Your Honours Degree

Your Honours degree with UNISA

There is a continuous debate among students about whether to do all 8 modules in one year or to split them over 2 or 3 years. For some this may be dependent on whether you work full/part-time, if you have children, etc. However, through our experience at Psych Online Tutors it is evident that the workload for honours can be overwhelming and is exponentially more demanding than the undergraduate degree. Furthermore, becoming a psychologist is not only about academic excellence (although this is a crucial requirement), it also entails self-development (e.g. personal growth courses and therapy), practical skills and the building of your portfolio by gaining experience as a counsellor through volunteer work, doing courses to develop counselling skills (e.g. Lifeline or FAMSA), acquiring valuable community and research experience.

Over the years we have seen countless students take on too many modules at the beginning of honours, without understanding the intensity and volume of the workload and leaving minimal time to build up their portfolios. Additionally, many students after enrolling for all 8 modules either end up dropping subjects (which they cannot get refunded on), deferring modules or fail modules because they do not have the time to dedicate to them to get the marks that they wish to achieve.

Further, becoming a psychologist is a journey that requires you to develop skills and those who race ahead tend to become disappointed and disheartened when they do not get immediate acceptance into masters. Psych Online Tutors sees this journey as grooming students to become counsellors and/or psychologists and not to just attain an honours degree. We encourage students to plan their degree over 2 or 3 years and utilise this time to build a portfolio that will improve the chances of being invited for master's interviews. To facilitate this, we help students to plan their degrees by assisting in the selection of modules to optimise their chances of success. We can also assist you in how to go about building your portfolio.

There are 3 different streams when studying your Honours in Psychology with UNISA:

Stream 1: With Specialisation in Psychological Counselling
Stream 2: With Specialisation in Community and Health Psychology
Stream 3: With Specialisation in Applied Psychology for Professional Contexts

Stream 1: With Specialisation in Psychological Counselling

The following modules are compulsory for Stream 1:

HMPYC80 - Research Methodology

HRPYC81 - Research Report (Co-requisite: HMPYC80)

PYC4802 - Psychopathology (Co-requisite: HMPYC80)

PYC4805 - Developmental Psychology (Co-requisite: HMPYC80)

PYC4807 - Psychological Assessment (Co-requisite: HMPYC80)

PYC4808 - Ecosystemic Psychology (Co-requisite: HMPYC80)

PYC4809 - Therapeutic Psychology (Co-requisite: HMPYC80)

PYC4811 - Community and Health Psychology (Co-requisite: HMPYC80)

Stream 2: With Specialisation in Community and Health Psychology

The following modules are compulsory for Stream 2: