Edexcel A Level Psychology Tutors Online

Edexcel A Level Psychology is code 9PS0, and its full title is the Pearson Edexcel Level 3 Advanced GCE in Psychology. First teaching was September 2015 and first certification was 2017. This page works from Issue 4, dated March 2026.

The qualification is structured into nine topic areas. Topics 1 to 4 are compulsory and focus on the areas that have laid the foundations of modern psychological understanding. Topics 5 to 8 focus on how our understanding of psychology is applied today, Topic 5 is compulsory, and one topic from 6, 7 or 8 must be studied. Finally, Topic 9 summarises the psychological skills and research methods covered in the qualification.

So a student does not study all eight content topics. Topics 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 are compulsory, one of Topics 6, 7 or 8 is chosen, and Topic 9 underpins the whole thing.

The qualification consists of three externally examined papers, and students must complete all assessment in May and June in any single year.

Paper 1 is Foundations in psychology, code 9PS0/01, worth 35% of the total qualification. It covers Topic 1 Social psychology, Topic 2 Cognitive psychology, Topic 3 Biological psychology and Topic 4 Learning theories. Students must answer all questions from five sections.

Sections A to D total 70 marks and comprise mixed question types, including stimulus and data response, short answer and extended response questions, with each section covering one of the four topics: Section A is Social psychology, Section B is Cognitive psychology, Section C is Biological psychology and Section D is Learning theories. Section E is Issues and debates, has 20 marks, and comprises two extended response questions covering the topic area of issues and debates in psychology.

Paper 1 is a written examination of 2 hours 15 minutes and consists of 90 marks, which is 70 marks across Sections A to D plus 20 marks for Section E.

Paper 2 is Applications of psychology, code 9PS0/02, worth 35%. The mandatory content is Topic 5 Clinical psychology, and the optional topics are Topic 6 Criminological psychology, Topic 7 Child psychology and Topic 8 Health psychology, of which students study one. It is a written examination of 2 hours 15 minutes and consists of 90 marks.

Paper 2 is composed of two sections. Students must answer all questions from Section A and all questions from a choice of three optional topic areas in Section B. Section A has 54 marks and comprises mixed question types, including data and stimulus response, short answer and extended response questions, with a 20 mark response covering the topic area of clinical psychology. Section B presents students with a choice of one from three optional topic areas, and each of those sections totals 36 marks and comprises mixed question types, including stimulus and data response, short answer and extended response questions.

The arithmetic on Paper 2 is clean: Section A at 54 marks and the chosen Section B topic at 36 marks make 90. So on Paper 2, 36 of the 90 marks depend on which optional topic the student has studied.

Paper 3 is Psychological skills, code 9PS0/03, worth 30% of the total qualification. It covers Topic 9: Methods, Synoptic review of studies, and Issues and debates. It is a written examination of 2 hours and consists of 80 marks, which makes it the smallest paper in the qualification. Students must answer all questions from three sections.

Section A has 24 marks and comprises mixed question types, including stimulus and data response and short answer questions, covering the topic area of research methods. Section B has 24 marks and comprises mixed question types, including stimulus and data response and short answer questions based on psychological studies, plus one extended response question based on classic studies given in Topics 1 to 5. Section C has 32 marks and comprises two extended response questions covering the topic area of issues and debates in psychology. The three sections come to 80 marks.

Two things follow from that structure. Issues and debates is examined twice, once in Paper 1 Section E for 20 marks and once in Paper 3 Section C for 32 marks, so it carries 52 marks across the qualification. And research methods sits only on Paper 3 Section A, so that paper is where the methods work is assessed.

All three papers give students the formulae and statistical tables set out in Appendix 4, and calculators may be used in the examination. So the statistics is examined but the tables themselves are not memorised.

The assessment objectives are three. AO1, demonstrate knowledge and understanding of scientific ideas, processes, techniques and procedures, is 30 to 35 per cent. AO2, apply knowledge and understanding in a theoretical context, in a practical context, and when handling qualitative and quantitative data, is 30 to 35 per cent. AO3, analyse, interpret and evaluate scientific information, ideas and evidence including in relation to issues, to make judgements and reach conclusions and to develop and refine practical design and procedures, is 35 to 40 per cent.

Analysis and evaluation is the largest objective here, and applying and evaluating together are worth 65 per cent or more. Description alone is not enough at this level, and the objective table says so before a student sits a single paper.

The breakdown shows Paper 3 is the evaluation paper despite being the smallest. Paper 1 is 11 to 15 per cent AO1, 12 to 15 per cent AO2 and 8 to 12 per cent AO3. Paper 2 is 11 to 15 per cent AO1, 9 to 12 per cent AO2 and 8 to 12 per cent AO3. Paper 3 is 6 to 8 per cent AO1, 7 to 9 per cent AO2 and 15 to 17 per cent AO3. So the 30% paper carries roughly twice the share of AO3 that either 35% paper does.

The qualification is graded and certificated on a six grade scale from A* to E using the total subject mark, and individual papers are not graded. The first certification opportunity was 2017, and students whose level of achievement is below the minimum judged by Pearson to be of sufficient standard receive an unclassified U result.

On codes: the qualification number is 601/5573/5 and the subject code is GCE 9PS0. The paper codes are 9PS0/01, 9PS0/02 and 9PS0/03. The discount code printed in Appendix 5 is 4850, listed for Key Stage performance tables.