AQA, Pearson Edexcel and Cambridge OCR run a GCSE Psychology — Eduqas and WJEC do not. What the Ofqual floor requires, and how the three specifications differ.
Book a Free ConsultationGCSE Psychology is offered under separate specifications by three exam boards: AQA (8182), Pearson Edexcel (1PS0) and Cambridge OCR (J203). Despite four boards offering the equivalent A-level, only these three currently run a GCSE — Eduqas and WJEC do not, confirmed from each board's own current list. Every specification is bound by the same Ofqual-set floor: a minimum of 20% of marks on Research Methods and at least 10% on mathematics. JCQ recorded 21,166 UK entries in 2026.
Not sure which of the three specifications your child's school has entered them for? Our expert GCSE Psychology tutors teach to AQA, Pearson Edexcel and Cambridge OCR alike, building every session around that board's own paper structure and topic list.
Book a Free Consultation Message us on WhatsAppA school's choice of specification is usually invisible to a family until a code appears on a timetable or a statement of entry. Only three of the five UK exam boards actually offer a GCSE in Psychology — a narrower field than the four boards that offer the equivalent A-level, and not a fact to assume carries across levels.
AQA enters students under specification code 8182, qualification accreditation number 603/0932/5, as its own specification document states directly: 'The Ofqual qualification accreditation number (QAN) is 603/0932/5.' The specification is for teaching from September 2017 onwards, with exams from 2019 onwards.
Pearson Edexcel's equivalent is 1PS0, qualification number 603/0890/4. Its own specification confirms: 'The QN for this qualification is: 603/0890/4', with first teaching from September 2017 and first certification from June 2019.
Cambridge OCR — the board's own name for itself 'as of September 2025', per its specification cover — runs J203, qualification number 603/1109/5. Its own specification PDF states: 'The accreditation number for OCR's GCSE (9-1) in Psychology is QN603/1109/5.' The document is worth reading directly rather than trusting OCR's own qualification web page: an invented OCR qualification URL of the same shape returns HTTP 200 with a generic 'Qualification details' shell rather than a 404, so a page's mere existence on ocr.org.uk proves nothing on its own.
Eduqas and WJEC do not offer a GCSE in Psychology at all. Eduqas's own complete qualifications list shows only 'AS/A Level Psychology' under the Psychology heading, with no GCSE entry; WJEC's own complete qualifications list shows the identical gap. A handful of stale search results reference a pre-reform WJEC GCSE Psychology unit, but it belongs to the qualification that predates the current 9-1 grading system and does not appear on either board's current list — it is not a qualification a school can enter a student for today.
One reading trap is worth flagging directly. JCQ's own national entries table is titled 'GCSE results by key grades, subjects, age, sex and country', and reports its totals as 'All UK' — meaning the figures used later on this page combine entries from schools in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Some of the GCSE Psychology entries JCQ counts nationally will therefore come from candidates at schools in Wales or Northern Ireland. That is not evidence that a Wales- or Northern-Ireland-based board has started offering the qualification: WJEC and Eduqas's own current lists, quoted above, rule that out directly. A candidate at a school in either nation sitting GCSE Psychology is entered through one of the three UK-wide boards named above — the country field in JCQ's table records where a candidate's school is, not which board's specification it entered them for.
Two of the figures already mentioned are not any board's choice. They are set by regulation, which is why they hold whatever specification a family is looking at.
Ofqual's own GCSE Subject Level Conditions and Requirements for Psychology (Ofqual/16/5916, April 2016) states that the number of marks crediting Research Methods knowledge, skills and understanding 'is no less than 20 per cent of the total marks for the qualification', and separately that 'at least 10 per cent of the total marks for the qualification reward the use of Mathematical Skills' at a level of demand 'not lower than that which is expected of Learners at Key Stage 3'. The same document states plainly that awarding organisations 'must comply with these requirements in relation to all GCSE Qualifications in Psychology they make available' — binding on AQA and Pearson Edexcel exactly as much as on Cambridge OCR.
Assessment-objective weighting is set identically too. AQA's own specification states: 'Assessment objectives (AOs) are set by Ofqual and are the same across all GCSE Psychology specifications and all exam boards', giving AO1 (knowledge and understanding) 35%, AO2 (application) 35% and AO3 (analysis and evaluation) 30% of the qualification overall.
GCSE Psychology is often assumed to be a light option next to the separate sciences, which makes the research-methods and maths floor easy to miss — not least because two of the three boards never print the percentage in their own specification.
Cambridge OCR's own specification states the figures without qualification: 'A minimum of 20% of the overall marks in both components are for the assessment of Research Methods' and 'a minimum of 10% of the overall marks across the two components are targeted at the assessment of mathematics relevant to research methods in psychology.' AQA's and Pearson Edexcel's own specifications list the same kind of maths skills — ratios, percentages, means, scatter diagrams, standard form — without ever stating a percentage figure in either document. A family reading only AQA's or Pearson's own spec would have no way to see the number, even though both boards are equally bound by Ofqual's floor above.
Working out how much of your child's GCSE Psychology mark actually rests on maths and research methods? Our GCSE Psychology tutors work from the specification a school has actually entered a student for, not a generic psychology syllabus.
Book a Free Consultation Message us on WhatsAppOnce a family knows which of the three specifications a school has entered a student for, the practical question is how it is actually assessed. This stays at the level of structure only — paper count, timing and marks — because the syllabus-by-syllabus detail belongs to a dedicated page for each specification.
| Board | Code | Papers | Time per paper | Marks | Distinctive feature |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AQA | 8182 | 2 | 1 hour 45 minutes each | 100 marks each, 50%/50% | Each paper mixes multiple choice, short answer and extended writing in one section |
| Pearson Edexcel | 1PS0 | 2 | 1h45m (Paper 1); 1h20m (Paper 2) | 98 marks (55%); 79 marks (45%) | Paper 2 carries the two school-chosen optional topics |
| Cambridge OCR | J203 | 2 | 1 hour 30 minutes each | 90 marks each, 50%/50% | Brain and neuropsychology is embedded across both components rather than scored as its own section |
Sources: AQA, Pearson Edexcel and Cambridge OCR specifications, quoted above and below.
AQA splits the GCSE into two papers of 1 hour 45 minutes each, worth 100 marks and exactly 50% of the qualification apiece; each paper's Section A carries multiple choice and short answer questions with Section B carrying extended writing. Pearson Edexcel weights its two papers unevenly: Paper 1 carries 98 marks and 55% of the qualification, Paper 2 carries 79 marks and 45%, with Paper 2 the one that examines whichever two optional topics a school has chosen. Cambridge OCR splits its GCSE into two components of 1 hour 30 minutes each, 90 marks and 50% apiece; its specification notes that brain and neuropsychology content is 'embedded within the content but can be assessed in isolation within sections A-C' of either component, rather than sitting as a separately scored topic.
This is the genuine structural difference the subject name alone never reveals. The Department for Education's own GCSE Psychology subject content document (reference DFE-00213-2015, published December 2015) sets 'the five compulsory topics: development; memory; psychological problems; social influence; and the brain and neuropsychology', plus 'two optional topics from the following: criminal psychology; language, thought and communication; perception; sleep and dreaming; or the self', alongside research methods, for every awarding organisation.
What each board does with that choice differs. AQA's own specification pre-fixes Perception and Language, thought and communication into its syllabus, with no alternative offered. Cambridge OCR's own specification pre-fixes Criminal Psychology and Sleep and Dreaming instead. Pearson Edexcel is the only one of the three that leaves the choice to the school: its own specification states plainly, 'Topics 6 to 10 are optional; students must study two of them.' A parent comparing three specifications by subject name alone would have no way to know that two of the three boards have already made this choice for the school, while the third has not.
My son was low in confidence after COVID and the gaps in learning were building up. Using this service helped plug those gaps, rebuild confidence, and improve his ability to learn properly again.
We arranged maths and English tuition ahead of GCSEs and both tutors were brilliant. My daughter's grades improved, and by results day she achieved two grades higher than in her mock exams.
I attended an English bootcamp with Leading Tuition and the experience was excellent. The teacher gave focused attention to the small group while keeping the lessons interactive and engaging.
JCQ's 2026 results, covering the UK and all ages, recorded 21,166 GCSE Psychology entries — up from 20,554 in 2025. Of the 21,166 entries, 15,692 were female (74.2%) and 5,474 were male (25.9%), a gender split skewed well beyond an even split.
Grades held broadly steady year on year: 20.75% of 2026 entries achieved grade 7/A or above, against 20.76% in 2025, and 64.10% achieved grade 4/C or above in 2026. Both figures cover male and female candidates of all ages across the UK.
For scale, JCQ's 2026 series recorded 6,199,256 total UK GCSE entries across all subjects and all ages — GCSE Psychology's 21,166 entries make it a comparatively small optional subject next to that total, consistent with a subject chosen rather than compulsory.
None of the comparisons above change what a student needs to revise — that is set entirely by the specification code on their own statement of entry, not by the subject name on a timetable. Our GCSE tuition is built around whichever of AQA, Pearson Edexcel or Cambridge OCR a student's own school has entered them for, working from that board's own command words, mark schemes and paper structure rather than a generic psychology curriculum.
For a student on Pearson Edexcel, that means confirming which two of the five optional topics their own school has chosen to teach, since Pearson leaves that choice to the school rather than fixing it in the specification. For a student on AQA or Cambridge OCR, the two optional topics are already fixed by the board, so the starting point is simply knowing which of the two boards' own pairing applies. Families weighing up what comes after GCSE can also see our separate A-level Psychology board comparison, and the same Ofqual-set maths floor that applies here is explained at GCSE Maths Level 2 standard.
Ready to start? Our GCSE Psychology tutors teach every current specification — AQA, Pearson Edexcel and Cambridge OCR — and build each programme around the exact paper structure and optional topics a student's own school has entered them for.
Book a Free Consultation Message us on WhatsAppThree do. AQA enters students under specification code 8182, with qualification accreditation number 603/0932/5. Pearson Edexcel's equivalent is 1PS0, qualification number 603/0890/4. Cambridge OCR (formerly OCR, renamed as of September 2025) runs J203, qualification number 603/1109/5. Eduqas and WJEC do not offer a GCSE in Psychology at all — confirmed from each board's own current qualifications list, not assumed from the four-board roster at A-level.
Yes, and it applies regardless of which of the three boards a school has chosen. Ofqual's own GCSE Subject Level Conditions and Requirements for Psychology (Ofqual/16/5916, April 2016) states that awarding organisations must ensure 'no less than 20 per cent of the total marks for the qualification' credit Research Methods, and that 'at least 10 per cent of the total marks for the qualification reward the use of Mathematical Skills' at a Key Stage 3 level of demand. Ofqual states plainly that awarding organisations 'must comply with these requirements in relation to all GCSE Qualifications in Psychology they make available.'
Only Cambridge OCR's own specification prints the figure in writing: 'A minimum of 20% of the overall marks in both components are for the assessment of Research Methods.' AQA and Pearson Edexcel describe the same required skills and assessment objectives without ever quoting the underlying percentage in their own specification documents — a family reading only AQA's or Pearson's own spec would not see the number, even though both boards are equally bound by it.
Only Pearson Edexcel. The Department for Education's national content sets five compulsory topics plus a choice of two from five optional topics for every board. Pearson's own specification states: 'Topics 6 to 10 are optional; students must study two of them' — a genuine school-level choice. AQA and Cambridge OCR each pre-fix a different pair into their own syllabus instead: AQA's specification covers Perception and Language, thought and communication, while OCR's covers Criminal Psychology and Sleep and Dreaming, with no equivalent choice offered to the school.
No. JCQ's own national entries table is titled 'GCSE results by key grades, subjects, age, sex and country', and its country field runs alongside an 'All UK' total — meaning some of the entries counted nationally for GCSE Psychology will come from candidates at schools in Wales or Northern Ireland. That is not evidence that a Wales- or Northern-Ireland-based board offers the qualification: WJEC and Eduqas's own current qualifications lists confirm neither offers a GCSE in Psychology, so any such candidate is entered through one of the three UK-wide boards above. The country field records where a candidate's school is, not which board's specification it entered them for.
JCQ recorded 21,166 UK entries across all ages in 2026, up from 20,554 in 2025. 20.75% of 2026 entries achieved grade 7/A or above, against 20.76% the year before, and 64.10% achieved grade 4/C or above. Of the 21,166 entries, 15,692 (74.2%) were female and 5,474 (25.9%) were male.
Yes, by scale. Its 21,166 UK entries in 2026 sit against 6,199,256 total UK GCSE entries across all subjects in the same JCQ series — Psychology accounts for a small fraction of the overall cohort, consistent with its status as an optional rather than core subject.
Only as a discontinued qualification. A handful of search results reference a pre-reform WJEC GCSE Psychology unit hosted on WJEC's legacy resource site, but it predates the current 9-1 grading system and does not appear on WJEC's current qualifications list. It is not a live, enterable qualification.
91% of our students achieve their desired grades, and we are rated 4.8 out of 5 on Trustpilot from 58 reviews. See also our GCSE tuition hub and our GCSE tutoring page for what a programme looks like.
Book a Free Consultation