New GCEs for 2008
GCE Psychology B (2185)
A2 outline
At A2, the specification retains the popular child development options and offers candidates various applied psychology options. Debates within psychology, presented at this stage in the specification, provide the opportunity for extension work and higher-level discussion. Questions will be closely modelled on the style of the old Specification B.
The A2 specification has 2 units:
Unit 3: Child Development and Applied Options
Topic list
- Child social development
- Cognitive development
- Moral development
- Cognition and law
- Mood disorders and schizophrenia
- Stress and stress management
- Substance abuse, treatment and prevention
- Forensic psychology.
Assessment
| Written Paper: | 2 hours |
| Weighting: | 50% of total A2 / 25% of total A Level marks |
Candidates answer one question from Section A and two questions from Section B. There will be some short answer questions and one 12-mark part-question, requiring extended writing, in each question. Each question will be worth 20 marks (plus three marks for QWC for the paper).
| Section B: | Three optional essay questions are set; candidates answer one. |
Each question will have two sub-questions, carrying 15 and 25 marks (40 marks in total)
Unit 4: Approaches, Debates and Methods in Psychology
Topic list
- Biological approach, behaviourism, social learning theory, cognitive, psychodynamic and humanistic approaches
- Comparison of approaches
- Debates in psychology
- Methods in psychology, inferential statistics, issues in research.
Assessment
| Written Paper: | 2 hours |
| Weighting: | 50% of total A2 / 25% of total A Level marks |
Candidates answer one question in Section A and one compulsory question in Section B and Section C. There will be some short answer questions and one 12-mark part-question, requiring extended writing. Each question will be worth 20 marks (plus three marks for QWC for the paper).