OCR A Level Psychology (H567) Past Papers 2026

Research Methods

Duration: 2h

Psychological Themes through Core Studies

Duration: 2h

Applied Psychology

Duration: 2h

Mann-Whitney U calculation and significance interpretation

Both 2023 and 2024 H567/01 ERs identify this as the key differentiator. 2024: 'The vast majority of candidates misread the greater than sign, which meant that their interpretation of significance was incorrect.' 2023: 'frequently lacked understanding how to calculate Mann-Whitney, how to use critical values table and how to write a significance statement.'

H567/01

Distinguishing reliability and validity — applying each concept correctly

H567/01 2023 section overview: 'some confusion when using some terminology such as validity and reliability.' H567/01 2024: candidates incorrectly 'attributing reliability to cause and effect.' H567/03 2023: 'Replicability is still being confused with reliability by many candidates.'

H567/01, H567/03

Issues and debates in evaluative essays — using them analytically, not descriptively

H567/03 2023 series overview: 'A consistent issue on this paper was the limited understanding shown by candidates of the issues and debates. Using them effectively in an evaluative essay was something many candidates found challenging.' Noted as a persistent pattern in Section B (b) across both years.

H567/03

Core study backgrounds — understanding the motivation behind research aims

H567/02 2023 Q2 (Hancock et al.): 'The majority of candidates did not give the correct response to this question and had limited knowledge on the background information to the core study.' H567/02 2024 Q4 (Chaney et al.): 'Most candidates did not give the correct response to this question and had limited knowledge on the background information to the core study.'

H567/02

Cognitive area vs cognitive neuroscience — these are distinct in the OCR specification

H567/03 2023 Q2: 'Candidates who chose the cognitive approach for their response gained zero marks as this was not one of the options given in the question. Candidates need to be aware of the difference between the cognitive approach and cognitive neuroscience.'

H567/03

Applying research findings to real-world situations (AO2) vs repeating results

H567/03 2024 Section B overview: 'The application in part (a) questions is still not being done as well as it could be, with repetition of results often being the application.' H567/03 2023: 'application of key research to real life situations in (a) doesn't go beyond the findings or relates to different research.'

H567/03

Sampling methods — confusion between types and incomplete implementation descriptions

H567/01 2023 Q22: 'Some responses confused different sampling techniques, for example naming opportunity sample but then describing self-selected sampling.' H567/01 2024 RF1: 'some candidates did not mention what happens after the random number/name generator selects the sample. This meant they did not clarify how they would end up with their final sample.'

H567/01

Socially sensitive research — distinguishing it from ethical considerations

H567/03 2024 Q4: 'Most candidates attempted it, but often didn't link social sensitivity to explanations of mental illness.' The examiner note clarifies: socially sensitive research concerns how results affect wider society, not in-lab harm to participants. Ethical considerations (consent, deception) are a separate category and were not credited when written as social sensitivity.

H567/03