How to revise for Psychology A level

I am currently studying A level Psychology and my exam board is AQA. This revision guide is not specifically about the AQA specification, it is just more in general and can be applied to GCSE, A levels and perhaps University qualifications too.

Learn the course as you go along

Do the work now, and it all pays off in the end. Plus, there is no need for cramming and stressing the night before the exam. When you are set to work (homework or unfinished classwork), aim to complete it by the next lesson and if not, in the next week after being set the work.

Also, ensure that you are revising the content as you go along as there is SO MUCH. Know the key studies and the keywords that come up as well as the content involved in the topic (including the evaluative content)

Learn as many studies as possible

My teacher’s advice is to learn at least 5 studies on each page, even if it isn’t in the textbook. This puts you far ahead of anyone else, allowing for any mistakes that would occur that are not involved in these studies.

The way I revise and memorise the studies is by using index cards. On the front of the card, I put the topic and the name of the psychologist (s) that I am trying to remember. On the other side of the card, I put up to 5 keywords that will help to remind me of the study and from this, I must describe the study out loud. Any uncertain studies, I make a note of and write a 16 marker (topic essay) plan for them in the future.

Apply-it questions

This is more based around the AQA specification. In the textbooks that have the green and pink girl on the front of them, there are application questions. This is really good to not only reinforce your understanding but also to help you in the long run with your exam questions. Make sure that you correct your original answers in a different colour by using the online textbook that either you or your teacher can purchase.

Cards and exam questions

With this, you can either make your own cards or purchase the ready-made ones from AQA, especially.

If you are making your own cards, I would suggest drawing pictures to help you to remember the content. These can be a silly and rude as you wish, but only if you are going to remember them. For example, for Deutsch and Gerard, who did the two process model of conformity, I drew a German flag (for Deutsch) and then wrote “well ard” (for Gerard) as this helps me to remember their names.

When revising from your cards, I would suggest looking at the card first, but only briefly to get a bit of information. Then, you should blurt out everything you know about that one topic onto a piece of paper. After this, I would suggest getting out the textbook and correcting in a different colour by adding extra information that you had missed. Any uncertain information or topics should be noted and should be revised again within the next week, and this should be incorporated into your revision timetable.