Exam-style practice (harder): Psychology multiple choice
14 harder, exam-style QCE Psychology Units 3 and 4 multiple-choice questions set in experiments and scenarios: split-brain research, depth cues, perceptual set, levels of processing, serial position, interference, conditioning, social learning, the bystander effect, attribution, dissonance and statistics. Each is tagged with its question type and every distractor explained.
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Why this set is harder than a recall quiz
A recall quiz asks you to define retroactive interference. The QCAA Psychology external assessment describes an experiment or a scenario and asks you to work out which concept is operating, what the data show, or what a result would look like under a changed condition. The distractors are real psychological terms that fit a slightly different situation.
These 14 questions follow that design. They are original practice questions written by ExamExplained, not from any QCAA paper. Each explanation begins with a Type tag and explains why every wrong option is wrong.
Before you read the options, say what is happening in the scenario in your own words ("new learning is blocking old learning"). Then match it to a term. Reading the options first makes a nearly right term look convincing.
The question types
| Type | What it looks like | Typical trap |
|---|---|---|
| Concept application | Split-brain tests, depth cues, perceptual set, serial position, interference, conditioning, attribution, dissonance | Right term, wrong direction (proactive versus retroactive); binocular cues in a flat image |
| Data interpretation | Levels of processing with response times, bystander data, confidence intervals | Missing a confound; concluding from means without the intervals |
| Calculation | Interquartile range | Reporting the range or the median instead |
Question map
| Q | Type | Syllabus area |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Concept application | Unit 3: localisation of function (split brain) |
| 2 | Concept application | Unit 4: cross-cultural psychology and attribution |
| 3 | Concept application | Unit 3: depth cues |
| 4 | Concept application | Unit 3: perceptual set |
| 5 | Data interpretation | Unit 3: levels of processing |
| 6 | Concept application | Unit 3: multi-store model and serial position |
| 7 | Concept application | Unit 3: interference |
| 8 | Concept application | Unit 3: classical conditioning |
| 9 | Concept application | Unit 3: social learning |
| 10 | Data interpretation | Unit 4: bystander effect |
| 11 | Concept application | Unit 4: attribution |
| 12 | Concept application | Unit 4: cognitive dissonance |
| 13 | Data interpretation | Research methods: confidence intervals |
| 14 | Calculation | Research methods: interquartile range |
Pairs of terms to keep apart
- Proactive versus retroactive interference. Old disrupts new, or new disrupts old.
- Primacy versus recency. Long-term memory versus short-term memory at the moment of recall.
- Pictorial versus binocular and physiological cues. Only pictorial cues work in a painting.
- Learning versus performance. Observational learning can occur without imitation.
- Fundamental attribution error versus self-serving bias. Judging others by disposition versus protecting your own self-esteem.
Concluding that two conditions differ just because their means differ. Check whether the confidence intervals overlap: if they do not, the difference is likely to be real.
What to do next
- Practise short responses with Mark it yourself: QCE Psychology, which shows how the QCAA marking guide awards each mark.
- Then complete a QCAA past paper and mark it against its published marking guide.
Sources & how we know this
- psychology
- qce-psychology
- multiple-choice
- external-assessment
- exam-technique
- practice-questions
- units-3-4