Top 10 Psychology Study Tips

Want to know how A* students get those top grades? While revision may be intuitive to some pupils, many others find themselves putting in the hours but not getting the results in return. Work smarter and focus on these top ten tips to reach your potential:

Find out what you don’t know

Revision shouldn’t be easy. If it feels good, you’re probably not doing it right! The aim of revision is to find out what you don’t know, see where the gaps are and where you might be vulnerable. If you’re thinking to yourself ‘I would dread for topic X to come up in the exam’, that should ring alarm bells.... topic X is exactly what you need to be studying! All too often students spend far too much time on strategies that simply don’t work. Reading and re-reading notes, while it feels good, won’t help you in the long run. It’s normal to get to the bottom of a page of notes and think ‘Yep, I understand this!’ and move on. But how often have you then tried to answer a question on this topic and got frustrated because you`ve already forgotten it?! Well, there’s a difference between ‘knowing of’ and truly ‘knowing’. You can’t wait until the exam to find out what you don’t know. Your revision should be 100% focused on active recall and finding the gaps.

How to find the gaps

Put away the notes. No seriously, hide them and don’t be tempted to peek! Every time you look at your notes rather than test yourself on your knowledge first, you’re robbing yourself of an opportunity to strengthen your memory! It’s called the ‘testing effect’ and there’s a robust body of scientific evidence showing that retrieving information, rather than just re-learning it, improves long-term memory. Spend 10 minutes at the beginning of every study session just mind dumping all the knowledge you can recall about that topic. Only when you can’t squeeze out anything else, then look at your notes. Fill in the gaps and make corrections in a different coloured pen – now you know what to focus the rest of your revision session on!

A varied diet (of revision techniques)

Many students choose one revision technique early on and stick to it. While all have their merits, try not to get too stuck in your ways. In the months leading up to the exam, try lots of different methods. Even revising the same topic in several different ways (e.g. mind maps, teaching a friend, diagrams, etc.) will improve your memory the more cues you lay down, the more easily accessible the information will be later. As the exam nears, you should focus on being ‘match ready’. Lots of past paper questions and whole mock papers under timed conditions will ensure you’re prepared.

Master Research Methods

Every psychology pupil`s favourite topic! If you can learn to love Research Methods, you’re already miles ahead of the game. As an examiner, it’s astonishing the number of pupils who skip these questions in exams. They’re easy marks (if you know what you’re doing). Think of Research Methods as a skill that

has to be practiced. You can’t rote learn this topic as the majority of marks are AO2 (application), you just need to complete as many past paper questions as possible. Approximately one third of the Psychology A Level is assessing Research Methods, so approximately one third of your study time should be dedicated to this topic. Tutor2u have fantastic resources available with mark schemes and model answers to help you hone your technique.

Master Extended Responses

It’s likely you will get around six 16-mark essays in total across the three exam papers. That’s one third of your entire A Level! It’s important to understand how to maximise your marks here. Common errors pupils make include:

· Overwriting AO1 (knowledge). There are only six marks available – you often won’t be able to include all of your knowledge, so you’ll have to make some decisions. Generally, it’s a breadth versus depth trade-off (either you can write a little about a lot, or a lot about a little). If you’re still writing after five minutes or so, cut your losses and move on.

· Lack of discussion in AO3 (evaluation). Pupils are really good at remembering supportive evidence, methodological criticisms, etc. Students are really bad at discussing what this means for the theory/study. That’s all examiners are looking for – can you provide a commentary on the validity and/or utility of the theory? Can you discuss why the research methods employed by the research are suitable/problematic? The more ‘this means that....’, ‘this shows that....’ you can discuss, the better!

· Not answering the question. This one seems obvious, but we’re now seeing more and more obscure questions popping up in the exams. It’s unlikely you’ll get a straightforward ‘outline and evaluate’ or ‘discuss’ question. You’ll need to ensure you can mold your knowledge to the question, both when outlining (AO1) and evaluating (AO3).

Paper Three

Paper Three is different to the others. Because there are topic options in this paper, you will be given a question booklet and a lined answer booklet. This can be tricky for a couple of reasons:

· Pupils must decide for themselves how many lines to dedicate to each question, sometimes writing far too much or too little, depending on the marks available for the question.

· Pupils find it more difficult to skip questions, believing they need to answer the questions chronologically. This can make it harder to keep track of timing in the exam.

Ask your teacher or exams officer for spare answer booklets (they will no doubt have them available from previous years). Practice answering questions in the booklet, preferably paper three topics, but any will do. Ensure you’re confident knowing how many marks are available for each question and roughly how many lines in the booklet this equates to. You want this to be automatic in the exam, rather than another thing you need to stress about. Practice early and practice lots.

Know your command words

Do you know the difference between ‘outline’ and ‘discuss’? ‘Compare’ versus ‘distinguish’? ‘Explain how’ versus ‘explain why’? ‘Name’ versus ‘state’? Do you know the difference between knowledge (AO1) and evaluation (AO3)? These command terms give you clear instructions on how to respond to a question. Ensure you know what they mean (they may differ depending on the exam board) and remember to look out for them in the question (sometimes there’s more than one!).

Get plenty of sleep

In the lead up to exams, it’s easy for pupils to feel like they need to work constantly. All of the available evidence shows that sleep, exercise, and time away from the desk are essential, not just for wellbeing, but for learning and memory. Ensure you schedule rest breaks and get 7-8 hours of sleep per night – this is when memory consolidation happens!

Manage stress

It’s normal to feel stressed about exams. It’s a good thing! Some stress is optimal, allowing us to focus and perform at our peak. However, many students feel overwhelmed and paralysed by it, which can lead to procrastination and demotivation. When you start to feel your heart beating and mind racing, you need to take a step outside the situation. Perform two minutes of deep breathing and try to anchor your mind and body in the here and now. There are a number of great Mindfulness apps available for free to students, including Headspace. Learning to de-clutter your mind is a valuable skill that will not only help you in exams, but in life.

In the lead up to the exam...

The week before...

You don’t have time to cover the whole syllabus now. Identify the areas of the specification you are least confident with and focus on just these. Trust that the revision you have been doing for the past 1.5 years will take care of the rest.

The day before...

Remind yourself of the structure of the exam and decide on your game plan. How much time do you have for each section? Which section will you complete first? Will you scan the whole paper to begin with before deciding where to start? Will you start with the extended responses, or leave them until last? Knowing this ahead of time will help you to focus on the actual questions tomorrow.

The night before...

Now’s the time for some gentle revision, reviewing notes and past tests/mocks, looking at feedback for essays, etc. Plan what time you need to leave the house, how you’re getting to school, when you’ve going to eat, etc. Have an early night.

The day of...

Wake up with more time than you think you’ll need. Ensure there are no hiccups with getting to the exam hall and double check you have all the right stationery (including a calculator!). Remind yourself of your game plan. Avoid being around tense students. Exam anxiety is contagious – now is the time to focus on you.

After the exam...

Forget about it. It’s done! Don’t ask anyone what they wrote. Don’t ask your teacher what they think. Just leave, go home, and focus on the next paper (or celebrate that you are finished!).