Psychology is a discipline of both scientific research and applied practice. As a science, psychology is concerned with the study of behaviour and its underlying mental and neural processes. Students gain an integrated and comprehensive education in main discipline areas, including developmental, social, cognitive, biological, physiological and abnormal psychology. The program also develops research methods skills. Psychology has many areas of cutting edge interdisciplinary research and application and students have an option to pursue individual interests, choosing electives from a range of specialist areas, including psychology and law; psychology and work; development disorders; psychopathology; health psychology, language, cognitive science, neuroscience and others.

The degree allows students to complete an accredited Psychology degree across three years. The program is also designed to allow the additional study of an appropriate associated major in a related discipline where there is a professional and/or academic rationale that supports the proposed combinations. Majors that may be taken from outside of the Faculty of Science include marketing, human resource management, management, criminology, linguistics, philosophy and history and philosophy of science. From the Faculty of Science students may study majors in neuroscience, physiology, anatomy, or vision science. Should students choose to specialize in Psychology, the degree gives students the opportunity to complete an additional fourth year honours in Psychology, subject to satisfying the entry requirements for honours study outlined below. Students will need to decide at the end of Stage 2 whether they wish to pursue honours in Psychology, and if so, completion of a complementary major may not be possible due to the number of Psychology courses required at Stage 3 for honours in Psychology.

The basic rules for the degree are set out under Program Objectives and Academic Rules. Students in the Bachelor of Psychological Science program need to ensure that they complete a minimum of 60 units of credit (UOC) in Psychology (as defined below). A total of at least 84 UOC (out of a total of 144) must be taken from the Faculty of Science. The remainder may be taken in other Faculties. Students wanting to attempt to gain entry to the Honours Year 4 in Psychology must complete additional Psychology requirements (a total of 78 UOC in Psychology). Complementary majors and their appropriate program structures are defined in the following document Bachelor of Psychological Science

1. To develop sound understanding of psychological theory, research skills, and psychological techniques;
2. To develop the capacity for critical thinking and independent learning;
3. To enable students to take Psychology elective studies in areas of individual interest;
4. To provide students with an opportunity to study psychology in combination with other disciplines,and take courses in other Faculties;
5. To develop general and Psychology-specific graduate attributes.

Plus 12 UoC from Level III Psychology courses (must include courses from both elective groups listed below)


Note:
Students who are undertaking a complementary Neuroscience major are required to select PSYC3051 as one of their 12 UoC;
Students who are undertaking a complementary Vision major are required to select PSYC3221 as one of their 12 UoC.

Please be aware that not all level III Psychology elective courses are necessarily offered each year


Elective Stream A:

* Note: Electives may be used to fullfill the requirments of a complementary Major. Additionally, when considering electives please ensure that the program requirement of underaking a minimum of 84 UoC across Stage 1-3 from Science Schools (defined in Table 1) is fullfilled.

To fulfill the University’s General Education requirement students must complete 12 units of credit selected from courses outside the Faculty of Science.

Plus 24 UoC from Level III Psychology courses (must include courses from both elective groups listed below)

Note:
Students who are undertaking a complementary Neuroscience major are required to select PSYC3051 as one of their 24 UoC;
Students who are undertaking a complementary Vision major are required to select PSYC3221 as one of their 24 UoC.

Please be aware that not all level III Psychology elective courses are necessarily offered each year.


Elective Stream A:

6 UOC *Electives or General Education if required

* Note: Electives may be used to fullfill the requirments of a complementary Major. Additionally, when considering electives please ensure that the program requirement of underaking a minimum of 84 UoC across Stage 1-3 from Science Schools (defined in Table 1) is fullfilled.

To qualify for the award of the degree at Pass level:

1. Students must complete 144 units of credit (UOC).
2. The degree must contain a minimum of 60 UOC in Psychology (as defined ).
3. No student may commence Level II courses until 18 Level I units have been successfully completed.
4. Students must complete at least 84 UOC from Science Schools.
5. Students must complete 12 UOC of courses as the General Education requirement selected from courses outside the Faculty of Science. This requirement is met if a major offered by a Faculty other than the Faculty of Science is completed.
6. The required minimum 60 UOC sequence in Psychology, and an Honours plan, are defined under the Program Structure rules.
7. Complementary Majors are: Marketing, Human Resource Management, Management, Criminology, Philosophy, Linguistics, History and Philosophy of Science, Neuroscience, Physiology, Anatomy and Vision Science.
8. "Science Schools" are defined in Table 1 below. Courses offered by the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences in the Environment and Society, History and Philosophy of Science and Philosophy Majors do not count towards the 84 UOC Science requirement.
9. The Faculty of Science may award a Pass degree with Distinction to students who obtain a minimum of 75 WAM across the program and complete at least 72 UOC at UNSW.

To qualify for the award of the degree at Honours level:

1. Students must satisfy requirements for a pass degree (144 UOC) with at least 78 UOC of Psychology Stage I, II, and III courses, and meet the requirements for progression into Honours. Students will not be allowed to progress to Stage IV unless they achieve an average across Psychology courses taken in Stages I, II and III of 75 percent or higher, although students achieving an average of 70 percent or more may be admitted subject to appropriate research and supervision resources being available and at the discretion of the Head of School.
2. Structure: students must undertake 48 UOC in Psychology in Honours year full time. The program includes a substantial research component.
3. Award: Class I or Class II of Division 1, or Class II Division 2 or Class III. If requirements for these classes are not met, a Pass degree will be awarded.

TABLE 1 The definition of "Science Schools"

Courses which are offered by the following Schools and Departments can be counted towards the 84 UoC of Science required in this program. The course prefixes that are associated with each School or Department are in bold listed below:
Aviation - AVIA
Biological Earth and Environmental Sciences - BIOS, BEES, GEOS, MSCI
Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences - BABS, BIOC, BIOT, MICR
Chemistry - CHEM
Computer Science - COMP
Food Science - FOOD
Materials Science and Engineering - MATS
Mathematics and Statistics - MATH, MSCI
Medical Sciences - ANAT, NEUR, PATH, PHAR, PHSL
Psychology - PSYC
Physics - PHYS
Optometry and Vision Science - VISN
Science Communication – SCOM

For information regarding fees for UNSW programs, please refer to the following website:  https://my.unsw.edu.au/student/fees/FeesMainPage.html