RBSE SS Psychology study plan
RBSE SS Psychology · Give each week a clear focus.
8 weeks · About 6 hours per week
Self and Personality & Psychological Disorders
Distinguish trait, type, and humanistic approaches to personality and explain how each defines a healthy personality
Compare Freudian psychodynamic structure (id, ego, superego) with post-Freudian and neo-Freudian revisions
Classify the major psychological disorders by cluster (anxiety, mood, psychotic, personality) and state two defining features of each
Explain how the DSM-5 and ICD-10 differ in purpose and structure without memorising full criteria lists
Your checkpoint
A two-column comparison sheet covering four personality approaches and four disorder clusters, each with a 2-sentence definition and one distinguishing example (approx. 1,200 words)
Psychological Disorders & Self and Personality
Identify causal and maintaining factors for anxiety, mood, and psychotic disorders using the diathesis-stress model
Describe assessment methods used in personality and clinical work (interview, projective, self-report) and state one limitation of each
Apply the concept of self-esteem and self-efficacy to a case vignette and justify the diagnosis-free interpretation
Explain cultural and gender considerations that affect how disorder symptoms present and are labelled
Your checkpoint
Three short case vignettes (150 words each) with a reasoned classification and a note on which assessment tool you would use and why
Variations in Psychological Attributes & Therapeutic Approaches
Define intelligence and differentiate psychometric, information-processing, and multiple-intelligence perspectives
Explain reliability, validity, and norms as criteria for evaluating any psychological test
Map each major therapy orientation (psychodynamic, behaviour, cognitive, humanistic, biomedical) to its core assumption and typical technique
Match a given disorder to at least two evidence-supported therapeutic approaches and justify the match
Your checkpoint
A therapy-matching table with five orientations across four disorders (20 cells), each cell naming one technique and one expected outcome
Therapeutic Approaches & Social Influence and Group Processes
Explain the process and ethical boundaries of client-centred and cognitive-behavioural therapy in session-level terms
Describe group dynamics: norms, roles, cohesiveness, and conformity as studied by classic social psychology experiments
Differentiate compliance, identification, and internalisation as mechanisms of social influence
Explain how obedience and bystander behaviour are shaped by situational versus dispositional factors
Your checkpoint
A 600-word essay comparing individual therapy with group-based intervention, citing at least three concepts from social influence
Attitude and Social Cognition & Social Influence and Group Processes
Distinguish attitude components (cognitive, affective, behavioural) and explain attitude-behaviour consistency conditions
Explain attribution biases, stereotypes, and prejudice using social-cognitive mechanisms
Describe strategies for prejudice reduction and evaluate their evidence base
Explain pro-social behaviour and the conditions under which helping occurs
Your checkpoint
A one-page concept map linking attitude formation, attribution, prejudice, and helping behaviour with at least 10 labelled links
Meeting Life Challenges & Psychology and Life
Explain stress as appraisal-based and differentiate eustress from distress
Describe coping strategies (problem-focused, emotion-focused) and the general adaptation syndrome stages
Identify lifestyle and environmental factors linked to health outcomes and psychological wellbeing
Explain how work, family, and community contexts shape psychological functioning
Your checkpoint
A stress-and-coping case analysis (500 words) applying appraisal theory and naming two coping strategies with justification
Developing Psychological Skills & Variations in Psychological Attributes
Describe core counselling skills: active listening, empathy, paraphrasing, and appropriate questioning
Explain the stages of the helping relationship and the ethical duties of confidentiality and informed consent
Explain how psychological tests are administered and interpreted within ethical limits
Apply test-evaluation criteria to a described testing scenario and identify the main threat to validity
Your checkpoint
A recorded or scripted 10-minute mock counselling dialogue annotated with at least six labelled micro-skills
Psychological Disorders & Therapeutic Approaches & Attitude and Social Cognition
Synthesise disorder classification, therapy selection, and social-cognitive factors into integrated case reasoning
Answer timed mixed-domain question sets and review every error against its source concept
Recall key theorists and their contributions across all nine domains without notes
Identify and close the two weakest domains based on practice-test performance
Your checkpoint
A full-length timed practice test with an error log listing each missed item, its domain, and the corrected concept (minimum 20 entries)
Milestones
Week 4: Score at least 70% on a 40-question mixed set drawn from Domains 2, 4, and 5, and be able to name the core assumption and one technique for all five therapy orientations from memory
Week 6: Explain, without notes, one disorder from each cluster, the appraisal model of stress, and three social-influence mechanisms, in under 10 minutes
Week 8: Complete a full timed practice test with every error logged by domain and a written plan for the two weakest domains; all eight weekly deliverables filed