommend are Maths and Biology, otherwise she might struggle at uni.

If she is interested in and knows what it's about then go for it. I believe a lot of students don't know what it involves and don't enjoy it when they find out! Anecdotally it is often dropped or changed.

But if she wants to do it based on what is studied and how (rather than the idea of trying something new) there is nothing wrong with doing it at A level and universities will be fine with it. Better to get a good grade doing something you like.

Glad to hear she is taking German (my subject) - now that is a niche A level - only about 2500 students sat it in 2019! Great to hear that her school is still offering it :)

I did A level psychology and then went to Cambridge to do law. I actually found it the hardest of my A levels and it certainly wasn't looked down on.

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. It's not an easy option. I loved it and would have done it at uni if I hadn't done law.

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.

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

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

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

@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.

Psychology is one of the most common subjects (after bio, chem, maths, phys) for those applying and successfully achieving an offer to study medicine at Cambridge. The only A-levels that Oxford and Cambridge do not consider are General Studies and Critical thinking. If they really wanted to study English or Economics at university then not studying them at A-level could be a problem, although Economics is not a requirement to study Economics and Management at Oxford.

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

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!

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.

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?

@sanam2019

If she finds psychology so interesting, I would highly recommend doing Maths A-Level instead. This will be far more useful in case she wants to take up psychology at uni. Any social science at uni will be heavy on statistics and Maths A-Level is absolutely essential for this. Psychology is also a really hard A-Level to get top results in compared to Maths (check the stats for percentage of A's and so forth). I have a MSc in experimental psychology and the two A-Levels I would highly recommend are Maths and Biology, otherwise she might struggle at uni.

It is not a requirement to have studied maths A-level to study psychology. Experimental psychology degrees (eg Oxford and Edinburgh) do require some science, whereas other psychology degrees (eg Bath) are social science degrees and require essay writing. But Oxford for example would count psychology as a science A-level so a student studying pscyhology, German and history would be considered.

wow I go for lunch and you lot have come up trumps with so many opinions!

Ironically she has just rejected maths - despite being in the top set as she is growing to hate it.

She has no clear idea what she wants to do next - but her heart doesn't lie with the sciences. Great to know that it's seen as a solid choice - I think the school offer taster lessons in the 'new' A level options after Xmas - but feel sure the psychology teachers will make it super exciting so needed some more insight before we go any further!

just on German - her brother is also doing it at A level. They have both had some amazing teachers along the way. Such a powerful thing.

@ChnandlerBong

just on German - her brother is also doing it at A level. They have both had some amazing teachers along the way. Such a powerful thing.

So good to hear. Good luck to them both. German is the best!

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

I felt the same way at her age. Thought I should so it so did it, hated it and had nightmares for years afterwards (despite doing ok) - when I found myself saying she should do it I had to give myself a good talking to!!!

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.

@Neverhadenoughcake2 thank you - that is a very good idea....

part of me is concerned that it just sounds so cool that maybe the reality will be different.....

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.

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.