Model Answers

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Please read: I have received a lot of comments asking me what marks these answers got. When I handed them in to my tutor they were marked at A grade standard, however I make no guarantees that you will get top marks in your exams from using these model answers alone, they are for guidance only and for you to add in your own studies if you wish. Marking is somewhat subjective so different tutors/examiners may give them different marks depending on how well they feel the answers were written, so I cannot say whether they are worth full marks or not. Thank you!

PY1: Approaches in Psychology

PY2: Core Studies and Applied Research Methods

Social:

Physiological:

Cognitive:

Developmental:

Individual Differences:

PY3: Research Methods and Issues in Research

Unfortunately I lost my notes for PY3 when I got a new laptop so I am unable to upload any resources for this exam, however I strongly recommend you take a look at a textbook tailored to the WJEC A-level specification (details can be found on the Recommended page), you should find all you need to know in there.

PY4: Controversies, Topics and Applications

65 thoughts on “Model Answers”

    • Christy

      Hi, I have just one question. you know the procedures in Asch, do you have to include the ADDITIONAL PROCEDURES to get a high band (say 10-12 marks) or what?

  5. Bella

    Thank you soo much for this. Has helped me condense all the information. Gone from an E to an A/B.
    Have you got anything on research methods ? Im kind of struggling with it :(

  6. Charlotte

    Hello I would just like to say one mega thank you for your time and generosity that you have put into making this page. I have been getting A’s from the start of the course (I only started Spetember 2014) but I have been struggling a little with the behaviourist approach. A quick question. Our lecturer said that the two assumptions we should write down are: learning occurs through classical conditioning and learning occurs through operant conditioning. Would you say that your assumptions that you used are better or my lecturer’s?

  7. shannon

    You helped me so much! I got a U in my January mock last year, then I started using this website and came out with an A! Shame about Py3!

  8. ClaudiaA

    I really have to thank the person who wrote this website! I was predicted an E all year for psychology AS, as soon as I started using this website for revision as well as my own knowledge towards the end of the year (1 month before the exam!!!!!!) I ended up with a high B! Thank you so much, I’m now studying AS 2 WJEC paper, if you have any good model answers for thagt, it would really help!

    • Narin

      how did u remember everything though? im trying to make a powerpoint to revise off of and remember but its soo hard :( what im doing now is just reading my colour coded powerpoint with everything in it. my technique for revising is so bad but i dont know how to improve. i keep getting D’s in my mocks :( i really want to get a b or higher

  9. Molly

    Do you have anything on the subconscious for PY4? Also any links to websites containing the information in Welsh? Thank you

  10. ginaaujla

    If someone was to memorise your essays an then write them in the exam not word for word but the general stucture eg in paragraph talk about milgram and deception paragraph two etc etc would that be classed as cheating

    • It would be perfectly fine to memorise and write out answers in the exam, as long as you are writing the answers from memory and you’re not sneaking notes into the exam. It’s quite common for tutors to give model answers to their students to help them revise, so examiners will understand when answers are similar between students as they will have received the same course material/used the same textbooks or websites.

      If however for example you were to copy sections of text without using your own words for coursework, this would be plagiarism and you would get in trouble for cheating if caught.

    • January 2010 (PY1) and Summer 2010 (PY2) for AS, January 2011 (PY3) and Summer 2011 (PY4) for A2. The syllabus was relatively new when I studied for it, only one year group previous to us had done it.

  12. Catrin

    Thank you so much! I’ve been okay with PY1 but your answers to PY2 have REALLY helped, as I’ve really struggled with it!

  14. shan

    Thank you so much for spending the time and effort doing this; when I began psychology I really struggled, now I want to be an educational psychologist!

  15. J.g

    In the explain and evaluate questions on methodology for the psychodynamic approach can you still get top marks for only focusing on case studies and not clinical interviews aswell?

  16. Sweet Strawberry

    Hi, I am struggling to learn the PY4 essays, I managed fine with PY1 and PY2 but due to the change in exam structure both PY3 and PY4 are taken within 2 days of each other. I have managed to learn all memory, forensic and 1 abnormal essay so far by memory, this includes the PY3 essays also, but the more I learn the more I forget! Any tips at retaining this much info?

    Thanks

    • Hi, thank you for your comment! Raw marks (marks in the exam, given in brackets next to each question) are converted into UMS (Uniform Mark Scale) scores, which then translate into a grade (A-E at AS-level, A*-E at A-level). The amount of raw marks required to meet the boundaries for the grades varies between exams depending on the relative difficulty and how well students did. This means that it would be impossible to predict what raw marks you will need in the exam as every exam session will be different.

      A good explanation of how the raw marks are converted can be found at this link: http://www.aqa.org.uk/exams-administration/about-results/uniform-mark-scale – It is an AQA website, not WJEC but it applies to all exam boards for standardisation purposes.

      As the amount of marks varies from exam to exam, I can only give you the percentages for each grade boundary which stand for all A-level subjects.

      80+% – A
      70-79% – B
      60-69% – C
      50-59% – D
      40-49% – E

    • Hi, I have uploaded all the resources I have to the site. Please use the advice on how to structure a compare and contrast answer, which can be found on this page. There are too many combinations of approaches which could come up to write an answer for every possibility. Thank you.

  19. Seductive Sunset

    First,I love you!
    second is that the methodology is partially wrong where you said they gave informed consent.
    I was sure that they didn’t and this was a ethical issue??
    can you comment on this.

    • Hi, thank you for your comment! With regards to informed consent in Loftus and Palmer’s (1974) study, unfortunately I cannot access the journal article upon which the questions are based, however the main critiques of this particular study lie in its lack of ecological validity; I haven’t yet seen anything that suggests there were issues with informed consent as participants were informed of what they were about to see (road traffic incident clips) and the sorts of questions they would be asked afterwards. No deception was involved.

      I hope this helps, and I’m sorry I could not access the original article to provide you with a more concrete answer – the answers I wrote are based off notes I was provided at college and from textbooks.

  21. Tanya Roper

    Not sure if you have had this question already… but do you have any work on the comparison on the approaches? I know have you have put up some work on them but i feel like it didnt completely cover them all… but otherwise thanks for the help!!!

  23. yusvya

    Hi, thanks for the answers, they are a great help as a template so i can right my own model answers. Do you have any resources for Applied Research Methods for PY2.

    • Dia

      Yes i was looking for some tips on how to answer the section c questions on the py2 paper.
      Anyone have any ideas or model answers?
      Thanks it would be a great help ~^.^~

    • In my answers I put in 2/3 studies and evaluated them in comparison to the core study, so for good marks you’re probably looking at roughly this amount to have sufficient breadth and depth to your answer. Do ask your tutors though as I am only a past student not a teacher/examiner!

    • No, my college didn’t do this question as you get a choice in the exam so you only need to learn 5 answers to be able to answer the Controversies section properly. I’ve uploaded all the resources I have to the site. Hope this helps!

  26. Gemma

    Oh my gosh, thank you so much. These notes are amazing! I’ve kind of been struggling with PY2 but these model answers will help me make essay plans and revision notes. You’re so amazing THANK YOU!!! <3 😄

  27. Amy-Jade

    I’ve been using your site since I studied PY1 in my AS year and I’ve achieved A’s so far with predicted A*’s in PY3 and PY4! Thank you for the model answers and recommendations, they really helped! x

  28. ellie

    This is all so useful! However I was wondering if you could put up a compare and contrast example using psychodynamic and biological? It would be a massive help, thanks :)

  30. Jeninah

    Thank you so much for what you’ve done your amazing is it possible when you have time to upload py3 resources because I’m really stuck but if you I’m still so grateful.!!!!!!!! :);):);):););))))))xoxoxox

  35. Zara

    The PY4 model answers have helped me so much.to form my own essays thankyou so much! I understand everything so much better now. x

  36. Isabella

    Hi, thank you so much for these resources, they’re fantastic and it’s so generous of you to have shared them! Do you have any resources or tips for the Section C of the PY2 exam? Thanks again! :D

  37. Student

    These are really helpful! Just wondering, in your real exam did you put more qualitative data in the findings and conclusions question as opposed to lots of numbers? The answers on here don’t have as many numbers as I thought were necessary. If so, did you achieve a good mark on the question? Thanks!

    • There are six possible controversies questions in the exam and you get a choice so there is no point learning all six when you can learn five and still be able to answer the paper properly. Cultural bias was the question my college decided to avoid.

  44. Rachel

    Hi, I looked at your Asch findings and conclusions essay and you have said it was a lab experiment so when writing my essay I put it was a lab experiment but my teacher says it is a controlled observation. I was wondering if you could shed any light on this?

    • From further looking into it it seems most resources refer to Asch’s conformity study as a laboratory experiment as written in my essay, but the study also fits the methodology of a controlled observation as the situation was planned by the researcher and took place in a lab. I think it’s safe to say you can refer to Asch’s original experiments into conformity as either lab experiment or controlled observation; but if your teacher thinks you should definitely go with the latter I agree with them. If people put lab experiment they shouldn’t lose marks though because the resources state it as this.

      Click to access READ-AschStudy.pdf

      http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/mon/70/9/1/

      The articles above refers to the study as an experiment rather than an observation, but it’s up to you which one you use.

  45. Billy

    Hi, thanks very much for the model answers, they’ve been very useful. Were you actually able to write the whole essay in the given time in the exam? They are so long and detailed!

    • Hi, thank you for your comment! I wrote the essays out then broke them up into revision notes to make the information easier to take in, I generally don’t learn very well memorising big chunks of text! I did practice answering the questions under timed conditions and compared them with the essays afterwards and they were fairly similar in content, it all depends on how much info you can remember and how fast you can write really. These essays are probably a lot longer than is necessary in the exam, but I wrote them like that so people can use them as a guide and they can edit them to suit their own writing style or add their own studies/evaluative comments. I hope this helps :)

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