OCR A-Level Psychology guide FAQ (H567)
Guide overview All 21 topics Sample questions Papers and weighting Look inside Questions and answers
OCR A-Level Psychology: questions and answers
Specification H567. Two sets, because students and parents ask different things.
For students
Am I on H567 or H569?
This guide is H567. OCR is replacing it with H569.
The last first teaching of H567 was September 2026 and its final assessment is June 2028. Schools teach H569 from September 2027, first examined in June 2029. If you are sitting your exams in 2027 or 2028 you are on H567 and this is your guide. A student resitting after June 2028 sits H569.
Your exam timetable carries the code. Check it if you are unsure.
I only do two of the applied options. Is the rest wasted?
No. Component 03 is a compulsory section on issues in mental health plus two of child, criminal, environmental, and sport and exercise psychology. All four are in the guide because schools pick different pairs.
Work the two you are taught and skip the other two. They are separate topics with their own pages, so nothing is mixed together.
Does it cover all twenty core studies?
Yes, arranged by area: social, cognitive, developmental, biological and individual differences, each holding its classic and contemporary pair. There is also a section on the common framework used to study and evaluate them, and separate sections on the areas and perspectives and on the eight debates.
How much maths is really on Component 01?
At least 30 marks of the 90 involve mathematics, and Section C hands you novel data to analyse and interpret. The guide has a dedicated Mathematical Requirements topic of 177 questions across 18 subtopics, covering measures of central tendency and dispersion, levels of measurement, the choice of statistical test, significance and critical values, and the calculations themselves.
Is Issues in Mental Health compulsory?
Yes. Every learner sits Section A of Component 03 on issues in mental health, whichever two applied options they take. It is 189 questions across 15 subtopics in the guide.
How long does one session take?
About twenty minutes for one subtopic, all three steps. Topics here are large, several over 300 questions, so work by subtopic and the size of the topic stops mattering.
Can I do it in my head instead of writing?
Write. Psychology marks turn on naming the study, the sample and the finding precisely, and step 2 is where the difference between your version and the printed one gets fixed.
The method page sets out the evidence.
When should I start?
H567 is linear, so all three papers are sat at the end of Year 13. Research methods runs through the whole course and rewards being started early, because Component 01 is 30 per cent on its own and the content does not change.
Do I still need past papers?
Yes. The method puts the studies and the methods into memory. Past papers train applying psychology to a novel source, evaluating your own suggestions, and the extended responses in Section B and C. OCR publishes them free.
What do I actually receive?
A PDF, emailed on purchase. The questions for a topic print together and the answers for that topic follow directly after them.
For parents
What is this, in plain terms?
A PDF of 3,537 exam-style questions covering the whole of OCR A-Level Psychology, with the answers printed after each topic.
It is not a textbook. It is the tool for moving taught content into memory and for showing whether it went in.
Is this the right specification? I have seen H569 mentioned.
OCR is replacing H567 with H569. H567 has its final assessment in June 2028, and H569 is first examined in June 2029.
If your child sits their A-Level in 2027 or 2028 they are on H567 and this is the correct guide. The code is printed on their exam timetable.
My child says they only do two of the four options.
That is correct and normal. Component 03 has a compulsory mental health section plus two applied options chosen by the school from four. All four are in the guide because schools choose differently, and the two they do not take are simply skipped.
How do I know if it is being used properly?
There should be handwritten answers on paper and three passes over the same questions. The method produces two numbers each session, the score on the first closed-book pass and the score on the third.
My child revises for hours and the grades have not moved.
Rereading notes and highlighting are the two most common revision activities and Dunlosky and colleagues rated both low utility in their 2013 review of ten techniques. Psychology exposes this quickly, because a study recalled vaguely scores almost nothing.
The method page sets out the alternative.
How much is it compared with a textbook?
£8.00 for the whole specification, including all four applied options. An endorsed OCR A-Level Psychology textbook is usually £30 to £40 and covers one year.
How much time does the whole course take?
321 subtopics at roughly twenty minutes each is about 107 hours for a full first pass of everything. In practice a student skips the two applied options they do not sit, which takes it closer to 70 hours spread across two years.
What else does my child need?
Past papers, which OCR publishes free, and their own notes for anything not yet taught.
OCR A-Level Psychology Active Recall Guide
3,537 questions with their answers, 321 subtopics, one file.