Straight from the horse’s mouth: Key examiner messages from last year

Although right now I am thinking about tomorrow’s family meal, I am also planning for seeing my students next week. They only have a few weeks left at school and I’m looking at passing on tips to make the exam go by without a hitch.The examiner’s reports are the best place to start and, although I read them ages ago and have talked about them to students, I’ve decided they need them repeating as bite size gems of wisdom. You have probably done the same but I figured I may as well pass on the messages in case you haven’t. It’ll save you time!I have looked at A2 first, Units 3 and 4.

Key messages for Unit 3 from 2013 are:

#1 No generic evaluation: AO2/3 must engage with the essay. Students seem to be rote learning methodological issues and plonking them in at any vaguely appropriate point in an essay. They also don’t make them relevant to the question.

#2 IDA needs to be embedded in the commentary, not planted at the end as an afterthought

#3 Don’t question spot! Every year there are students who can’t answer a third question. On occasions it is a whole centre (implying teachers have gambled too)

#4 One well explained IDA point can gain you access to the top mark bands

#5 Use ‘determinism’ and ‘reductionism’ appropriately. Almost all Psychology is deterministic. Reductionism is best saved for biological explanations

#6 Don’t forget that practical applications are IDA too. They are underused.

#7 Make sure that MZ/DZ twin concordance rates are understood by students. Some don’t understand what they mean for an explanation of psychopathology.

...and for Unit 4 from 2013

#1 Performance is improving on this paper

#2 Validity is still misunderstood as a concept

#3 Peer review is not well known

#4 Students need to take care when numbering answers and leave two lines between answers

#5 Learn outcomes data from treatment effectiveness research

#6 No IDA is needed in Unit 4

#7 Don’t forget to include strengths of theories as well as weaknesses

#8 ‘Content analysis’ is not well understood

#9 Statistical error is not well understood

#10 Review AS research methods. Students are still confusing research designs

AS will follow soon…after the Easter family meal!