Short answer: the AQA psychology specification changes cut content, reworded some topics and added a little new material. AQA says the changes affect A-level exams from summer 2027 [2][3]. Biological rhythms are gone, Psychopathology is now called Clinical Psychology and Mental Health, and Gender has new content. The three papers, question types and marks are unchanged [2].
Who is on the updated course?
A "specification" (or "spec") is the exam board's official list of what is taught and how it is examined. AQA A-Level Psychology has the code 7182.
AQA announced the changes on 22 October 2024. It said the updated content was for first teaching in September 2025, with first AS exams in summer 2026 and first A-level exams in summer 2027 [2][3]. So:
- Year 13 now (started September 2025): you are the first group to sit the updated A-level, in June 2027.
- Year 12 now (started September 2026): you are also on the updated content, with A-level exams in summer 2028.
AQA says it made the changes after talking to teachers, outside experts, universities and senior examiners. The aims were to reduce content, make wording clearer and update language [1][2].
What did not change
This matters more than any single topic. AQA states that paper design, question types and paper structure stay the same. No new topics were added: the new material sits inside existing topics [1][2]. Paper 3 still has the same three option groups [2].
You still sit three 2-hour papers. Each is worth 96 marks and one third of the A-level [4]:
- Paper 1, Introductory topics: Social influence, Memory, Attachment, and Clinical Psychology and Mental Health.
- Paper 2, Psychology in context: Approaches, Biopsychology and Research methods.
- Paper 3, Issues and options: Issues and debates, plus one topic from each of three option groups.
So your exam technique does not change. Extended-writing skills, such as the 16-mark essay, work exactly as before.
The main AQA psychology specification changes
AQA's summary of changes, dated October 2024, lists every edit by topic [1]. The table shows the ones most students will notice. We checked each against the current 7182 subject content pages [5][6][7].
| Area | What changed | What it means for revision |
|---|---|---|
| Biopsychology | Biological rhythms removed [1]. No circadian, infradian or ultradian rhythms in the current content [6]. | Skip them. Spend the time on localisation, lateralisation and plasticity. |
| Approaches | Removed: Wundt and the origins of psychology, and the humanistic points on focus on the self and counselling [1]. Humanism stays: free will, self-actualisation, Maslow, congruence, conditions of worth [6]. | Still revise humanism fully. Drop Wundt and the history of psychology. |
| Clinical Psychology and Mental Health (was Psychopathology) | Section renamed [1][5]. Definitions reworded and reordered, with deviation from ideal mental health listed first [1]. | Use the new title and wording in your notes. Learn all four definitions. |
| Attachment | "Romanian orphan studies" reworded to the English and Romanian Adoptees project [1][5]. Removed: caregiver-infant interactions, Schaffer's stages, multiple attachments and the role of the father [1]. | Know the English and Romanian Adoptees project by name. Drop the removed parts. |
| Social influence and Memory | Removed: identification, Zimbardo's conformity to social roles, social change, types of long-term memory, and misleading information [1]. | Cut these from your notes. Keep the cognitive interview, which now sits under eyewitness factors [1]. |
| Research methods | Removed: confounding variables and thematic analysis. Added: control groups. Several terms reworded [1][6]. | Learn control groups with the other controls. Use "extraneous variables" [6]. |
| Relationships (option) | Virtual relationships became online relationships, with use of deception added. Evolutionary partner preferences removed [1][7]. | Prepare deception online alongside self-disclosure and gating. |
| Gender (option) | Content replaced. New material on gender identities (binary, non-binary, gender fluid) and gender incongruence [1][7]. | If you take Gender, use updated notes. Older textbooks will not match. |
| Other options | Smaller cuts in Schizophrenia, Eating behaviour, Stress, Forensic and Addiction. Aggression unchanged [1]. | Check your three options line by line against the spec. |
Smaller changes in the options
A few renamed terms will catch students who revise from old notes [1][7]:
- Forensic: offender profiling now uses "typology" (was top-down) and "data-driven" (was bottom-up). The atavistic approach, psychodynamic explanations and recidivism are gone.
- Addiction: "smoking behaviour" is now "nicotine addiction". The theory of planned behaviour is removed.
- Schizophrenia: classification, reliability and validity, and token economies are removed. Diagnosis now covers co-morbidity, culture and gender bias, and symptom overlap.
- Issues and debates: the last bullet now reads "social sensitivity in psychological research".
How to revise with old materials
Most past papers and many textbooks were written for the earlier version. They are still useful, because the question types are the same. But you need a filter:
- Print the current spec. Tick each line as you revise it. If a topic is not there, you will not be examined on it.
- Skip past questions on removed content. Biological rhythms and evolutionary partner preferences are clear examples.
- Use updated sample papers. AQA said its original sample materials would be labelled as no longer suitable for practice on the updated spec [2].
- Update your words. Write "Clinical Psychology and Mental Health", "typology" and "data-driven" in answers.
Practice: humanism is still examinable
Some students think humanism was removed. It was not, so expect it. Practice question, in our own words: Outline and evaluate the humanistic approach to explaining behaviour.
Knowledge and application (AO1, AO2): Humanistic psychology assumes people have free will. Maslow (1943) argued that needs form a hierarchy, so people move towards self-actualisation once lower needs are met. A person needs congruence between their self-concept and their ideal self. Conditions of worth block this, because the person feels valued only when they meet others' standards.
Evaluation (AO3): A strength is that the approach treats the person as a whole, so it avoids reducing behaviour to genes or conditioning. However, ideas such as self-actualisation are hard to measure, so they are difficult to test scientifically. The approach may also reflect individualist Western values. Therefore it explains personal growth well, but its claims rest on weaker evidence than the biological approach.
Notice the structure. Each point links to the next with "so" or "because", and the evaluation ends in a judgement, not a list.
See the standard for June 2027
Our Psychology 2027 briefing covers the updated spec, how the papers are marked, and a free A* model answer.
Read a free A* model answerWant a revision plan built around your options? Book a consultation. Most tutors teach the subject. We teach the criterion.
Sources
- AQA (2024). AS and A-level Psychology (7182): summary of changes to subject content, version 1.0, October 2024.
- AQA (2024). AS and A-level Psychology: changes to specification for first teaching in September 2025, 22 October 2024.
- AQA (2026). AS and A-level Psychology 7181, 7182: qualification page.
- AQA (2026). A-level Psychology 7182: specification at a glance.
- AQA (2026). A-level Psychology 7182: 3.1 Introductory topics in Psychology.
- AQA (2026). A-level Psychology 7182: 3.2 Psychology in context.
- AQA (2026). A-level Psychology 7182: 3.3 Issues and options in Psychology.