Excelling Psychology

(*Please Note - I have diversified my work on Excelling Psychology into different blogs for better organization of content. I am continually working on the same, so these sites will be updated with more content soon. CIE IGCSE Psychology learners may be interested in the following: Model Answers on the following blog: https://psychologymodelanswers.blogspot.com References of studies for answer writing in a highly organized, detailed format: https://psychologyreferencesummaries.blogspot.com ) -------- (The A level syllabus discussed here can be found on pages 22-32 here ) The A level is the step up from AS, moving into theories and their application from research, as I've outlined previously . Today, let's take a look at the A level syllabus in detail. How much of the AS level is carried over to the A level?   It is important to understand here that 'A level' is the umbrella term consisting of the AS and what was traditionally (and now, unoffic...

Psychology is a science and not an art. It fascinates me when students debate over how they can make their report more 'attractive.'This is a very poor objective, for the essence of a good report is its communicative ability and not the creativity of the report writer.  Try an exercise of empathy here. Imagine you are a researcher who has decided to investigate the impact of regular smoking on female adolescents. Now, as a first step in your research, you will look at past studies done in this area, to find out how much is already known, and gauge what is still desired to be known. Suppose you find fifty relevant, published articles on this topic.Now imagine these were all written in different formats, and every writer had decided for him/herself how much to report and how much to omit. You find that some reports cover fifty pages of narratives including the writer's own opinions and struggles with the topic; while others complete the entire report in two paragraphs...

(The present syllabus of the TYBA level of Mumbai University can be found here. ) The TYBA  Psychology curriculum of the University of Mumbai is divided into two semesters: semester V and semester VI . This division is from the examination point-of-view , since the same subjects are covered in both semesters, only the  coverage is divided into equal halves so that students are not burdened with having to learn the entire syllabus at a go, unlike a few years ago. This is in contrast with the MA level semester division, where the subjects to be learnt change by the semester. The Subjects There are six subjects covered in the TYBA, which can be roughly divided from a student point-of-view into dry and interesting subjects. The dry subjects are Psychological Testing and Statistics and Cognitive Psychology. The interesting subjects are Abnormal Psychology, Industrial Psychology and Counseling . Practical Psychology stands somewhere in between - it is dry bec...

Year after year, there is an incredible fear of statistics from students across Universities. I would expect students to be excited for the subject, for it is such a relief from theory, and is very 'scoring.' On the contrary, students wish it were one subject they did not have to deal with. Why do students fear statistics? There are two answers to this. The first is that it's fear has been hyped beyond measure through the years, and students are not particularly known to pause and think about the rationality of what goes around. The second is that professors fail to teach statistics on two counts - they are unable to present solutions in a clear, step-by-step manner and they are unable to make students see the importance of statistics in the field of Psychology. I remember one of my professors coming into the class and laughing about the fact that she barely knew anything about statistics. She would then open a statistics book every lecture and dictate whatever was w...

Students often complain of lacking the discipline needed to study from afar. They present a pathetic picture of themselves - the poor, helpless souls who are at a complete loss if not dealt with a rigid hand from the outside. Students who need to complain this way need to remember that there are a large number of fellow students who complete correspondence courses successfully, acquire knowledge at par with those studying in the classroom, and utilize this knowledge to make a successful career. Common Complains of Studying from a Distance Some of the common complains of those pursuing independent courses, including competitive ones like the SET/NET/GRE are: they have no idea where to begin and how to continue they have no idea how much time to devote to each topic they don't know which learning methods to adopt they get bored and distracted easily, since the external environment of study is generally the home - they end up procrastinating they lack time, especially if...

This post has been upgraded and shifted to-  http://alevels.excellingpsychology.com/index.php/2022/08/08/canli-et-al-2000-quick-but-complete-revision-notes/ Thank you for visiting! ----- (Search Terms - Psychology 9698, Psychology 9990, CIE A level psychology, AS and A psychology, IGCSE A level psychology, Canli et.al. 2000, brain scan A-level study, Model answers for A level Psychology, AS Core studies for A level) I, Jyotik a Varmani, tutor students of Psychology at all levels. I reside in Mumbai and tutor students online. You can contact me personally on my e-mail id jyotikapsychology@gmail.com or call/message me on 9892507784 for enquiries.

(*Please Note - I have diversified my work on Excelling Psychology into different blogs for better organization of content. I am continually working on the same, so these sites will be updated with more content soon. CIE IGCSE Psychology learners may be interested in the following: Model Answers on the following blog: https://psychologymodelanswers.blogspot.com References of studies for answer writing in a highly organized, detailed format: https://psychologyreferencesummaries.blogspot.com ) -------- What are research methods? The AS level introduces students to the most  basic designs used in research under the topic, 'Research Methods'. In the last post, I explained what research is and why a person might want to undertake research. It is important to know that once (s)he has decided that the research question warrants effort, there are a number of different options (s)he has to practically carry out the research. Before understanding these options, it...

(*Please Note - I have diversified my work on Excelling Psychology into different blogs for better organization of content. I am continually working on the same, so these sites will be updated with more content soon. CIE IGCSE Psychology learners may be interested in the following: Model Answers on the following blog: https://psychologymodelanswers.blogspot.com References of studies for answer writing in a highly organized, detailed format: https://psychologyreferencesummaries.blogspot.com ) -------- What is research, and why do we need to know about it? I'm sure you could just make a quick search of the word 'research' and find out what it means. However, as of now, we need to know how research concerns Psychology. Research in Psychology is the base of all its knowledge . Whatever you learn in psychology - be it about emotions, thoughts, health, lifestyle, interactions, and so much more - the information under all theses topics is coming from resear...

(Please Note - I have diversified my work on Excelling Psychology into different blogs for better organization of content. I am continually working on the same, so these sites will be updated with more content soon. IGNOU Psychology learners may be interested in the following: Model answers for various blocks of sub-communities of courses: https://psychologymodelanswers.blogspot.com/2019/04/ignou-bpc-001-sample-answer-for.html Statistics for Psychology in very simple language: https://statisticsforpsychology.blogspot.com/ ) IGNOU provides a very flexible system to students who wish to pursue psychology in the form of a credit-based study system. For a student at the entry-level of Bachelors in Psychology, the system makes a provision for 16 credits, 4 credits each in the following courses: Seemingly vast at first glance, these complementary courses provide for a firm foundation that make the future course much simpler. IGNOU is one of the few universities which ex...

(*Please Note - I have diversified my work on Excelling Psychology into different blogs for better organization of content. I am continually working on the same, so these sites will be updated with more content soon. CIE IGCSE Psychology learners may be interested in the following: Model Answers on the following blog: https://psychologymodelanswers.blogspot.com References of studies for answer writing in a highly organized, detailed format: https://psychologyreferencesummaries.blogspot.com ) -------- Psychology at the IGCSE A Level has two explicitly stated broad objectives , that the student should be able to: The A level student has had a foundation in Psychology, through his or her successful completion of the AS level. The A level, is therefore, more advanced and shifts the students focus from a general overview of psychology to an introduction to specializations in Psychology. In this respect, the student is given four choices of specialization, out of...

Practically speaking, the study of Psychology involves learning the following: A student at the IGCSE AS level is being introduced to Psychology, and is therefore introduced to each of these components at a very basic level . The means by which the student is introduced to these is through research studies . The student's task is to actively extract the following from these studies, which roughly correspond to the aforementioned components: Since the AS level is the introductory one, students are obviously focused on the first step, understanding research . The study of theories, and their application is introduced only in bits and pieces, as they are a subject matter of the more advanced, A level.Once students understand research, they can easily critically evaluate research and prepare research designs . The only key to successfully complete the AS level course, and glide through the A level, or any other advanced course in Psychology, is to understan...