GCSE Psychology Revision Guides

GCSE Psychology

What is Psychology?

If you’re interested in people and why they behave the way they do, then studying GCSE psychology could be for you.

Psychology is the scientific study of the mind and human behaviour. Psychologists conduct experiments to observe how we behave under different circumstances. By doing so we can better understand what motivates and challenges us. We can go on to predict behaviour and that allows us to tackle a variety of problems.

For example, if I know that paying you 20% less means you’ll work just as hard, I might just do that - but if I know you’d produce 30% less work and steal from me - I might not be so inclined to cut your pay.

Psychologists work in all walks of life, they might try to better understand how soldiers react to stress in combat or what will make you buy the latest new track.  

Careers in Psychology  

Knowing a little about how people tick goes a long way and psychology skills are sought in all kinds of areas such as management, teaching, social work, business, and healthcare.

Psychology is a particularly useful element of study to cover if you aim to work in healthcare in particular nursing, physiotherapy, speech therapy, and occupational therapy.

If you continue to study psychology to degree level and beyond you could work in any of these sectors as a psychologist:

• Clinical and Counselling – treating people with mental health needs
• Child/Educational  - helping children with emotional and developmental issues
• Sports - helping athletes
• Forensic/criminal - using psychological techniques to identify and evaluate offenders
• Occupational – profiling job applicants and managing workplace morale

You can find out more about psychology by watching this video. Don’t forget to check out the

British Psychological Society who have some great information about careers in Psychology. You can also check out the online psychology mag Psychology Today.

Choosing to study GCSE Psychology

Choosing GCSEs and A-levels is a more difficult task than many think. GCSE psychology will not get you far in terms of entering the profession. However, if you’re interested in a career in psychology, later on, GCSE Psychology is a good place to start. Studying psychology at GCSE is going to give you a definite advantage over A-level psychology students that didn’t!

If you want to focus on psychology at Uni, wholly or in part, then team your psychology A-level with a complimentary subject that Unis like, such as English, history or maths. If you want to study psychology in a more scientific way at Uni then you need to look at teaming your psychology A-level with physics, chemistry, biology or maths.

You should also note that in the cases of a Psychology degree regardless of A-level grades a prerequisite of this degree is that students have a natural affinity to maths and sciences, therefore grade B’s in GCSE Maths and GCSE Science or equivalent is a must.

Learning GCSE Psychology  

Learning GCSE Psychology will give you a good grounding in scientific research methods and help you develop analytical and organizational skills. Understanding people better ought to help you improve your communication skills as well as teamwork and leadership skills.

When you learn GCSE psychology you’ll be learning scientific terminology, concepts, and theories. You’ll learn the basics of psychology such as personality, memory, and development, and you’ll learn how to present information in an analytical manner.

Use Brainscape as the perfect companion to studying GCSE Psychology. Brainscape helps you take in bite-sized pieces of information, laying strong foundations of key knowledge ready for you to use with confidence at exam time and beyond.

GCSE Psychology in Brainscape

Thousands of flashcards have been prepared for GCSE Psychology students by top experts and learners. It’s easy to pick up and choose the exact subject matter you’re studying whether it’s Social Influence, Obedience or Atypical Behaviour.

You can also make your own personal flashcards which is a proven effective learning method in itself.

If you’re finding Brainscape Psychology flashcards useful then why not make it part of your study guide for all your GCSEs? There is a range of flashcards available for most GCSE’s, browse flashcards from GCSE English, GCSE Geography, GCSE History, GCSE Spanish and many more.

Learn faster with Brainscape

Brainscape is uniquely powered by YOU making it the most powerful education engine on the market!

Using Brainscape flashcards to learn is not just more enjoyable than traditional learning from books but Brainscape is also proven to help you learn twice as fast, so what are you waiting for?

Here’s the science bit!

Thousands of studies have recorded the effectiveness of various learning methods and because Brainscape uniquely incorporates three methods, it quite simply is the most effective computer-aided learning tool available.

If you’ve tried other computer-aided learning tools then here’s how Brainscape is different. Whilst other systems use spaced repetition and active recall, Brainscape also uses metacognition in its Confidence-Based Repetition (CBR) system.

When you use Brainscape flashcards, after each card you’ll be asked to rate your understanding and how well you knew the answer, from 1-5. If you scored a “1” the algorithm will set the flashcard to repeat frequently. If you knew the answer well and scored a “5” the algorithm won’t repeat it very often and repeat the flashcards you need to learn.

This process is called metacognition and as you consider your own comprehension you further improve your memory trace. The system provides you with optimal learning with each flashcard presented to you at the most effective time for you to retain the information.

CBR also incorporates active recall so that you’re recalling information and strengthening your neural pathways as you learn not just mindlessly recognising information. The spaced repetition process that CBR also uses is a tried-and-tested method of effective memory retention.

Active Recall, Metacognition, and Spaced Repetition are key to successful learning and nothing on the market applies all these concepts as effectively as Brainscape.

Want to learn twice as fast? Read on.

How to get started

Now you know how Brainscape can boost your learning, what’s the best way to try it out?

Brainscape flashcards are free to try and keep on using. Dependent upon whether you are studying for the Edexcel GCSE or the AQA GCSE, there may be syllabus differences, so it’s important to study the right one.

Once you’ve chosen one of the correct decks just choose any subject you like, try out flashcards on Criminal Behaviour, Cognitive Development or Perception and start learning now.  

If you’d like to create your own learning library of flashcards to revise from then just click “make flashcards” at the top of the screen and get started now. It’s up to you if you share your cards with other learners or if you keep your study catalogue, private.  

Best of luck with your GCSE Psychology and all your future studies from the Brainscape team!