Paper II – possible exam questions 110413

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Paper II – possible exam questions

Note: these are compiled by me, Elin Berglund Persson, these questions cannot be claimed to be exhaustive and variations will very likely occur.

1. What you need to know in order to understand the exam questions:

There are three assessment objectives – these are what the examiners assess, namely:

Knowledge and Comprehension (assessment objective 1)

Application and Analysis (assessment objective 2)

Synthesis and Evaluation (assessment objective 3)

This means that in your answers you need to show that you have knowledge and understanding of the topic you write about (for example stress), that you can apply it and analyse its use (for example on people suffering from HIV) and that you can evaluate it – the strengths and weaknesses – how this knowledge could be developed etc. (for example evaluation of research pieces or theories).

Each objective has its own command terms:

Define, describe, outline, state – these command terms are Objective 1 in order to test knowledge and comprehension.

Analyse, apply, distinguish, explain – these command terms are Objective 2 in order to test application and analysis.

Compare, compare and contrast, discuss, evaluate, examine, to what extent – these command terms are Objective 3 used in order to test synthesis and evaluation

As Paper II only contains extended responses (ER) questions the learning outcomes will most often ask you to compare, compare and contrast, discuss, evaluate, examine something OR ask you to what extent something is true

(objective 3. It might be so, though, that the ERs ask you to define, describe, outline (etc. objective 1) in a first part of the question and then prompt you to compare, discuss, evaluate it.

Important to know is that in each of the questions above, and also in all the questions that will follow in this document the command terms can be changed into others of the same demand (from the same objective) or from a lower objective, but not from a higher objective.

Possible exam questions for Abnormal Psychology:

1. To what extent do biological, cognitive or sociocultural factors influence one abnormal behaviour.

Possible variation: Discuss two factors that influence one abnormal behaviour.

Remember: you will need to be able to discuss any strenghts or limitations of these factors. A more specific way of phrasing this question would be:

Discuss how biological (cognitive/sociocultural) factors influence one psychological disorder.

The command terms: compare, compare and contrast are not very commonly used in exams in the past – but they could be used. Eg. Compare and contrast

two factors that influence one abnormal behaviour.

2. Evaluate research relevant (theories and/or studies) to the study of

abnormal behaviour.

Also here it is likely that the question is narrowed down to eg.

Discuss two studies related to one psychological disorder.

Or Evaluate one theory relevant to one psychological disorder.

Remember: in all essays you should evaluate and analyse your supporting theories/studies – regardless if they ask you to or not.

3. Examine the concepts of normality and abnormality

Other command terms are very likely here, like discuss, to what extent etc.

The command term Examine requires you to consider an argument or concept in a way that uncovers the assumptions and interrelationships of the issue. You need to be clear about what the basis is of each definition of abnormality or normality used and what their flaws are. You also need to refer to research and theory, and refer to examples and research.

4. Discuss validity and reliability of diagnosis.

_______________________________________________________________________________

5. Discuss cultural and ethical considerations in diagnosis.

This question is likely to be too general – and therefore specifications will verly likely occur.. Eg.

Discuss cultural considerations in diagnosis.

It might also be so that there is a choice given:

Discuss cultural OR ethical considerations in diagnosis

___________________________________________________________________________

6. Describe symptoms and prevalence of one disorder from two of the following groups anxiety, affective or eating disorder).

This is a tricky one. The command term is describe, which is a level 2 objective, not a level 3 (for an essay). It might be so that since you are asked to do two things OR it might be so that you will be asked to describe symptoms OR prevalence and then analyse etiologies for the disorder you chose. It might be worded something like this:

Describe symptoms and analyse etiologies (in terms of biological, cognitive or sociocultural factors) of one disorder anxiety OR affective OR eating disorder.

But you are also to be able to discuss cultural and gender variations of disorders.

Discuss cultural and gender variations in prevalence of one disorder.

7. Analyse etiologies (in terms of biological, cognitive and/or sociocultural factors) of one affective OR axienty or eating disorder.

Or analyse two etiologies/one etiology of one disorder.

8. Examine biomedical, individual and group approaches to treatment.

This is the learning outcome. I would guess that they would limit it to something like:

Examine biomedical, individual OR group approaches to treatment of one disorder.

Or examine two approaches to treatment of one disorders. Compare and contrast could also be a command term used. Still, if one looks at the learning outcome below, this one is more general which would allow a student to use various disorders to exemplify treatment approaches.

9. Evaluate the use of biomedical, individual and group approaches to the

treatment of one disorder.

See comment above.

10. Discuss the use of eclectic approaches to treatment.

11. Discuss the relationship between etiology and therapeutic approach in relation to one disorder.

Question 10 and 11 are difficult but rather straight forward questions.

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