OxfordAQA International GCSE Psychology Tutors Online

OxfordAQA International GCSE Psychology is specification 9218. This page works from version 1.1 of the specification, which covers International GCSE exams from May/June 2025 onwards.

The qualification has two papers, and they are built to the same shape.

Paper 1 is Cognition and behaviour. It is a written exam of 2 hours carrying 100 marks, and it is 50 per cent of the qualification.

Paper 2 is Social context and behaviour. It is also a written exam of 2 hours carrying 100 marks and worth 50 per cent.

Both papers have four sections of 25 marks each. That symmetry is the first thing to understand, because it means every topic on the course is worth the same number of marks.

Paper 1 Section A is Memory, Section B is Perception, Section C is Biopsychology, and Section D is Research methods.

Paper 2 Section A is Communication, Section B is Social influences, Section C is Mental health, and Section D is Research methods.

Research methods appears as Section D on both papers, and the specification is explicit about why. It states that the subject content of the research methods topics as seen in Paper 1 as topic 4 and Paper 2 as topic 8 is the same material, and that students will be provided with opportunities to demonstrate their understanding of research methods and handling data on both papers.

So there are seven distinct topics on the course, and research methods is examined twice. It carries 25 marks on Paper 1 and 25 marks on Paper 2, and it is the only content assessed on both papers.

The question types on both papers are multiple choice, structured, short answer and extended writing responses. So a student should expect to move between recalling a definition, applying it to a scenario, and writing at length, within a single section.

There are three assessment objectives. AO1 is demonstrating knowledge and understanding of psychological ideas, processes and procedures.

AO2 is applying knowledge and understanding of psychological ideas, processes and procedures.

AO3 is analysing and evaluating psychological information, ideas, processes and procedures to make judgements and draw conclusions.

The weighting is AO1 at 17.5 per cent on each paper and 35 per cent overall, AO2 at 17.5 per cent on each paper and 35 per cent overall, and AO3 at 15 per cent on each paper and 30 per cent overall.

Which is to say the two papers weight the objectives identically. Neither paper is the knowledge paper and neither is the evaluation paper.

The marking scale is entirely flat. Both scaling factors are 1, so raw and scaled marks are the same, and the total scaled mark is 200.

Now the content, which is where this specification is unusually generous with named material.

Memory covers the processes of encoding, storage and retrieval, and three types of memory: episodic memory, semantic memory and procedural memory.

It covers the multi-store model of memory, with the sensory register, short-term memory and long-term memory, and the features of each store: coding, capacity and duration.

Perception begins with the difference between sensation and perception, and then names the visual cues and constancies in detail. The monocular depth cues are height in plane, relative size, occlusion and linear perspective. The binocular depth cues are retinal disparity and convergence.

It covers Gibson's direct theory of perception, the idea that the real world presents sufficient information for direct perception without inference, and the role of motion parallax in everyday perception.

It covers explanations for visual illusions, which the specification lists as ambiguity, misinterpreted depth cues, fiction and size constancy, and it names the illusions to study: the Ponzo, the Müller-Lyer, Rubin's vase, the Ames Room, the Kanizsa triangle and the Necker cube.

It then sets Gibson against Gregory. Gregory's constructivist theory of perception holds that perception uses inferences from visual cues and past experience to construct a model of reality.

Perceptual set is covered through the effects of culture, motivation, emotion and expectation, and four studies are named for that section: the investigations of Nisbett and Miyamoto, Gilchrist and Nesberg, Kunst-Wilson and Zajonc, and Bruner and Minturn.

Biopsychology covers the divisions of the human nervous system, central and peripheral, with the peripheral divided into somatic and autonomic, and the basic functions of each.

It covers the endocrine system, the function of glands and hormones, the autonomic nervous system and the fight or flight response, and the James-Lange theory of emotion.

It covers the structure and function of sensory, relay and motor neurons, synaptic transmission with the release and reuptake of neurotransmitters, and excitation and inhibition.

It covers Hebb's theory of learning and neuronal growth, and the structure of the brain: the frontal lobe, temporal lobe, parietal lobe, occipital lobe and cerebellum.

Localisation of function is named precisely, with the motor, somatosensory, visual, auditory and language areas, including Broca's area and Wernicke's area. Penfield's study of the interpretive cortex is named too.

And it covers the use of scanning techniques to identify brain functioning, naming CT, PET and fMRI scans, and Tulving's gold memory study.

Research methods covers the null hypothesis and alternative hypothesis, the types of variables including the independent variable, dependent variable and extraneous variables, and sampling with target populations, samples and sampling methods.

Communication covers the possible relationship between language and thought, setting Piaget's theory that language depends on thought against the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis that thinking depends on language.

It covers differences between human and animal communication, the limited functions of animal communication for survival, reproduction, territory and food, and Von Frisch's bee study.

Non-verbal communication is covered through the functions of eye contact, body language including open and closed posture, postural echo and touch, and personal space with cultural, status and gender differences.

Darwin's evolutionary theory of non-verbal communication as evolved and adaptive is set against evidence that non-verbal behaviour is learned, and Yuki's study of emoticons is named.

Social influence covers conformity to majority influence through social factors of group size, anonymity and task difficulty, and dispositional factors of personality and expertise, with conformity as investigated by Asch.

Obedience is covered through Milgram, with Milgram's agency theory of social factors covering agency, authority, culture and proximity, and dispositional factors through Adorno's theory of the authoritarian personality.

Bystander intervention is covered through the presence of others and the cost of helping, with three studies named: Piliavin's subway study, Latane and Darley's smoke study, and Levine's football supporter study.

Collective behaviour is covered through prosocial and antisocial behaviour in crowds, with social loafing, deindividuation and culture on one side and personality and morality on the other.

Mental health covers how the incidence of significant mental health problems changes over time, the characteristics of mental health, cultural variations in beliefs about mental health, and the effects of mental health problems on individuals and society.

The specific disorder examined is obsessive-compulsive disorder, taught through the International Classification of Diseases for diagnosis, the characteristics of obsessions and compulsions, biological factors and cognitive explanations, and cognitive behaviour therapy as the therapy.

That is a great deal of named material, and the practical implication is that psychology at this level is not a course in opinions about behaviour. It is a course in specific theories, specific studies and specific diagnostic criteria, each attached to a named person.

The specification also requires students to show how psychological knowledge and ideas change over time, and how psychology contributes to an understanding of individual, social and cultural diversity. Those two requirements are worth building into answers deliberately, because they are easy to forget under exam pressure.

It also requires ethical practical research activities, involving designing research, conducting research, and analysis and interpretation of data. The research methods sections are best learned by doing, not by reading.

The grading scale is the nine point one. The qualification is graded 1 to 9, where 9 is the best grade, and a student who does not reach the minimum standard for grade 1 is recorded as U and does not receive a certificate.

Exams are available in May/June and in November.

Resits are whole qualification only, because this is a traditional linear specification and individual components cannot be re-sat.

The specification overlaps with AQA UK GCSE Psychology 8182.