Achieving a 40+ in psych without having done it before?

[cbeccia]

Hi everyone,

I have picked up psych 3/4 out of a clash that I had with some of my subjects. Is it possible for me to achieve a 40+, or high 30's despite never having done the subject before at all? Also, does anyone have any tips or tricks about how to deal with certain things throughout the year? Finally, does anyone have any advice about how I can use the summer holidays to get ahead?

Thanks so much in advance 

P.S: Would anyone have an idea of how competitive psych is in comparison to further in terms of marks lost?

[cookiedream]

Hi everyone,

I have picked up psych 3/4 out of a clash that I had with some of my subjects. Is it possible for me to achieve a 40+, or high 30's despite never having done the subject before at all? Also, does anyone have any tips or tricks about how to deal with certain things throughout the year? Finally, does anyone have any advice about how I can use the summer holidays to get ahead?

Thanks so much in advance 

P.S: Would anyone have an idea of how competitive psych is in comparison to further in terms of marks lost?

Hello!

I know quite a few people who have scored over 40 with only doing Psych 3/4 (one of them is a family friend who got 46 raw!). The main things which are an overlap is, rather than the content itself, the skills to do with research methods. But that can be learnt on the way!

Most, if not all, of my advice is in my VCE Psych guide here

Use the summer holidays to read the chapter on research methods and practice questions based on them (e.g. explaining which experimental design is the most appropriate to use in a given experiment). I can't emphasise enough how important they are for doing well in the exam!

As far as I'm aware, Psych is a pretty popular subject and it does scale down a little bit. Umm, I can't really compare with Further since I haven't done that subject. But what I do know is that, for the exam, the examiners want to give you marks, as hard as that might be to believe. If you identify, explain and discuss key concepts relevant to a question, it gets harder for you to lose marks.

Hope that helped!

[cbeccia]

Hello!

I know quite a few people who have scored over 40 with only doing Psych 3/4 (one of them is a family friend who got 46 raw!). The main things which are an overlap is, rather than the content itself, the skills to do with research methods. But that can be learnt on the way!

Most, if not all, of my advice is in my VCE Psych guide here

Use the summer holidays to read the chapter on research methods and practice questions based on them (e.g. explaining which experimental design is the most appropriate to use in a given experiment). I can't emphasise enough how important they are for doing well in the exam!

As far as I'm aware, Psych is a pretty popular subject and it does scale down a little bit. Umm, I can't really compare with Further since I haven't done that subject. But what I do know is that, for the exam, the examiners want to give you marks, as hard as that might be to believe. If you identify, explain and discuss key concepts relevant to a question, it gets harder for you to lose marks.

Hope that helped!

Hi, thankyou so much!! I will take a look through your guide now, thanks for the great tips!!

[AngelWings]

Adding on to Cookiedream's post here.

The difficulty between Psych and Further: Psych tends to be more theory than Further and, depending on the type of person you are, you may consider this to be a strength or a weakness. In terms of the top end, I feel that Further is more competitive due to the sheer number of people who are making few mistakes (Most questions in Further have black and white answers.), but Psych can be almost as bad with the exception of slight leniency as various answers can be right due to wording. 

[cbeccia]

Adding on to Cookiedream's post here.

The difficulty between Psych and Further: Psych tends to be more theory than Further and, depending on the type of person you are, you may consider this to be a strength or a weakness. In terms of the top end, I feel that Further is more competitive due to the sheer number of people who are making few mistakes (Most questions in Further have black and white answers.), but Psych can be almost as bad with the exception of slight leniency as various answers can be right due to wording.

Thank you very much , I was asking that question to try and get a sense of what I'm up for next year (having done further this year)

[abbeyrose]

You've already been provided with some really high quality advice so I won't add too much, however, having done psych units 1-4 under the current study design, I too would like to assert that 3/4 without 1/2 is very doable. In terms of the content, I found that there wasn't really anything that required assumed knowledge. For the holidays, I would recommend you work on learning the key science skills and research methods as these are required in all units and (from what I perceive to be the consensus) aren't really covered in too much depth in class. Also, familiarising yourself with the structures of the brain, neuron and the nervous system would definitely put you in good stead for the beginning of the year.

[lovelyperson]

I picked up psych 3/4 this year without having done it ever in my life and ended up with a 40+ score. It's definitely doable because 1) the concepts are easy to understand 2) there's very little content crossover from 1/2. Only hard thing is the research methods stuff so definitely learn and revise those over the holidays!

[Bri MT]

Definetely possible. 
Here's a list of relevant things from units 1&2:
-research methods & ethics (VERY important and all of it is relevant.  Make sure to study this over the holidays)
-structures in the brain (just make sure you learn what you need to for memory & stress - feel free to do this as part of that topic rather than as holiday work)
-neurons and the nervous  system (consider starting to memorise: divisions of the nervous system, what neuroplasticity is, structure of a neuron, & basics of neural transmission on the holidays)
-attachment theory (this is covered in so much more depth in 1&2 than what you need.  Write a couple of dot points on this when you cover it (in unit 4) - no need to worry about it until then)

[littledreamer]

It is definitely possible! I got a 40+ in psych and I never did it before this year. TBH i didn't even know what psych was and it was just a really last minute choice for me. I went into unit 3/4 psych not even knowing what research methods was and I did no holiday HW at all because I transferred into that class during the second week of year 12. I was really stressed at the time but I caught up so it is totally doable

I think you should get straight into research methods because that might be new to you and it's something that develops overtime so keep practicing questions after you learn them. Making flashcards would be really helpful with any content heavy subject! Draw diagrams and use colourful pens etc. I loved psych and how applicable it is to real life situations, so if you read ahead it can be easy for you to retain. I wish I did more questions throughout the year, so make sure you do but most importantly make sure you correct them/ get them marked by someone.

Good luck!