School of Psychology

Teaching Syllabus (both courses)

Level 1 of the degree occupies the autumn semester and aims to help students make the transition from school to university level study. Three modules a) introduce scientific thinking skills and use example research topics to help students learn the differences between good and bad science; b) provide an overview of the main subject areas of psychology; and c) introduce the basics of research methodology through practicals and research design teaching. Interactive seminars and tutorials form an important part of the course.

Level 2 occupies three semesters, starting in the spring of the first year. This covers the main psychology areas in depth at Honours level, combined with further teaching of research design and statistical analysis, practical work, and weekly tutorials.

Level 3 is the final year. Here, students do a supervised research project worth 40 credits, and 80 credits of taught modules, choosing from a menu of about 13 modules (some 20 credits and some 10 credits). These modules offer the opportunity for deeper exploration of topics close to the research interests of staff. They use a diversity of teaching methods, and the 20 credit modules include various forms of interactive teaching such as seminars.

With or Without Placement?

Students taking Psychology with Professional Placement do exactly the same first, second and final years as students taking Psychology. The difference is that there is a year on placement in the third year.  Thus BSc Psychology and BSc Psychology with Professional Placement are identical in terms of admissions requirements and teaching, with the only difference being the extra year in placement.

Students are easily able to change degree programmes once at Cardiff; for example, a student on the 3 year programme may still apply for placements and is able to change to the 4 year programme once a placement is secure.

Alternatively, a student on the 4 year programme can choose not to go on placement and change to the 3 year programme.

Only apply to one programme through UCAS. There is no advantage in applying to both – it does not make you more likely to get a place, it just wastes one of your UCAS choices. We are only able to make one offer to an applicant even if they have applied to both programmes. All applications are considered equally, and there is no advantage in choosing one programme instead of the other.