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Have you ever watched a week-old baby apparently studying intently the people and objects around them and wondered what on earth they make of their new world and just what thoughts, if any, might be going through their mind?

Have you ever wondered why the happy nine-month-old baby who always used to greet you with smiles and laughs has suddenly started crying as soon as you approach?

Have you ever found out why you are afraid of spiders, and what you can do to cure yourself?

Have you ever despaired of the fact that there is so much prejudice and discrimination in the world and wondered what can be done about it?

Have you ever watched in horror as a six-year-old watches the latest blood-thirsty ‘cops and robbers’ programme on the television and then immediately starts thumping and shooting everybody, and wondered just what effects such violent television programmes might have on a child?

If you have answered ‘yes’ to one or more of these questions, then you’ll find this course a source of constant fascination as we examine a wide range of psychological topics and answer all of these questions.

• are relevant to the study and practice of psychology;

• are useful in everyday life;

• encourage safe and ethical practice;

• are relevant to the evaluation of different types of information.

The course should stimulate curiosity, interest and enjoyment in psychology and its methods of enquiry, as well as interest in individuals and social environments.

It promotes an awareness that:

• the study and practice of psychology are co-operative and cumulative activities and are subject to social, economic, technological, ethical and cultural influences and limitations;

• the application of psychology may be both beneficial and detrimental to the individual, the community and the environment.

But you do not need to worry about any of these aims at this stage!

One important aspect of psychology is the ability to do your own psychological research and conduct experiments. This course helps you develop this skill in various lessons, notably in the last module.

You will be expected to understand the necessity of formulating precise hypotheses to promote inquiry and the use of scientific methods and techniques that aim for objectivity.

You will learn about the distinction between dependent, independent and controlled variables.

You will study the following methods of control: population sampling, randomisation, counterbalancing and matching; the use of standardised procedures, instructions to participants; and objective methods of observation, recording and measurement.

There are many experimental and field methods; you will learn the advantages and disadvantages of each type of method.

You will also need to understand experimental control, the construction of treatment groups, archival data, unobtrusive measures, surveys and interviews – including an understanding of the principles of construction and administration.

You will observe people in naturalistic and experimental settings. You will learn about the association between two variables and understand correlational relationships (no computation of formulae is required).

There are also a number of ethical considerations. Care must be exercised with regard to the invasion of personal privacy and keep in mind at all times the necessity of minimising pain and stress to individuals participating in studies by the minimal use of deliberate deception, the preferred use of informed consent and the debriefing of participants.

You are responsible for making the necessary arrangements to take the examination at a centre that is registered with AQA. If you are not already linked to a school or college, you are advised to contact local schools or colleges to request accommodation for the examination well in advance of making your entry in case difficulties arise. You must obtain the permission of the head of the centre to sit the examination at that centre, and the head must sign your Registration Certificate.

Any candidate attempting to use or suspected of having used unfair means in any part of an examination, including coursework, will be reported at once to AQA. You must not, for instance, copy information straight from this pack or any other text.

There is no single study technique that is right for this course. Indeed, there are as many different ways of studying as there are learners. So you will have to find the methods which are right for you in your own personal situation. However, the following tips represent some of the best advice for the majority of ‘open’ learners.

Discipline is undoubtedly the key. You must set aside a specific period each day or definite times each week and stick to it! Don’t let yourself make excuses for not getting down to work. Set yourself definite targets – not just the date of your examination but the date when you are going to submit your first assignment and so on. Break your study up into small ‘bite-sized’ pieces.

Don’t just skip over the bits that don’t make sense to you. In a subject like psychology, all the topics are closely linked together, and if you don’t understand part of one lesson, it is going to affect your ability to study other lessons as well. So go over the difficult section until it begins to make sense. If the lesson materials are not clear to you, look at the way the same ideas are covered in your supplementary reading. If you’re still not sure, it should be possible for you to contact your tutor (by phone or post). Don’t be shy about doing that!

Don’t underestimate the amount of study that is needed to gain the top grades. Simply memorising all the ideas in the lessons may not be enough. You should be studying even when you are not studying! Television, radio, newspapers and magazines give you a picture of how the world around you is changing and provide you with valuable up-to-date examples. So keep a look-out for programmes or articles that might be useful to your studies. Study the behaviour of those around you. What are the rules of conduct within your own family or at your place of work or education? Why and how do these patterns change? If you already have an enquiring and critical mind, you are well placed to succeed.

Study the syllabus. This will tell you not just what you need to study but what the underlying objectives are – why you are studying these things. A brief analysis of the syllabus is given below, but we strongly advise you to get hold of the complete syllabus and work out which parts of the course will help you with which sections of the syllabus, and so on. Get hold of practice examination papers as well, if you can. These will show you what sorts of question you are likely to face and what kinds of skill you will need to demonstrate.

Make full use of your tutor. They are paid to help you, after all! Take advantage of any opportunities for tutorials and other practical help. Make sure you submit all your Tutor-Marked Assignments for marking. Your tutor will spend quite a bit of time on the marking, so you should take full note of whatever comments you get. The comments are usually more important than the marks because they are designed to show you ways in which you can improve.

Do all the tests. Just because you think you understand something, you should not skip over the tests. They are there to reinforce the ideas and plant them firmly in you memory. A fuller description of the assessment structure of the course is given below.

Every student will want to take their own notes as the course proceeds, to help with the learning process and to assist with examination revision. What sorts of notes should they be? How lengthy? There are no fixed answers to these questions. Some students seek reassurance in writing out elaborate reams of notes that they boil down later; others are happy to keep note-taking to a minimum by merely recording key references. Without being too dogmatic, a number of points relating to the needs of the GCSE course might be made:

• it is important to cross-reference facts, sources and conclusions as they are encountered in the course, so that knowledge and skills are not separated in revision;

• notes should be kept as brief as possible (i.e. without omitting crucial facts or concepts);

• details of individual sources should not be copied out, unless they contain crucial information; while knowledge of the major types of source for each theme and topic is obviously useful, candidates are not expected to know particular sources in advance.

It is strongly recommended that students make notes under each of the headings given throughout the text, every lesson. These may then be compared with the summary that closes each lesson. Do you feel that the summary is full enough? If not, make sure that your own notes fill in any gaps that you feel exist.

The course contains plenty of white space, particularly in the left-hand margin. This is because most students find it helpful to write notes directly on the course they are studying. This will help when you are planning essays or when you are skimming through the course later for revision.

Private candidates must contact AQA before starting any coursework to request the ‘Supplementary Information’ that is available.

The coursework undertaken by private candidates will be assessed by moderators appointed by AQA. It must be sent to AQA no later than 30 April in the year of the examination. Private candidates may also be required to attend, at their own expense, for interview on a date arranged by AQA (usually in June). The interview will test whether the project is all your own work by seeing whether you fully understand what you have written. If you are uncertain whether you qualify as a private candidate, you will need to discuss the situation with your tutor.

The system of grading seems to change slightly each year, so you will need to check the syllabus for the year you are aiming for. Because too many students were getting a grade A, a new grade called A* (‘A starred’) has been introduced that is even better than a grade A.

It is generally agreed that a grade C at GCSE is equivalent to a pass in the old ‘O’ level examination and the bare minimum if you want to go on to ‘A’ level.

Good luck!

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