Psychology A-Level

[Poseidensgrumpyneighbour]

My DD is in year 11 and has recently decided she'd really like to do Psychology as one of four A-levels. Would appreciate your honest views on the value of it as an A-level subject.

I liked the emphasis on critical thinking and understanding research methods in the blurb I read about it. DD is good at maths, which sounds as if it will be important. But I suppose I've put it in the same category as A-levels like Law i.e. subjects that should be studied later / at degree level rather than during sixth form. I imagine that's a quite outdated view now though so any thoughts from someone more in-the-know than me would be very welcome. Thanks in advance

'Value' in what way? Surely, if your daughter is interested and wants to do it, then that's value enough?

FWIW, my daughter did it as one of her A levels. She enjoyed it. She's at Oxford now, albeit studying an unrelated subject, But her result in Psychology helped her to get there, so that's 'value', I guess.

It has a reputation on here of being a light subject but my dd enjoyed it and is at a RG uni studying psychology now. She did GCSE Psychology so knew what to expect really.
There is some maths but you don't need A-level maths - I think it's a bit of statistics like standard deviation that is quick to learn.

Thanks v much for your answers

@pippistrelle by value I mean is it a subject that it's valuable to study when still at school or, if your interests lie in that area, are you better off getting the skills that will help you study it in more depth at degree level. And yes, she is interested in it, at the moment, but it's a very new interest - she'd been dead set on other subjects until a week ago and I know very little about it as a subject hence the question. FWIW her A-level choices are up to her - I'm not out to stop her doing what she's interested in.

@BoohooWoohoo That's interesting - it actually sounds as if it might be quite a lot of work, rather than being a light subject! Useful to know that it was helpful prep for a psychology degree course - thanks. Didn't even know psychology GCSE was an option

It's 1 of the most popular A levels in the U.K. esp for girls. It's worth spending some time looking at the most recent A level results of local sixth forms to see the size of the cohort taking psychology. My dd loved the A level and is studying it at uni now, it's also a very popular degree.

What other subjects is she thinking?

I don't think you need to do it to do a psychology degree but obviously it helps, not least because it confirms whether you're interested in it!
A psychology degree is quite maths-y (lots of statistics), quite biological in places (down to the structure of neurons and exactly how they work, neurochemicals, the structure of the eye when learning about how vision works), and a lot of reading and essays. Accredited psychology degrees, which most are, are also all very similar for the first two years as the content is required by the BPS. There's no getting out of 2 statistics modules a year by choosing a different uni, for example.

At A level you get similar. Statistics, although nowhere near as much, some of the biology, essay writing, critical evaluation of studies. It's quite broad as it covers a lot of different psychology areas. I did maths, further maths, psychology and sociology. And psychology was almost the middle between the maths, and the sociology. A mix of science and essays, so a good subject for lots of skills I think.

Psychology is considered a science if that helps as aposed to some of the other ology’s like sociology. Dd chose it as an a level recently as it links very well with her other A levels (biology and PE) and her intended subject of study at uni.

Light? Get lost. It's not light. It's had recognition for many years now, as a science to get dc on science requiring courses. Ds1 at Notts Uni now sat it 2 years ago, and liked it even more than sociology. It's heavier, more theoretical, more rule based.

What other subjects is she doing?

Thanks all - really appreciate the feedback. On current showing, her other a-levels would be maths, geography and music.

@WeWereInParis you mention a mix of science and essays. Would you say there is a lot of essay writing?

At A level I don't remember really long essays but there were some essays that were set as homework, and I think the exam had questions needing longer answers. This was 10 years ago so the syllabus and exam structure may have changed.

At uni yes, the coursework was essay based so multiple essays a year but they weren't as long as for people doing eg history. The dissertation was a study, so involved designing it, getting participants, then writing it up with intro, methodology, results, conclusion.

It definitely isn't a light subject. I studied it at A level and it was my favourite subject.
There is a fair bit of maths involved - tends to be in the second year of it which I struggled with a bit.

I did it at a level despite the 'wait until uni' advice. I wanted to see what it was like before committing. I liked it, I was good at remembering all the names and dates and using evidence to back everything up. I'm now a chartered psychologist.

Our school makes pupils do an extra A level until Christmas. Psychology is by far the most dropped subject for some reason (including my son).

I thinks it's probably because they are new to the subject and it's not as interesting as they expect. Even though school repeatedly told them it's not about profiling murderers etc.

Echo everyone else's view here . It's deffo not light. DD's very smart friend took psych, maths and eng lang and did a psych degree at an RG. All good. YY it counts as a science. Maths with it is a good combo for sure.

Does she have to take four A levels? There's no need and it's a lot more work for no good reason. Or does she drop one at Christmas? Which would she drop? Does she have thoughts about uni?

Not light but also lots of essay work - does she enjoy writing?

Thanks v much for all your messages. I’m definitely not under the impression it’s a light option (think that came from a poster higher up). Was more wondering if it’s the right subject at this age - and you’ve given me lots of helpful responses to that, thanks.

@clary no obligation to do 4, but music prob won’t be too much of a stretch (she does a lot of music outside school) and the 4th was going to be further maths. Her teacher told them FM is more like a half A-level when combined with maths, and she’d have dropped it if it became too much. Saying all that, she’s quite chaotic so I think she might be best to just stick with 3. Particularly if the 4th is going to be psychology, which sounds as if it could be a lot of work.

@Coronateachingagain I’m not sure if she does particularly enjoy essay writing. Her time management isn’t great so she tends to be better at things that aren’t so open-ended time-wise. But I guess the time management is something she might improve on over time.

I loved doing it, and found the module on memory so useful for understanding how my own brain worked, which helped me develop strategies for revising other subjects. Got straight As in my A-levels and part of that was because I was studying psychology.

I stupidly didn’t do a psychology degree, instead I did a subject which my mum approved of. Hated my degree and didn’t do particularly well in it. Have never used it. I’d strongly suggest you be led by your daughter / her teachers on what she studies. She’s nearly an adult, this is the time for you to step back and let her make her own choices even if you would have chosen differently.

My DS did Psychology A level and got an A star this year. It’s definitely not a light subject (to the poster who said that), it involves a huge amount of critical thinking, analysis, maths and essay writing plus lots of theorists and studies to remember. It was the subject he was most unsure of as obviously hadn’t done it at GCSE but it ended up being his favourite subject. He also did PE and Geography.
He is on a Gap Year at the moment (long story involving wanting a particular Uni and remarks) but he is going to do sports science. Psychology is classed as a science so it’s a useful subject to do if they want to get onto a science related course as well.

I was just looking this up earlier - in my DD's board only 9% got an Å last year, well over 70% got a B or lower, so it's definitely not easy. I assume that stat only includes those who take the exam, the 9% would be even lower taking into account all the people who give it up.

The maths is very manageable, but there is a lot of content and you have to know how to use the various studies as evidence in your arguments. Lots of evaluation too.

Psychology A level certainly develops all sorts of useful skills and it's interesting if you like that kind of thing, but hard to do well in, and lots of work.

My Year 13 DD is doing Maths, Music and Psychology A-levels and looking to do a Psychology degree. It's a great combo of subjects in my opinion.

I did psychology A level and loved it. There is a lot of information to absorb and remember, to be able to quote specific case studies/experiments and remember who did them , and key details. Also like PP have said, it’s not about being able to read people’s minds or profiling murderers, but more about behaviour. Also lots of Freud, Jung etc which can be heavy going. It’s very interesting however it did not lead me onto a degree or career

My DD did Psychology A level. She enjoyed it as it was a new subject for her. Quite a bit of essay writing but not the same kind as for History or English - it's not supposed to be an easy read. It's also on Cambridge's preferred list of A levels for a variety of courses so I imagine is not considered a lightweight subject.
If she's interested as a possible degree surely studying it now will confirm that?

My DD is studying A level Psychology and enjoying it. She did a Psychology MOOC in Y11 to be sure it was a subject she wanted to study. Suggest she follows her interest.

I did A level psychology and I loved it. I found it so very interesting, which helped me to study. The maths is basically statistics, which wasn’t difficult even though I’m not generally great at maths.

You learn much about human behaviour and how your brain works, which is useful in every walk of life. You also learn about research methodology which again is very useful.

@Poseidensgrumpyneighbour I have just looked at the Complete University Guide and found 118 unis in this country offer some form of Psychology degree. It’s very popular at A level and widely studied. However it requires a doctorate to become a psychologist and very very few do. So does she have any career reason to choose psychology?

I cannot entirely see the value of it when combining it with the other subjects. It is an academic subject though. What about other sciences? Eg biology? FM is useful if she wants to study maths and great with economics.It’s not 1/2 an A level! Who think that these days? Many study maths with a combo of M, FM and one other subject. Plus engineers often take M, FM and Physics.

What career might she want? Music A level isn’t easy either but does this feature in her uni plans? Maths and Geography keep lots of doors open, music and psychology are more degree specific like politics, economics or sociology. That doesn’t mean they don’t have value.

No-one’s actually described it as ‘light’! One poster upthread said that it has a reputation for being light on MN but no-one has actually espoused that view. I suspect that for those who do think it’s ‘light’ there is a touch of internalised misogyny at play as it is a subject that it particularly popular with girls.

It can be a great choice but for me it comes down to the teachers. Because it’s a KS5 only subject there may not be a specialist in place to teach it in school sixth forms and it is worth asking about staffing. I have worked with a few Psychology graduates who teach a second subject at 11-16 and Psych A level post 16 but they are quite unusual, in state settings at least.