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University of Plymouth

UCAS Code: C818 | Bachelor of Science (with Honours) - BSc (Hons)

Entry requirements

32 - 48 points

Pass Access Course (any subject) plus GCSE English and Maths grade C / 4 or above or equivalent

Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)

PPP

Any subject

32-48 points.

T Level

P

Any subject considered.

UCAS Tariff

32-48

About this course

This course has alternative study modes. Contact the university to find out how the information below might vary.

Course option

4years

Full-time including foundation year | 2025

Other options

5 years | Sandwich including foundation year | 2025

Subject

Psychology

If you are looking for an alternative route onto our psychology degree, the integrated foundation year will build confidence and develop the academic and study skills to provide you with a firm foundation to progress and succeed on our BSc (Hons) Psychology. The foundation year is wholly taught within the school, ensuring that our content and study skills are specifically tailored to your needs, as you take the first steps along your path towards a career in professional psychology and beyond.

- **This course is an integrated part of our psychology degree at the University of Plymouth**. Successful completion of the foundation year (Year 0) provides progression onto Year 1 of our BSc (Hons) Psychology degree.

- **The foundation year is taught entirely within the School of Psychology,** specifically tailored to give you the background, skills, and support to progress to our psychology degree.

- **You will benefit from the full University experience from day one** – taught by the same world-leading psychologists that support our other courses providing seamless progression from the foundation year to subsequent years of our degree course.

- **Hands-on learning in our psychology experiential learning lab.** We embedded practical activities throughout the course, so you can put new knowledge into practice and build practical skills for future careers.

- **Shape the psychologist you want to be.** Course choices and our option-based final year give the freedom to explore the areas of psychology that interest and benefit you the most.

- **As a successful graduate, you are eligible for Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership with the British Psychological Society.**

- **Gain valuable real-world experience** by putting your skills and knowledge into practice with an optional placement year, or take part in an international exchange year by studying abroad.

Modules

This year has been designed to provide the theoretical knowledge, study skills and support to provide a foundation for further undergraduate study in psychology, providing instruction on a wide variety of psychological approaches. You will gain an understanding of how psychological theories are evaluated using empirical data, and how they can be applied to everyday experience, with a specific focus on health-related issues. This year will also introduce some of the most common careers in psychology, providing early direction along potential career paths.

The modules shown for this course or programme are those being studied by current students, or expected new modules. Modules are subject to change depending on year of entry and up to date information can be found on our website.

Assessment methods

For up to date details, please refer to our website or contact the institution directly.

The Uni

Course location:

University of Plymouth

Department:

School of Psychology

Read full university profile

What students say

We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.

85%
Psychology

How do students rate their degree experience?

The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Psychology (non-specific)

Teaching and learning

83%
Staff make the subject interesting
89%
Staff are good at explaining things
76%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
63%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

76%
Library resources
83%
IT resources
85%
Course specific equipment and facilities
72%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

96%
UK students
4%
International students
23%
Male students
77%
Female students
82%
2:1 or above
8%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

B
C
B

After graduation

The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Psychology (non-specific)

What are graduates doing after six months?

This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.

£17,108
med
Average annual salary
94%
low
Employed or in further education
55%
med
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

21%
Caring personal services
9%
Welfare and housing associate professionals
9%
Other elementary services occupations

20 years ago, this was a specialist degree for would-be psychologists but now it is the model of a modern, flexible degree subject. One of the UK's fastest-growing subject at degree level, and the second most popular subject overall (it recently overtook business studies), one in 23 of all graduates last year had psychology degrees. As you'd expect with figures like that, jobs in psychology itself are incredibly competitive, so to stand a chance of securing one, you need to get a postgraduate qualification (probably a doctorate in most fields, especially clinical psychology) and some relevant work experience. But even though there are so many psychology graduates — far more than there are jobs in psychology, and over 13,800 in total last year — this degree has a lower unemployment rate than average because its grads are so flexible and well-regarded by business and other industries across the economy. Everywhere there are good jobs in the UK economy, you'll find psychology graduates - and it's hardly surprising as the course helps you gain a mix of good people skills and excellent number and data handling skills. A psychology degree ticks most employers' boxes — but we'd suggest you don't drop your maths modules.

What about your long term prospects?

Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.

Psychology (non-specific)

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£18k

£18k

£21k

£21k

£25k

£25k

Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.

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This is what the university has told Ucas about the criteria they expect applicants to satisfy; some may be compulsory, others may be preferable.

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This is the percentage of applicants to this course who received an offer last year, through Ucas.

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This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.

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Course location and department:

This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.

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Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):

We've received this information from the Department for Education, via Ucas. This is how the university as a whole has been rated for its quality of teaching: gold silver or bronze. Note, not all universities have taken part in the TEF.

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This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).

This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.

You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.

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Post-six month graduation stats:

This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.

It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

Graduate field commentary:

The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?

Have a question about this info? Learn more here