Halfway there! The expectations and experiences of single- and dual-honours psychology students in their second year

Few studies have discussed student learning in the secondyear as opposed to the first. This paper reports the results from a questionnaire study of the expectations and experiences of second-year psychology undergraduates following a single-honours (N = 24 male and 128 female) or a dual-honours (N = 39 male and 142 female) psychology course in two UK universities. The findings showed few differences between the single and the dual-honours students, and few sex differences. Around half of the students surveyed on both courses had experienced workload problems and many said they had not been prepared for some aspects of university study. Many of the second-year students, including almost half of those who had taken a pre-university (A-level) course in psychology, reported being surprised by certain elements of their university course, but felt that completing their A-level had been helpful. These findings are little different from those obtained with first-year students but some suggestions for carrying out further research with second-year students are considered.