Free AQA GCSE Psychology (8182) Exam Questions and Answers
AQA GCSE Psychology (8182) is AQA's GCSE Psychology qualification, specification 8182, taken in England. The questions here come from AQA's published question papers from November 2020 to June 2025, plus its specimen papers, with answers and marking guidance taken from AQA's own mark schemes. Written-answer questions let you work out your answer and then reveal what the mark scheme accepts; diagrams, graphs and source material appear with the questions that use them.
Looking for AQA GCSE Psychology (8182) exam dumps or ExamTopics questions? These practice questions cover the same ground with verified answers and explanations, a downloadable PDF and a full practice test, kept current as AQA updates the exam.
Last updated: October 17, 2026
- Provider
- AQA
- Questions in our bank
- 1000+
- Free to read
- First 10, with answers
- Our test mode duration & pass mark
- 130 mins · 70%
- Verified answers
- Reviewed weekly
- Practice format
- Written answers & multiple choice
Recommended: Switch to Test Mode to start a practice test that simulates the real exam experience.
Question #1
Which two of the following statements about the reconstructive theory of memory are correct? Shade two boxes.
Select 2 answers.
Correct answer: C, E
Explanation
One mark for each correct option: C and E.
Continue with AQA GCSE Psychology (8182)
Unlock the full question bank
You have read the first 10 questions. A subscription opens every question in AQA GCSE Psychology (8182), the full timed practice test, and your progress and weak-topic reporting.
Single exam
$19.99for 30 days
Full question bank and practice test for one exam, for 30 days.
Single exam
$49.99for 1 year
One exam for a full year. Nothing renews and nothing to cancel.
Full access
$39.99/mo
Every exam in the catalogue, month to month.
Full access
$199.99/yr
Every exam in the catalogue for a year.
Already subscribed? Sign in to pick up where you left off.
Question #2
Briefly evaluate the reconstructive theory of memory.
Type your answer, then reveal.
Correct answer: Any clear evaluation point, e.g. supported by Bartlett's War of the Ghosts (participants changed the story, showing memories are reconstructed); but not all memories are reconstructed (important personal events are often accurately recalled); applies to everyday situations such as eyewitnesses giving different versions; higher ecological validity than word-list studies.
Explanation
2 marks: clear and detailed evaluation. 1 mark: limited or muddled evaluation. Other relevant evaluation credited. Other possible points: the theory is still popular despite being developed in the early 1900s. No credit for evaluating the War of the Ghosts study alone without linking it to the theory.
Continue with AQA GCSE Psychology (8182)
Unlock the full question bank
You have read the first 10 questions. A subscription opens every question in AQA GCSE Psychology (8182), the full timed practice test, and your progress and weak-topic reporting.
Single exam
$19.99for 30 days
Full question bank and practice test for one exam, for 30 days.
Single exam
$49.99for 1 year
One exam for a full year. Nothing renews and nothing to cancel.
Full access
$39.99/mo
Every exam in the catalogue, month to month.
Full access
$199.99/yr
Every exam in the catalogue for a year.
Already subscribed? Sign in to pick up where you left off.
Question #3
Read the following article. TJ had a cycling accident which caused brain damage. He now suffers from some memory loss. He cannot recall what he ate or was wearing the day before. He remembers that London is the capital of England and that the Eiffel Tower is in Paris. TJ has also not forgotten how to play the piano and he can still ride his bike. Use the article to identify two examples of procedural memory, two examples of semantic memory and two examples of episodic memory. Write your answers in the correct boxes.

Type your answer, then reveal.
Correct answer: Procedural: how to play the piano; how to ride a bike. Semantic: London is the capital of England; the Eiffel Tower is in Paris. Episodic: what he ate (the day before); what he was wearing (the day before).
Explanation
One mark for each correct example, maximum 2 for each type of memory (6 marks total). Other appropriate wording is credited.
Continue with AQA GCSE Psychology (8182)
Unlock the full question bank
You have read the first 10 questions. A subscription opens every question in AQA GCSE Psychology (8182), the full timed practice test, and your progress and weak-topic reporting.
Single exam
$19.99for 30 days
Full question bank and practice test for one exam, for 30 days.
Single exam
$49.99for 1 year
One exam for a full year. Nothing renews and nothing to cancel.
Full access
$39.99/mo
Every exam in the catalogue, month to month.
Full access
$199.99/yr
Every exam in the catalogue for a year.
Already subscribed? Sign in to pick up where you left off.
Question #4
Read the following article. TJ had a cycling accident which caused brain damage. He now suffers from some memory loss. He cannot recall what he ate or was wearing the day before. He remembers that London is the capital of England and that the Eiffel Tower is in Paris. TJ has also not forgotten how to play the piano and he can still ride his bike. Psychologists sometimes study unique individuals like TJ using a case study. Briefly evaluate the use of case studies in psychological research.
Type your answer, then reveal.
Correct answer: Case studies give very detailed information and record behaviour over time so changes can be seen. They are good for studying unusual behaviour that cannot be studied by other methods, which helps understand what is normal. However, findings cannot be generalised to a wider population because the participants are unique. There are ethical issues, e.g. unique participants may be identifiable, so confidentiality is hard to keep.
Explanation
3 marks: clear and detailed evaluation. 2 marks: limited evaluation. 1 mark: very limited or muddled evaluation. Other relevant content accepted.
Continue with AQA GCSE Psychology (8182)
Unlock the full question bank
You have read the first 10 questions. A subscription opens every question in AQA GCSE Psychology (8182), the full timed practice test, and your progress and weak-topic reporting.
Single exam
$19.99for 30 days
Full question bank and practice test for one exam, for 30 days.
Single exam
$49.99for 1 year
One exam for a full year. Nothing renews and nothing to cancel.
Full access
$39.99/mo
Every exam in the catalogue, month to month.
Full access
$199.99/yr
Every exam in the catalogue for a year.
Already subscribed? Sign in to pick up where you left off.
Question #5
You have been asked to investigate the effect of interference on the accuracy of memory. Describe how you would design an experiment to do this. You need to include: • what participants would be asked to do • a suitable hypothesis for your experiment • the results that you expect to find.
Type your answer, then reveal.
Correct answer: A suitable design has two conditions: participants learn similar material (e.g. a list of words), then in the interference condition learn a second similar list before recall, while the control condition rests or does an unrelated task before recall. A hypothesis states both conditions and the DV, e.g. 'Participants who learn a second similar word list will recall fewer words from the first list than participants who have no second list.' Expected result: the interference group recalls fewer/less accurately than the control group, who recall more.
Explanation
AO2 description, up to 2 marks: 2 for a clear and accurate description where participants do a similar thing with similar material; 1 for limited or muddled. Hypothesis, up to 2 marks: 2 if it includes both conditions of the independent variable and a clear dependent variable (operational); 1 if it lacks some clarity. AO3 expected results, up to 2 marks: 2 for a clear and accurate description with both conditions of the independent variable; 1 for limited or muddled. Description and results marks only count if the experiment investigates interference on accuracy of memory. Distraction is not interference, so a distraction experiment is unlikely to be creditworthy. Only describing a known study, rather than basing the design on one, gets a maximum of 1 mark for the description.
Continue with AQA GCSE Psychology (8182)
Unlock the full question bank
You have read the first 10 questions. A subscription opens every question in AQA GCSE Psychology (8182), the full timed practice test, and your progress and weak-topic reporting.
Single exam
$19.99for 30 days
Full question bank and practice test for one exam, for 30 days.
Single exam
$49.99for 1 year
One exam for a full year. Nothing renews and nothing to cancel.
Full access
$39.99/mo
Every exam in the catalogue, month to month.
Full access
$199.99/yr
Every exam in the catalogue for a year.
Already subscribed? Sign in to pick up where you left off.
Question #6
Murdock investigated the effects of serial position on recall. Describe and evaluate this study.
Type your answer, then reveal.
Correct answer: Answers should accurately describe Murdock's serial position curve study (procedure, findings and conclusions, e.g. words at the start and end of a list are recalled better than those in the middle) and evaluate it effectively, with sound conclusions.
Explanation
Level 3 (5–6 marks): accurate, detailed knowledge of Murdock's study (AO1); effective analysis and evaluation with sound, fully expressed conclusions (AO3); consistent use of terminology; clear, coherent, well-reasoned. Level 2 (3–4): knowledge present with occasional inaccuracies or omissions; some effective evaluation, may attempt conclusions; terminology usually used; generally coherent. Level 1 (1–2): limited knowledge; evaluation limited or absent; terminology occasionally used; may lack clarity. 0: no relevant content. AO1 is worth 3 marks and AO3 is worth 3 marks. Marked on AO1 (description) and AO3 (evaluation). Description points: aim (separate STM and LTM stores, or whether recall depends on position in list); participants heard word lists of 10–40 words and recalled as many as possible; more words recalled from start (primacy) and end (recency) than middle; end words still in STM, start words transferred to LTM, middle words in neither store; likelihood of recall depends on position. Evaluation points: evidence for STM and LTM stores; laboratory setting gives control of extraneous variables so position can be taken as the cause; artificial task (listening to word lists) so results may lack validity for everyday memory; lab setting may increase artificiality so hard to generalise; limited sample (psychology students, similar age) so hard to generalise to other people. Other relevant content accepted. Merely mentioning 'serial position' earns no credit as it is in the question stem.
Continue with AQA GCSE Psychology (8182)
Unlock the full question bank
You have read the first 10 questions. A subscription opens every question in AQA GCSE Psychology (8182), the full timed practice test, and your progress and weak-topic reporting.
Single exam
$19.99for 30 days
Full question bank and practice test for one exam, for 30 days.
Single exam
$49.99for 1 year
One exam for a full year. Nothing renews and nothing to cancel.
Full access
$39.99/mo
Every exam in the catalogue, month to month.
Full access
$199.99/yr
Every exam in the catalogue for a year.
Already subscribed? Sign in to pick up where you left off.
Question #7
Gilchrist and Nesberg investigated the effect of motivation on perception. Which two of the following statements about their study are correct? Shade two boxes.
Correct answer: B
Explanation
Only part of the answer is confirmed here: B is correct. The second correct option is not stated in the pages provided. One mark for each correct option: B and C.
Continue with AQA GCSE Psychology (8182)
Unlock the full question bank
You have read the first 10 questions. A subscription opens every question in AQA GCSE Psychology (8182), the full timed practice test, and your progress and weak-topic reporting.
Single exam
$19.99for 30 days
Full question bank and practice test for one exam, for 30 days.
Single exam
$49.99for 1 year
One exam for a full year. Nothing renews and nothing to cancel.
Full access
$39.99/mo
Every exam in the catalogue, month to month.
Full access
$199.99/yr
Every exam in the catalogue for a year.
Already subscribed? Sign in to pick up where you left off.
Question #8
Which one of the following is a description of occlusion? Shade one box.
Correct answer: C
Explanation
One mark for C.
Continue with AQA GCSE Psychology (8182)
Unlock the full question bank
You have read the first 10 questions. A subscription opens every question in AQA GCSE Psychology (8182), the full timed practice test, and your progress and weak-topic reporting.
Single exam
$19.99for 30 days
Full question bank and practice test for one exam, for 30 days.
Single exam
$49.99for 1 year
One exam for a full year. Nothing renews and nothing to cancel.
Full access
$39.99/mo
Every exam in the catalogue, month to month.
Full access
$199.99/yr
Every exam in the catalogue for a year.
Already subscribed? Sign in to pick up where you left off.
Question #9
Read the following information. A researcher investigated the effect of emotion on perception. She used two groups of participants. Participants in Group A had been identified as having a mild fear of spiders. Participants in Group B did not have a fear of spiders. She showed each participant a photo of a spider. Then she asked them to estimate the length of the spider. She recorded the estimated length of the spider for each participant. The estimated length of the spider, in millimetres, for each participant in Group A and Group B is shown in Table 1. The range of estimated lengths for the spider for participants in Group B was 43 mm. Use the information in Table 1 to calculate the range of estimates for participants in Group A. Show your workings.

Type your answer, then reveal.
Correct answer: 102 or 103 mm
Explanation
2 marks for the correct range (102 or 103). 1 mark for correct workings only: 161 – 59.
Continue with AQA GCSE Psychology (8182)
Unlock the full question bank
You have read the first 10 questions. A subscription opens every question in AQA GCSE Psychology (8182), the full timed practice test, and your progress and weak-topic reporting.
Single exam
$19.99for 30 days
Full question bank and practice test for one exam, for 30 days.
Single exam
$49.99for 1 year
One exam for a full year. Nothing renews and nothing to cancel.
Full access
$39.99/mo
Every exam in the catalogue, month to month.
Full access
$199.99/yr
Every exam in the catalogue for a year.
Already subscribed? Sign in to pick up where you left off.
Question #10
Read the following information. A researcher investigated the effect of emotion on perception. She used two groups of participants. Participants in Group A had been identified as having a mild fear of spiders. Participants in Group B did not have a fear of spiders. She showed each participant a photo of a spider. Then she asked them to estimate the length of the spider. She recorded the estimated length of the spider for each participant. The estimated length of the spider, in millimetres, for each participant in Group A and Group B is shown in Table 1. The mean estimated length of the spider in Group A was 93 mm. Use the information in Table 1 to calculate the mean estimated length of the spider in Group B. State your answer using two significant figures and show your workings.

Type your answer, then reveal.
Correct answer: 81 mm
Explanation
3 marks for the correct mean to two significant figures (81). 2 marks for the correct mean not rounded to two significant figures (80.6). 1 mark for correct workings only: 806/10. Credit may be given for correct answers written in the workings box, not just on the answer line.
Continue with AQA GCSE Psychology (8182)
Unlock the full question bank
You have read the first 10 questions. A subscription opens every question in AQA GCSE Psychology (8182), the full timed practice test, and your progress and weak-topic reporting.
Single exam
$19.99for 30 days
Full question bank and practice test for one exam, for 30 days.
Single exam
$49.99for 1 year
One exam for a full year. Nothing renews and nothing to cancel.
Full access
$39.99/mo
Every exam in the catalogue, month to month.
Full access
$199.99/yr
Every exam in the catalogue for a year.
Already subscribed? Sign in to pick up where you left off.
Discussion
Explain your reasoning, not just the letterOther AQA certifications
- AQA GCSE Combined Science: Trilogy (8464) (opens in a new tab)
- AQA GCSE Mathematics (8300) (opens in a new tab)
- AQA GCSE Combined Science: Synergy (8465) (opens in a new tab)
- AQA GCSE Chemistry (8462) (opens in a new tab)
- AQA GCSE Physics (8463) (opens in a new tab)
- AQA GCSE Biology (8461) (opens in a new tab)
- AQA GCSE Religious Studies A (8062) (opens in a new tab)
- AQA GCSE Spanish (8698) (opens in a new tab)
- AQA GCSE Geography (8035) (opens in a new tab)
- AQA GCSE German (8668) (opens in a new tab)
- AQA GCSE French (8658) (opens in a new tab)
- AQA GCSE History (8145) (opens in a new tab)
Reviews
Write a review★★★★★
Exam Practice is worth every penny. The mock exams are realistic, and the feedback helped me focus on key areas.
Amit SharmaVerified buyer
★★★★★
I highly recommend Exam Practice. The feedback after each test helped me improve significantly, and I passed my exams easily.
Oscar NyströmVerified buyer
★★★★★
This platform is a lifesaver. The practice questions and explanations are so detailed. It’s the best study tool I’ve ever used.
Hannah SmithVerified buyer



