Cara Flanagan has just posted a comparison table of pass rates for the different boards on the new Folens blog here (which by the way also looks pretty good; I’ve subscribed)

The key comment from her psychexchange forum post is:

The fact that the different boards probably do attract slightly different cohorts mean that direct comparisons are not possible but there are certainly some major differences in pass rates.

The AQA (A) specification is still the clear leader in terms of number of students sitting the different specifications.

Last June (2007) 60.6% of students sitting A level psychology followed the AQA (A) specifications and 60.4% of students sitting AS psychology followed the AQA (A) route.

Below are figures taken from the various awarding bodies’ websites.

Percentage of students sitting A level psychology June 2007

AQA (A)   60.6%
OCR         19.9%
AQA (B)   10.2%
Edexcel      9.2%

Percentage of students sitting AS level psychology June 2007

AQA (A)    60.4%
OCR          19.2%
AQA (B)    10.1%
Edexcel       8.6%
WJEC          1.8%

Below are the percentages of students sitting A level psychology June 2006

AQA (A)    60.3%
OCR          18.5%
AQA (B)    11.0%
Edexcel     10.2%

The percentages are all rounded up to 1 decimal point.

Individual candidates who move to another centre or who, for other reasons, have to change their course of study part way through a GCE psychology course may be eligible to transfer credit between specifications. Transfer is not automatic – an application must be made to the receiving awarding body.

However, transfer is not possible from AQA to OCR. According to J.C.Q. documentation OCR does not accept AQA because the OCR specification is thematic whereas AQA specification is topic based.

Has the number of students sitting A level psychology reached a plateaux or are we going to see a decline?

According to data from the J.C.Q. the number of students sitting A level psychology has fallen for the first time.

In June 2007 52,048 candidates sat A level psychology whereas in June 2006 the number was 52,621. Both figures however still represent approximately 6.5% of the total number of students sitting A levels.

A level psychology is currently the fifth biggest A level and the third biggest AS level.

Psychology has until this year been growing at an incredible pace when, for example, one notes that only as far back as 2001 31,740 candidates sat A level psychology.    The initial examination entry in 1972 was 272 candidates and by 1997 the number of candidates had grown to 28,ooo. 

Below are the data for the past seven years

Number of A level Psychology candidates sitting the exams in June

2007

52048 which is 6.5% of total students sitting the June exams. 13176 were male and 38872 were female

2006

52621 which is 6.5% of total students sitting the June exams. 13485 were male and 39176 were female

2005

50035 which is 6.4% of total students sitting the June exams. 12798 were male and 37237 were female

2004

46933 which is 6.1% of total students sitting the June exams. 11875 were male and 35058 female

2003

41949 which is 5.6% of total students sitting the June exams. 10193 were male and 31756 were female

2002

34611 which is 4.9% of total students sitting the June exams. 8038 were male and were 26573 female

2001

31740 which is 4.2% of total students sitting the June exams. 7188 were male and 24552 female

Number of AS level Psychology candidates sitting the exams in May

2007

79468 which is 7.1% of total students sitting the May exams. 23041 were male and 56427 were female

2006

78731 which is 7.2% of total students sitting the May exams. 22750 were male and 55981 were female

2005

77977 which is 7.2% of total students sitting the May exams. 22695 were male and 55282 were female

2004

74188 which is 7.1% of total students sitting the May exams. 21423 were male and 52765 were female

2003

71056 which is 6.92% of total students sitting the May exams. 20308 were male 50748 were female

2002

62039 which is 6.2% of total students sitting the May exams. 16765 were male and 45274 were female

2001

48342 which is 6.1% of total students sitting the May exams. 12525 were male and 35817 were female