Archives: Courses

Masterclass in Exam Techniques

Nick Savva, author, examiner and a very experienced and qualified psychology teacher and tutor with  30 years of teaching

Whether you’re in Year 12 or 13, aiming for a Grade A or C, the goal is the same: boost your grade. This masterclass will teach you the key exam skills and techniques to excel in AQA A-level Psychology.

 1. Get Inside the Examiner’s Head

  • How to avoid throwing marks away
  • You’ll learn the exact writing skills that lead to higher grades

2. AO1 – Description & Knowledge (Short Answer Skills)

  • Writing short-response answers that gain marks efficiently
  • Avoiding “waffle” and wasted time

3. AO2 – Application Skills

  • Short question application
  • Essay application
  • When to decide to write content or contextual knowledge firs

4. AO3 – Evaluation Skills

  • Writing evaluation paragraphs that are effective and relevant

5. Essay Writing Mastery

  • ‘Outline and evaluate’ essays
  • ‘Discuss…’ essays
  • Comparison essays (e.g., Approaches, Issues & Debates, and topics e.g. Schizophrenia)

6. Research Methods Hacks

  • Correcting common mistakes students do
  • Hack on how to contextualise your answers more effectively

      For a more intensive course you need to join: Masterclass Research Methods

Masterclass in Revision Methods

Nick Savva, author, examiner and a very experienced and qualified psychology teacher and tutor with  30 years of teaching

This masterclass focuses on Research Methods exam questions, using practice papers and a Layered Learning recap approach. Research Methods is around 30% of the A-Level and appears in every exam, so being strong in this area is essential for achieving B/A/A* grades.

Most marks in Research Methods come from the detail (elaboration) in your answers. Many students know the correct points, but do not explain them fully, which leads to lost marks.

 1. Aims, Hypotheses & Variables

  • Difference between aims vs. hypotheses
  • Directional, non-directional hypotheses, alternative hypothesis, null hypothesis.
  • Difference between a correlational and experimental hypothesis
  • IV / DV / operationalisation
  • Extraneous & confounding variable

2. Experimental Methods & Designs

  • Lab, field, natural, quasi experiments
  • Repeated measures, independent groups, matched pairs
  • Strengths & weaknesses

3. Control, Standardisation & Investigator Effects

  • Randomisation & standardisation
  • Random allocation
  • Counterbalancing
  • Demand characteristics & investigator effects

4. Observations & Self-Report Techniques

  • Naturalistic vs controlled observations
  • Overt vs Covert; participant vs non-participant
  • Behavioural categories, time/event sampling
  • Questionnaires (open/closed questions)
  • Structured vs unstructured interviews

5. Correlations, Case Studies & Sampling

  • Case studies
  • correlations vs experiments
  • Correlation coefficients
  • Population vs sample
  • Sampling methods: random, stratified, volunteer, systematic, opportunity

6. Ethics & Pilot Studies

  • Ethical issues & BPS ethical code
  • Ways to manage issues (debrief, consent, confidentiality, right to withdraw)
  • Role and purpose of pilot studies

7. Reliability, Validity & Features of Science

  • Reliability: assessing and improving reliability
  • Validity: assessing and improving reliability
  • How psychology meets (or fails) criteria of science
  • Replicability, falsification, paradigms

8. Writing Up Research & Peer Review

  • Structure: Abstract → Introduction → Method → Results → Discussion → Referencing
  • Purpose of peer review, bias issues

9. Data Types, Descriptive Statistics & Data Display

  • Mean, Median, Mode, Range, Standard Deviation
  • Bar charts, Scattergrams, Tables
  • Distributions: Normal vs Skewed
  • Levels of Measurement: Nominal, Ordinal, Interval

10. Inferential Statistics & Choosing Statistical Tests

  • Sign Test introduction
  • Probability & Significance
  • Type I & Type II errors
  • Choosing statistical tests 

11. Design a study (12 marker question)

  • Aim
  • Hypothesis (directional or non-directional)
  • Variables + Operationalisation
  • Procedure (step-by-step — MUST be replicable)
  • Sampling method and why
  • Ethical considerations and how to deal with them
  • Data type and how to analyse it (e.g., descriptive stats or correlation)