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School of Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology

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UCAS tariff 112 - 128 Contextual offers
A contextual offer is an offer to study at university that takes personal circumstances that may affect grades into account.
UCAS course code C800
Institution code P60
Duration

3 years

(+ optional placement)
Course type

Full-time
Study location Plymouth

Are you curious about how people think, behave and connect with others? Explore how thoughts, emotions, and motivations influence our actions and wider society. A practical approach to the study of social, developmental, forensic, and clinical psychology, as well as cognition and neuroscience, will give you the skills you need to make a difference. With a range of flexible options, you can tailor your studies to your own interests and shape your career path to the psychologist you aspire to be.

Active learning

At Plymouth you will learn as you practise, applying your knowledge in practical activities within our psychology experiential learning lab, and building experience from the start.

Real-world experience

You also have the opportunity to apply your skills and knowledge with an optional placement year, or take part in an international exchange year by studying abroad. This builds your confidence and broadens your experience.

Personalise your studies

You'll get to know the subjects you love. Our option-based final year gives you complete flexibility to focus on the areas of psychology that interest you the most.
This course is for you if...
  • you're intrigued by how thoughts, feelings and motivations shape behaviour
  • you value hands-on learning to understand your subject
  • you want to gain practical skills to set you apart in your career in education, health, business, or media
  • you seek the freedom to explore areas of psychology that interest you
  • you aspire to gain real-world experience that makes a difference to people's lives.
Psychology students around table working together

Careers with this subject
Our degree prepares you for a wide range of careers by equipping you with valuable skills and knowledge that provide you with a deep understanding of human behaviour, mental processes, and social interactions. This knowledge and experience will be critical in fields such as mental health, education, business, social care, but have incredible versatility across any vocations that benefit from an understanding of human behaviour.
The School of Psychology, within the Faculty of Health, is a centre of excellence in Clinical Psychology, with undergraduates benefiting from the instruction and clinical experience of practitioners on our professional training programmes offered at Master and Doctoral level. These links, along with the hands-on experience and opportunities of placements in clinical settings provide privileged opportunities to develop essential mental health skills.
Our BPS accredited degrees provide you opportunities to peruse further postgraduate qualifications, that can lead to specialised roles like clinical psychologist, educational psychologist, forensic psychologist, or organisational psychologist.
The degree also helps you develop transferable skills, including critical thinking, problem-solving, communication, and data analysis, which forms the basis for many careers beyond psychology.
Our hands-on teaching approach, combined with a placement year and research apprentices, offers you valuable real-world experience to give you a competitive advantage in your future professional life.

Key features
  • 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 completely option-based final year give the freedom to explore and develop 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.
  • You’ll go beyond the classroom and learn how psychology can have a tangible effect on the wider world with the field trips integrated throughout our curriculum - exploring how psychology can make a difference to our environment and communities.

Course details

  • Year 1

  • Your first-year modules provide a foundation of knowledge and skills across the breadth of psychology. You will learn about how we think, perceive the world, and interact with each other. You will also study key topics in clinical and developmental psychology, how we interact with our environment and how it shapes us, and how we are motivated to achieve our goals.

    Core modules

    PSYC421
    Cognitive Psychology 20 credits

    This module introduces some of our fundamental mental processes, such as learning, memory, attention and reasoning. Across a series of lectures and practical workshops you’ll explore some of the core concepts in cognition – designing and testing your own experiments to build skills and experience in basic research skills, such as problem solving, hypothesis testing, data collection and the communication of your findings

    100% Coursework

    PSYC422
    Clinical and Developmental Psychology 20 credits

    This module will establish an understanding of clinical and developmental psychology. You will learn about contemporary issues relating to mental health and neurodiversity, as well as the history of how conditions are classified, diagnosed, and treated. You also examine how cognitive, social and emotional abilities develop and change over childhood, informing our understanding of their origins and limitations on maturation.

    100% Examinations

    PSYC423
    Environmental Psychology 20 credits

    Examining the interplay between people and their environment, in this module you will explore the psychology behind how we interact with our environment, and the effect our environment has on our mental state and wellbeing. In embedded practical workshops you will design a project to examine these relationships and understand how best to analyse and present your findings.

    70% Coursework

    30% Practicals

    PSYC424
    Social Psychology 20 credits

    Introducing fundamental topics forming the basis of social psychology you will learn about the formation of personality, relationships and our perceptions and prejudices of others, as well as our understanding of how particular social situations affect our thoughts and behaviours. Embedded workshops provide practical training on the research skills and techniques specific to the study of social psychology.

    100% Coursework

    PSYC425
    Perception and the Brain 20 credits

    In this module you will learn about the biological bases of behaviour and the mechanisms of sensory perception. One strand of lectures focuses on the fundamentals of neuroscience, brain anatomy and function, and research methods in neuroscience including studies of disorders of the mind and brain. Another lecture strand concerns perception, with a particular focus on the mechanisms of human vision and hearing.

    100% Examinations

    PSYC426
    Motivation and Performance 20 credits

    In this module you will explore the psychology behind individual and group motivation and performance. Drawing upon principles from sports psychology, military and commercial excellence, and personal development, you will learn about the psychological theories and principles that shape our future potential. In embedded practical workshops you will explore the motivational factors that allow individuals and teams to fulfil their goals and improve performance.

    70% Coursework

    30% Practicals

    HIPL400
    Interprofessional Learning 1

  • Year 2

  • With a focus on developing research and practical skills, you will get additional hands-on experience in designing and testing your own experiments to explore a range of topics. You also continue to build upon your knowledge of the core areas of psychology, getting to grips with key concepts from across cognitive, developmental, social and clinical psychology.

    Core modules

    CPIE202
    Career and Placement Planning

    PSYC513
    Cognition and Biological Psychology 20 credits

    This module provides a comprehensive examination of the core topics in cognitive and biological psychology. Here you will learn about the key phenomena, theories and biological mechanisms that underpin our cognitive processes and emergent behaviour in learning, memory, reasoning, and language.

    100% Examinations

    PSYC514
    Individual Differences, Social and Developmental Psychology 20 credits

    This module provides an in-depth and critical understanding of research in individual differences, social and developmental psychology. Here you will critically examine the leading theories that compete to explain our social behaviour and underlying psychological processes, how they developed, and why they can lead to such different outcomes.

    100% Examinations

    PSYC515
    Health and Wellbeing 20 credits

    This module examines the relationships between health, clinical and forensic psychology that influence our health-related behaviours and potential for criminality. Here you will learn about the issues and contemporary approaches to the classification of symptoms and behaviours, and critically explore the relative contributions of inherited traits and the social and environmental circumstances that influence our behaviours.

    100% Coursework

    PSYC516
    Applied Psychology 20 credits

    During this module you will explore the contribution of psychology to success in education and work. This will include a critical examination of a range of different approaches in educational assessment and risk communication, and how best to effect behaviour change strategies to encourage diversity and promote productivity and well-being.

    100% Coursework

    PSYC519
    Research Skills in Practice 1 20 credits

    Here you will develop your understanding of both qualitative and quantitative research methods through practical experience. Across a series of workshops, you will formulate a research question, design an experiment, collect data and learn about a range of statistical and qualitative techniques to analyse your findings. This will provide increasing confidence with the research process, project management, and ethics.

    100% Coursework

    PSYC520
    Research Skills in Practice 2 20 credits

    Building upon prior learning, in this module you receive practical instruction on how to undertake and communicate research of increasing complexity. Working in supervised groups across a series of workshops you will develop and empirically test research questions on inter-group differences, presenting your findings in oral presentations and a written report.

    100% Coursework

    HIPL500
    Interprofessional Learning 2

  • Year 3

  • If you choose, you can take an optional work placement after your second year, expanding your knowledge of psychology in a real world context across the UK. Apply to spend a year honing your skills on a psychological professional/work placement. Gain invaluable experience, make professional contacts and receive a Certificate of Professional/Industrial Placement. Please note some placements may require Occupation Health and/or Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks.

    Core modules

    CPIE501
    Placement: Psychology 0 credits

    In this professional placement you will develop and apply your psychological knowledge in the workplace, gaining invaluable working experience and connections in a psychological discipline. Our placement team will help you to secure a placement in a vocation of your choosing and, alongside your personal tutor, will guide and support you to achieve your desired learning outcomes and vocational experiences.

  • Final year

  • Chart your own path in your fully option-based final year. With 32 different specialist psychology options offering a huge breadth of unique pathways you can follow your aspirations and gain and specialist skills and knowledge for your future.
    With the study of morals, psychopharmacology, music and emotion, deception, and animal behaviour to name just a few of the topics, you are free to explore the areas of psychology that interest and benefit you the most. These studies are also augmented by a supervised research project, where you will work alongside one of our world-class research academics on a question of your own choosing.

    How does it work?

    Our final year consists of four modules that are simply titled 'Current Topics in Psychology 1, 2, 3 and 4'.
    Each of these modules consists of two different sets of topics (block A and block B). For each module you will select one option from block A and one from block B. These are studied one at a time with each block lasting three weeks.
    Options in block A are assessed by coursework, and those in block B are assessed by exam.
    By the end of your final year you will have selected eight different options.

    Core modules

    PSYC600
    Careers Planning 0 credits

    This zero-credit module is home to careers talks.

    PSYC601
    Current Topics in Psychology 1 20 credits

    In this module you have a free choice of two topics drawn from across the breadth of the psychology, delivered by specialist academic or practitioner from that field. This choice will allow you to focus and develop an in-depth critical appreciation, knowledge, and skill base in areas of particular interest and utility to you and your future vocation.

    50% Coursework

    50% Examinations

    PSYC602
    Current Topics in Psychology 2 20 credits

    In this module you have a free choice of two topics drawn from across the breadth of the psychology, delivered by specialist academic or practitioner from that field. This choice will allow you to focus and develop an in-depth critical appreciation, knowledge, and skill base in areas of particular interest and utility to you and your future vocation.

    50% Coursework

    50% Examinations

    PSYC603
    Current Topics in Psychology 3 20 credits

    In this module you have a free choice of two topics drawn from across the breadth of the psychology, delivered by specialist academic or practitioner from that field. This choice will allow you to focus and develop an in-depth critical appreciation, knowledge, and skill base in areas of particular interest and utility to you and your future vocation.

    50% Coursework

    50% Examinations

    PSYC604
    Current Topics in Psychology 4 20 credits

    In this module you have a free choice of two topics drawn from across the breadth of the psychology, delivered by specialist academic or practitioner from that field. This choice will allow you to focus and develop an in-depth critical appreciation, knowledge, and skill base in areas of particular interest and utility to you and your future vocation

    50% Coursework

    50% Examinations

    PSYC605
    Research Project 40 credits

    In this module you will undertake a comprehensive research project to investigate an original psychological research question in an area of your own choosing. Research training is provided across a wide range of workshops such that, with close support from your research supervisor, you will design and conduct an experiment or study to address your question, analyse data and communicate your findings verbally and in writing.

    80% Coursework

    20% Practicals

    HIPL600
    Interprofessional Learning 3

The modules shown for this course are those currently being studied by our students, or are proposed new modules. Please note that programme structures and individual modules are subject to amendment from time to time as part of the University’s curriculum enrichment programme and in line with changes in the University’s policies and requirements.

Entry requirements

UCAS tariff

112 - 128

Contextual offers: Typically, the contextual offer for this course is 8 points below the advertised tariff. A contextual offer is an offer to study at university that takes into account individual circumstances that are beyond your control, and that can potentially impact your learning and your exam results, or your confidence in applying to university.

Check your eligibility for a contextual offer

A Level: 112-128 points from a minimum of three A levels from any subjects.
Other combinations and non-A level qualifications considered; please contact admissions@plymouth.ac.uk.
International Baccalaureate: 28-32 points overall.
BTEC: DMM-DDM in any subject.
Access courses: Pass an Access to HE course in science, humanities or combined social sciences with at least 33 credits at merit.
T level: Merit, any subjects.
GCSE: 5 GCSE subjects at grade C/4 or above are preferred and this does not necessarily need to be Mathematics and English subjects.
Extended entry requirements
  • English language requirements
  • We welcome applicants with international qualifications. To view other accepted qualifications please refer to our tariff glossary.
  • Students under the age of 18 at the start of the programme are eligible to apply for this programme.

Fees, costs and funding
2024-2025 2025-2026 *
Home £9,250 £9,535
International £18,100 £18,650
Part time (Home) £770 £795
Full time fees shown are per annum. Part time fees shown are per 10 credits. Please note that fees are reviewed on an annual basis. Fees and the conditions that apply to them shown in the prospectus are correct at the time of going to print. Fees shown on the web are the most up to date but are still subject to change in exceptional circumstances. More information about fees and funding.

*UK Government announcement on tuition fees

Following an announcement in November, the government has confirmed its intention to increase undergraduate tuition fees for the 2025/26 academic year.

Subject to final Parliamentary approval (expected in early March 2025), the tuition fee for UK students is increasing to a maximum of £9,535 from 1 August 2025. This change applies to current and new students at the University of Plymouth. The Student Loans Company (SLC) has confirmed loans for tuition fees will be increased accordingly.

Additional costs

This course is delivered by the Faculty of Health and more details of any additional costs associated with the faculty's courses are listed on the following page: Faculty of Health additional costs .

Tuition fees for optional placement years

The fee for all undergraduate students completing any part of their placement year in the UK in 2024/2025 is £1,850.
The fee for all undergraduate students completing their whole placement year outside the UK in 2024/2025 is £1,385.
 Learn more about placement year tuition fees

How to apply
All applications for undergraduate courses are made through UCAS (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service).
UCAS will ask for the information contained in the box at the top of this course page including the UCAS course code and the institution code.
To apply for this course and for more information about submitting an application including application deadline dates, please visit the UCAS website.
If you are interested in applying for an intercalated degree with the University of Plymouth, please contact our Admissions Team in the first instance applications@plymouth.ac.uk.
Support is also available to overseas students applying to the University from our International Office via our how to apply webpage or email admissions@plymouth.ac.uk.

Progression routes

International progression routes

The University of Plymouth International College (UPIC) offers foundation, first-year and pre-masters programmes that lead to University of Plymouth degrees.
Courses are specially designed for EU and international students who are missing the grades for direct entry to the University, and include full duration visa sponsorship.
You can start in January, May or September, benefitting from small class sizes, top-quality tuition and 24/7 student support.
Find out more at plymouth.ac.uk/upic or contact our team at info@upic.plymouth.ac.uk

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No.1 for Industry Offering Psychology in the UK
Times Young University Rankings 2024

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Top 2 overall for Psychology in the UK for 2024
Times Young University Rankings 2024

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Top 3 for Teaching in the UK for Psychology
Times Young University Ranking 2024
 
 

A world of opportunity

My eyes have been opened to so many areas of psychology that I love, psychology graduates can go into so many areas - if something involves people, then at some level psychology is involved.

BSc (Hons) Psychology student Lucy tells us about how studying at Plymouth ignited her passion for Psychology. 

A great lecturer once said that psychology is the subject of everything. It is a topic that does not restrict your interests, but it allows them to grow. What I also love about the course is it not only provides you with the content, but it also equips you with skills that you can take into the real world. You learn to problem solve, analyse data, work as a team, and build a bank of knowledge for many future careers.

Chloe, BSc (Hons) Psychology student 
 

Experiential learning

We've redesigned the way we teach psychology. We always seek feedback from students in order to continually improve our courses. As a result, we have created a curriculum that focuses on active learning. Our range of practical activities and specialist facilities are embedded throughout our courses, enabling you to put your knew knowledge into practice from the outset and shaping you into the best psychologist and professional you can be.
Our state-of-the-art facilities and equipment are available for students to book and use, supporting your learning across the breadth of psychology, enhancing your potential, and helping you develop essential skills.
A patient sits in a chair with an ultrasound device on their head for Dr Elsa Fouragnan's research
 
 

Real-world experience

All psychology students have the option to take a voluntary placement year without needing to enrol in a specific course. This opportunity allows you to gain invaluable experience and build professional connections. The process begins in your second year with dedicated information sessions to help you determine if a placement year is the right choice for you.
BSc (Hons) Psychology student Kieran

The University is really good at preparing you for placement, running you through skills courses and teaching how to do interviews, how to go out and get placements and the etiquettes of being in different workplaces.

My placement was in a neuro rehabilitation ward working with patients that had brain injuries. I feel more qualified now going out into the world of work and feel prepared in order to go and get a job.
Kieran, BSc (Hons) Psychology 
 
 

Shape the psychologist you want to become

In your final year, you will shape the psychologist that you want to become with freedom of choice across a wide range of current psychology topics.
The list goes on with 32 different specialist psychology options to select from.
You are free to explore the areas of psychology that interest and benefit you the most. These studies will build up to a supervised research project, which you will undertake while working alongside one of our world-class academics on a research question of your choice.
Topic examples you may choose include:

  • ÆMorals

  • ÆPsychopharmacology

  • ÆMusic and emotion

  • ÆDeception

  • ÆAnimal behaviour

 
 
 
 

Graduate experience