What skills do I need before starting a psychology degree?
Before starting a psychology degree, it helps to have strong reading, academic writing, critical-thinking, and communication skills. You should be willing to learn basic research methods and statistics, evaluate evidence, manage your time, and approach people and sensitive topics with empathy, curiosity, cultural awareness, and ethical care. Prior psychology study is not always required.
Key points
- Comfort with data, graphs, and basic mathematics can help because psychology includes statistics and research methods.
- Organisation, independent study, note-taking, and clear referencing support degree-level work.
- Open-mindedness and the ability to consider different explanations are valuable when studying behaviour and mental processes.
Things to check
- Specific entry subjects, recommended preparation, and any required mathematics or science background vary by university, country, and course, so check the official course information.