Evaluation skills in A2 Psychology AQA A

One of the issues with the change from AS Psychology with AQA where you can obtain an A grade from a good knowledge & understanding of the psychology is that the exam questions at A2 are heavily concentrated on the ability to  write long essays where the AO2/3 is 2/3rds weighted unlike at AS.

It is important to concentrate on the development of these evaluation skills from the start of the A2 year, using PEEL, mini-conclusion, answering the question or special sauce evaluation technique.  Additionally, modelling good answers: developing fully evaluation with clear explanation of the Point being made, using relevant research/theory/etc… to support, clearly elaborating how & why this is relevant to the point/essay title and linking clearly to the essay/point.

There are good examples of PEEL on the resourcd website which should help. In addition, Students should be encouraged to highlight PEEL in each paragraph of their essay/ self-assess & peer assess these skills in addition to using teacher feedback and mark schemes. 

At A2 students will get very basic marks if they just list strengths and weaknesses in their essays (like they tend to do at AS).  At A2, each essay is one third A01 and two thirds A02/3.  I advise my students to do an essay plan always to ensure their essay has structure.  This is a must for top mark bands.  A02 marks are awarded for evaluation, analysis and application, so I always encourage my students to give examples.  An essay should be made up of lots of little paragraphs. Each paragraph is a single point, relating to the question being discussed.  An each paragraph must follow PEEL - state the point being discussed, then cite evidence to back it up and finally explain how the evidence relates to the point i.e. conclude each paragraph(Link).  This final sentence in every paragraph is what turns A01 material into A02 material.  e.g. 'One of the main issues when trying to diagnose schizophrenia is poor reliability (point).  Whaley (2001) analysed clinical diagnoses of schizophrenia among psychiatrists and found inter-rater reliability as low as 0.11 (evidence).  These findings highlight just how unreliable clinical diagnoses can be, as psychiatrists can’t seem to agree on who has schizophrenia and who doesn’t (explain and linking back to original point which was about poor reliability).'