A-Level psychology, where the marks are in the evaluation
A-Level psychology looks approachable — interesting studies, familiar topics — and then the grades come back lower than expected. The reason is almost always the same: knowing the research is only the start. The marks live in evaluation and application, in structuring a 16-mark essay under time pressure, and in a research-methods strand that catches students who expected an essay-only subject.
One-to-one help targets exactly that. A tutor can take a describe-heavy answer and show your child how to turn it into an evaluative one that scores. Sessioned matches your child with a verified A-Level psychology tutor for one-to-one online sessions, built around their exam board and the parts of the course that are actually costing marks.
What A-Level psychology covers
The core content across the two years includes:
- Social influence — conformity, obedience and social change
- Memory — models of memory and eyewitness testimony
- Attachment — the development and effects of early attachment
- Psychopathology — definitions of abnormality and treatments for phobias, depression and OCD
- Approaches and biopsychology — the behaviourist, cognitive, biological and other approaches, and the biological basis of behaviour
- Research methods — experimental design, data handling and statistics
- Issues and debates, plus optional topics such as relationships, schizophrenia, forensic psychology, aggression and addiction
Throughout, work is marked against three objectives: knowledge (AO1), application (AO2) and evaluation (AO3) — and the higher grades depend on the last two.
Exam boards we cover
- AQA (7182) — the most widely sat A-Level psychology specification
- Edexcel / Pearson (9PS0)
- OCR (H567)
- WJEC / Eduqas — for schools in Wales and some in England
The boards choose different core studies and weight the essays differently, so exam technique is board-specific. Tell us the board and we will match a tutor who teaches it every week. Many psychology students also take an essay-based subject like A-Level business — we cover that too.
What a session looks like
Sessions run one-to-one over video — 30, 60 or 90 minutes, whichever suits — with a shared whiteboard for planning essays and working through questions together.
A typical session:
- Review of the week’s essays or past-paper answers, marked against the assessment objectives
- Focused teaching on one topic or one skill — usually building evaluation and application
- Exam-style questions, planning and writing to structure under timed conditions
- A short note on what was covered and what to practise before next time
Nobody is rushed. If essay structure needs three sessions, it gets three sessions.
Every tutor, properly vetted.
- Identity-checked — we verify who every tutor is before they can teach
- Qualification-checked — degrees and credentials evidenced, not self-declared
- DBS status on every profile — we verify Enhanced DBS certificates ourselves and label each tutor “DBS Verified” or “DBS on file”, so you can see it before you book
Your child never works with a stranger we haven’t vetted. That is the baseline, not an upgrade.
Clear pricing, no surprises
Tutors set their own rates and keep every penny. You pay the tutor’s rate plus a transparent 20% platform fee, shown in full before you book. No subscriptions, no upfront packages.
Frequently asked questions
My child knows the studies but still gets B grades — what is missing? Usually it is the evaluation (AO3). Describing a study earns limited marks; the higher marks come from evaluating it — strengths, weaknesses, competing explanations and real-world application. A tutor teaches how to build that argument rather than just recall the research.
How do you revise for the 16-mark essays? With a structure. A tutor gives your child a reliable way to plan an essay under time pressure — a clear knowledge base, then developed application and evaluation points — and practises it until it becomes automatic in the exam.
Is psychology a science A-Level — how much maths is there? There is a genuine research-methods and statistics strand worth around 10% of the marks, which surprises students who expected a pure essay subject. A tutor makes sure that side is not neglected, because it is often where marks are quietly lost.
What if the first tutor is not the right fit? Tell us and we will rematch you, and refund the first session if it was not right. Chemistry matters in one-to-one work, and there is no charge for switching.
Get matched with an A-Level psychology tutor
Tell us your child’s exam board and where psychology is hurting. We will hand-match a tutor, and you can start with a single session — no ongoing commitment.