Textbook - Edrolo - Summary notes: What is the ultimate resource?

[t101]

Hey everyone!

I'm just starting psych 3&4 this year. I didn't do units 1&2... I'm really looking forward to the subject!
This year, my school has gone with Edrolo without the textbook. My brother thinks I need to buy a textbook, but I'm not so sure?? He never had Edrolo when he was at school.
My plan is to watch all the videos and use my teacher and the Edrolo glossary (in the workbook) to make notes. I'm thinking that I could buy one of those small summary books, like A+ notes or something for any extra detail, and use checkpoints to practise exam questions.

Would this work? Do I need to buy a whole textbook? or if I read summary notes and watched videos, would that be enough?
What do you even use your textbook for in psych, anyway? Do you need the whole thing?

[Joseph41]

Hey everyone!

I'm just starting psych 3&4 this year. I didn't do units 1&2... I'm really looking forward to the subject!
This year, my school has gone with Edrolo without the textbook. My brother thinks I need to buy a textbook, but I'm not so sure?? He never had Edrolo when he was at school.
My plan is to watch all the videos and use my teacher and the Edrolo glossary (in the workbook) to make notes. I'm thinking that I could buy one of those small summary books, like A+ notes or something for any extra detail, and use checkpoints to practise exam questions.

Would this work? Do I need to buy a whole textbook? or if I read summary notes and watched videos, would that be enough?
What do you even use your textbook for in psych, anyway? Do you need the whole thing?

Hey, t101!

Awesome subject selection haha - Psych is an incredible subject. I'm sure you'll love it!

I can't comment too much, as I've never used Edrolo; I assume it covers the (new) course in its entirety? I do feel it's slightly risky going without a textbook, but maybe that's because I used textbooks pretty heavily (to make summaries (and then summaries of the summaries (and then summaries of the summaries of the summaries))). Of course, they are quite expensive - and it's difficult to say how good the new ones will be for the new study design.

What you've mentioned with the summary notes sounds like a pretty good compromise to me. You could also consider what ATAR Notes has to offer: entirely free notes for a heap of subjects from previous students (I'm not sure if these'll be updated entirely for the new study design, though), and also published, comprehensive Psych notes.

Perhaps somebody with greater Edrolo experience could pitch in, but I'll leave you with this:

If ever you have any questions (Psych-related or otherwise) throughout the year, ATAR Notes will be here waiting for you. I'm looking forward to seeing you around, t101!

[sweetiepi]

Hey everyone!

I'm just starting psych 3&4 this year. I didn't do units 1&2... I'm really looking forward to the subject!
This year, my school has gone with Edrolo without the textbook. My brother thinks I need to buy a textbook, but I'm not so sure?? He never had Edrolo when he was at school.
My plan is to watch all the videos and use my teacher and the Edrolo glossary (in the workbook) to make notes. I'm thinking that I could buy one of those small summary books, like A+ notes or something for any extra detail, and use checkpoints to practise exam questions.

Would this work? Do I need to buy a whole textbook? or if I read summary notes and watched videos, would that be enough?
What do you even use your textbook for in psych, anyway? Do you need the whole thing?

What you've mentioned with the summary notes sounds like a pretty good compromise to me. You could also consider what ATAR Notes has to offer: entirely free notes for a heap of subjects from previous students (I'm not sure if these'll be updated entirely for the new study design, though), and also published, comprehensive Psych notes.

Perhaps somebody with greater Edrolo experience could pitch in

Hey t101!
Albeit I didn't do psych in year 12 (my #1 regret, haha), I had edrolo for my subjects. My experience with edrolo was that I felt that it was more a supplement to a textbook or notes (mainly my own notes because I really only used my textbooks for questions). It mostly covers current study designs (last I checked, anyways) and goes through some tips and tricks for answering exam-style questions, however it didn't feel enough and I kept having to go back to my notes, if I wanted a more detail about a topic or checkpoints if I wanted more questions. I'd highly recommend what Joseph41 says above re: notes and I like your compromise, using your teacher and edrolo together.

*disclaimer: just my own opinion

[t101]

Thanks Joseph41 and insanipi!
Can I ask you a bit about making notes from textbooks? Isn't there a lot of extra info in textbooks that isn't necessary? How do you know what to makes notes from?
Also with questions... is there any point to the textbook questions? or should I stick to checkpoints/VCAA?

[Aaron]

Can vouch for insanipi's statement re: edrolo as a support rather than the main resource. It is not designed to fully replace existing materials, rather to provide an alternative explanation to your teacher and/or the textbook. Cheers.

[sweetiepi]

Thanks Joseph41 and insanipi!
Can I ask you a bit about making notes from textbooks? Isn't there a lot of extra info in textbooks that isn't necessary? How do you know what to makes notes from?

Most welcome!
Textbooks do generally have extra tidbits that are cool to know, but aren't generally necessary for exams/sacs. I knew what notes to make because I used my friend the study design (from the VCAA website) to guide me on what I absolutely needed to know, throughout the textbook/classroom notes.

Also with questions... is there any point to the textbook questions? or should I stick to checkpoints/VCAA?

Textbook questions are generally there to check for conceptual understanding, whereas checkpoints/VCAA exams test out your knowledge of the study design/what you need to know.

(This is generally speaking, I'll leave J41 to the specifics for psych )

[Joseph41]

Thanks Joseph41 and insanipi!
Can I ask you a bit about making notes from textbooks? Isn't there a lot of extra info in textbooks that isn't necessary? How do you know what to makes notes from?
Also with questions... is there any point to the textbook questions? or should I stick to checkpoints/VCAA?

I guess there's some extraneous information, but I wouldn't say there's heaps. As insanipi mentioned, the study design is incredibly useful for things like this; it very clearly tells you what you need to know - and, therefore, what you don't.

I actually didn't mind the textbook questions, although I'm aware that others don't seem to like them. I don't see the harm in completing them, but I wouldn't base your decision on the textbook questions alone.

Let us know what path you take.