Welcome!

This web-page will tell you all you need to know about the Advanced Extension Award (AEA) in psychology. To make navigation easier, the page has been split into 4 sections, with ‘blob’ links to useful resources. The sections are:

• What is the Advanced Extension Award? (With a link to the AEA Student Guide written by AQA.)
• How Do I Prepare for the Advanced Extension Award? (With links to past papers and more.)
• Newspaper Search Links (With links to excellent newspaper search engines.)
• What Should I Search For? (PsYonline top-tips on searching effectively.)

What is the Advanced Extension Award?

The Advanced Extension Award (AEA) in psychology is designed to help you develop and demonstrate a deeper understanding of psychology than that which is required at A level. It covers all of the AS and A2 syllabus topics and requires a more synoptic approach bringing together principles and concepts from different areas of psychology and applying them in a particular context.

The AEA is assessed by a single 3 hour exam that is in three sections:

• Theoretical Issues and Debates
• Methodology
• Approaches and Application

Your teacher will need to enter you to sit this exam. If you are not already entered speak to your teacher about whether you would be eligible.

For more information about the AEA in Psychology take a look at the Student Guide, which is written by AQA:

How do I prepare for the Advanced Extension Award? The AEA requires you to adapt your psychological skills, knowledge and understanding and apply it in different contexts. This requires a broad and deep knowledge of topical psychological issues. To develop your psychology knowledge: Watch and listen to relevant TV and radio documentaries Keep your eye on the newspaper and journal articles using the links on the right of this page. Review your knowledge of the material in the AS and A2 psychology syllabus. Use these links also: Check out past exam papers to see how exams are set out and get an idea of what is required. Look at the AEA test specification to find out more about what is required in the exam.

Newspaper Search Links:

We recommend that you regularly commit time to look through newspaper and journal articles, keeping yourself up to date with topical psychological issues. Your school/college library might get these papers in print form, or you could try using the search engines we have listed below.

	Note: Some of the articles have restricted access. If you find an article that looks particularly helpful but you get this message “This article is premium content…”, then try speaking to your librarian or psychology teacher who may be able to assist you with access.
	Tip: Before you start searching, read the Guardian guidelines ‘How to use Guardian Unlimited Search’ to get the best from this search engine.
	Tip: The Observer is part of the Guardian newspaper. Use this search engine to limit your search to the Observer section only. Alternatively, use the Guardian search engine above if you would like a broader search, which will also include the Observer.
	Tip: Enter your search terms in the search box at the top just under “TimesOnline”. Be specific with your search terms to narrow down your results for relevant articles.
	Tip: Enter your search terms in the search box underneath “Telegraph” at the top left of the page. The results of your search are shown under different categories, such as “Health” and “News” in red type. Scan through and find the most relevant to your search.
	Note: The Psychologist is a Psychology Journal rather than a Newspaper. This means the articles are more academic. Search in the same way that you would with any other search engine.

What Should I Search For?

Unfortunately there is not a simple answer to this question. The exam will require you to demonstrate a breadth of knowledge and understanding of topical issues across the psychology syllabus so you will need to keep up to date with psychological issues that are coming up. We know this sounds like a big task. Here are a couple of suggested search terms to get you started but your search will need to be much wider:

e.g. Search: "anti-social behaviour" e.g. Search: psychology "eating disorder"

You will need to play around with different search terms to find relevant articles. Make use of the guidelines on the search engine you are using and if you get stuck, speak to your psychology teacher who will be able to guide you towards different topics.