Assessment Objective Analysis: AQA A Level Psychology (2018)

Here are the national results for each assessment objective, by paper, in the 2018 AQA A Level Psychology exam.

• In Paper 1, students performed better on AO1 (knowledge) and AO2 (application).
• Students performed worse on AO3 (evaluation) both on evaluation-only questions and essay-based questions.
• Therefore, it is important for teachers to continue developing good evaluation technique to ensure that students are making a point, detailing suitable evidence/examples, and explaining how their point relates to the question.

• Paper 2 has significantly more AO2 and it is encouraging to see that students performed well on AO2 application questions.
• As per Paper 1, it was AO3 that let students down and students need to develop their evaluation skills in relation to their Paper 2 topics.

• Paper 3 highlights the biggest skill gap, with students performing poorly on AO2 application questions (both when taking essays into account and when excluding essays).
• It is important that teachers support their students with applying their knowledge of the Optional Topics to real-world and psychology-based scenarios, to help students develop these important AO2 skills.