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VCE Stuff => VCE Science => VCE Mathematics/Science/Technology => VCE Subjects + Help => VCE Psychology => Topic started by: Joseph41 on April 06, 2017, 03:05:43 pm

Title: Psychology Q&A with the ATAR Notes Psych Lecturer
Post by: Joseph41 on April 06, 2017, 03:05:43 pm
(http://i.imgur.com/AmKbUAj.png)

Yoooooo what up, fam?

Get a load of this. On Sunday 9 April, the ATAR Notes Psychology lecturer will be answering all of your Psych questions in this thread here. We're giving you a day or two to get your questions in, and then Tim Howe (or howey, as he's known on the forums) will be giving you all the information you need to do well in Psych this year.

Want to know how to effectively study to ensure a 40+ raw? Tim can tell you.
Want to clarify content on any of the information in the study design? Tim can do that for you.
Want to ask Tim how he's become such a heartthrob since working with ATAR Notes? Please, go for it!

With an ATAR of 98.65 and a raw Psych study score of 48, Tim's the perfect person for this thread. So get your questions in - and then, on Sunday, Tim will get them back to you! ;D

P.S. Tim graduated in 2015, and has since lectured literally thousands of students for Psych and PE. He's a Western Bulldogs supporter, but I guess nobody can be perfect.

IMPORTANT: In order to ask a question, you will have to click here and make an ATAR Notes account.

Then - just hit the 'reply' button, as shown in the image below:

(http://i.imgur.com/FsO2ned.png)
Title: Re: Psychology Q&A with the ATAR Notes Psych Lecturer
Post by: Butterflygirl on April 08, 2017, 10:18:14 am
Hey! I have a few questions:

How early did you start actual exam prep?


What process did you go through when correcting your responses in practice questions (to perfect your answers)?


If you could change anything about the way you studied for psych, what would it be?


If you had to give one piece of advice/tip for getting 45+ in psych, what would it be?


Did you revise all the content you had learnt regularly?




Thanks!! :)

 
Title: Re: Psychology Q&A with the ATAR Notes Psych Lecturer
Post by: student1011 on April 08, 2017, 10:29:37 am
Hello,

Yes I've got a few questions...

1. If there are content on the study design, let's say we don't understand, how would you go about revising for the content?


2. If you got a low mark on psych or a lower mark than expected how would you motivate yourself to keep going?

3. Finally how would you word your answers to get full marks in questions?

Thank you!
Title: Re: Psychology Q&A with the ATAR Notes Psych Lecturer
Post by: Ambergower on April 08, 2017, 10:31:01 am
What is the best way to study and what scores are needed on SACS to reach a 40 Study Score Please  :D
Title: Re: Psychology Q&A with the ATAR Notes Psych Lecturer
Post by: Gracexx on April 08, 2017, 10:32:00 am
Hey!
I have a few questions for you;

What's the best way do you think to learn and retain information?

What's the best way to study?

When do you start your actual exam preparation for psychology?

Did handwritten or typed notes work best for you?

Did you have a psychology tutor? If so, do you think it was worth it?

Best strategies leading up to the exam?

How should we approach the end of year exam? Any tips?

Did you go to any psychology lectures? If so, which ones are the most worth it to attend?

Thanks in advance!
Title: Re: Psychology Q&A with the ATAR Notes Psych Lecturer
Post by: Joseph41 on April 08, 2017, 10:58:20 am
Great questions thus far! I know that Tim/howey is champing at the bit to answer these. ;D

And welcome to the ATAR Notes Forums for those who have just signed up (student1011, Ambergower, Gracexx). Let us know if you need any help navigating your way around. :)
Title: Re: Psychology Q&A with the ATAR Notes Psych Lecturer
Post by: Mariamnourine on April 08, 2017, 01:10:18 pm
Hey Howey,
I have a few questions:
How do I learn to answer questions on the exam to ensure I get full marks?
How do I answer the 10 mark question in the research methods section?
This year there is a new study design for psychology, this means I have no resources to practice on! Do you recommend any sites to visit or books to purchase that can help me?

Thanks for you time Howey! :)
Title: Re: Psychology Q&A with the ATAR Notes Psych Lecturer
Post by: laaawang on April 08, 2017, 08:03:06 pm
HIII TIM !!

Here are my questions:

1.My teacher had informed us earlier this year that 'Section C' (The research methods part) of the End of Year examination had been taken out and instead replaced with a 'Ten-mark' question that requires us to apply our learning. Is this correct ? And if so, could you please give some advice on how we should go about answering a question worth 10marks (I know this is difficult considering we don't know what the ten mark question is).

2.What advice would you give regarding exam preparation ? What do you specifically do to prepare ?

3.How do you keep yourself motivated during rough times in Year 12 ?

4.I understand that information stored in L.T.M must be retrieved by the S.T.M. So does that mean that that information (formally from the L.T.M) gets lost after being retrieved into the S.T.M and used ? Or does that information-after being used-simply flows back into the L.T.M ?

Thank you ! I sincerely appreciate your assistance
Title: Re: Psychology Q&A with the ATAR Notes Psych Lecturer
Post by: -273.15 on April 08, 2017, 10:12:40 pm
Hey! :)

Here are my questions

1. When making notes, how did you sort through the information that was relevant and info that isn't needed? I find when making my notes I put in a lot of extra info that I may not need but I'm scared to take it out just in case it pops up somewhere

2. As psych is a content heavy subject, how did you go about learning all the info? In particular, all the definitions and info where specific terminology has to be used

3. I'd love to try and get a 45+ in psych. Any tips on trying to do this?

Thanks heaps :)
Title: Re: Psychology Q&A with the ATAR Notes Psych Lecturer
Post by: Bri MT on April 09, 2017, 10:04:00 am
Is it effective to work through chapter questions or should we only focus on practice exam questions (for topics in previous study designs)?
Title: Re: Psychology Q&A with the ATAR Notes Psych Lecturer
Post by: Joseph41 on April 09, 2017, 10:52:23 am
This is going to be howey today:

(https://media.giphy.com/media/fQZX2aoRC1Tqw/giphy.gif)

Get excited, folks!
Title: Re: Psychology Q&A with the ATAR Notes Psych Lecturer
Post by: howey on April 09, 2017, 11:15:47 am
Hey everyone!

Thanks heaps for all your questions. I'll be starting to work through them from now on, right throughout the day.

Feel free to throw up more questions as the day goes on  :)

Title: Re: Psychology Q&A with the ATAR Notes Psych Lecturer
Post by: howey on April 09, 2017, 11:27:44 am
Hey! I have a few questions:

How early did you start actual exam prep?

Hi Butterflygirl. Thanks for your questions!  :)

In terms of actual exam prep, I probably started about halfway through Term 3, in terms of actually doing practice exams. Personally, I felt that any earlier than that and I was skipping too many questions (having not learnt it yet) to make it worth it. To give you an idea, I did about 15 practice exams for Psych  :)

Quote
What process did you go through when correcting your responses in practice questions (to perfect your answers)?

If I had to correct my own practice answers, the main thing I would look for were the key terms in the answers (e.g. classical conditioning, negative reinforcement etc.). As long as I had those, I wasn't too stressed about the exact wording of the sample answer. If possible, I always got someone else to mark my practice exams - I was lucky that I had a really great and hard-working teacher!  :D

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If you could change anything about the way you studied for psych, what would it be?


I should have looked over my notes more throughout the year - for example just read over earlier topic notes for 15 or 20 minutes a week. Unfortunately, as happens to most people, I was too worried about the SAC's that I had immediately in front of me!  :)


Quote
If you had to give one piece of advice/tip for getting 45+ in psych, what would it be?


Work solidly and consistently throughout the year - it's hard to learn all the content in the weeks leading up to the exam  ;) And do practice exams!

Quote
Did you revise all the content you had learnt regularly?


As I mentioned above, I probably didn't revise the content as much as I should have  :D I only really 'studied' the content in-depth before SAC's (and obviously the exam). However, I would recommend revising the earlier stuff throughout the year.

I hope that's all clear, let me know if you have any more questions!  ;D

Title: Re: Psychology Q&A with the ATAR Notes Psych Lecturer
Post by: howey on April 09, 2017, 11:59:23 am
Hello,

Yes I've got a few questions...

1. If there are content on the study design, let's say we don't understand, how would you go about revising for the content?

Hi student1011! Cheers for your questions!  :)

If you're struggling to understand something, my first port of call was always the textbook. I have the Grivas one, and I find it quite useful.  :) My next strategy was to go to my teacher/tutor, and hopefully they're good. If that doesn't work at all, there are some good places on the Internet (e.g. https://www.youtube.com/user/Psyccounting/featured) that can be turned up with a Google search, although I didn't use one particular one repeatedly. Otherwise, practice questions are a great way to check if you actually understand something  :) I hope this helps - this is kind of an individual thing in terms of how you learn best!

Quote
2. If you got a low mark on psych or a lower mark than expected how would you motivate yourself to keep going?

Great question! Unfortunately most students will get at least one mark that they're not overly happy with at some stage throughout the year (myself included). My advice is to never give up on a subject - one bad SAC isn't going to significantly damage your study score as the exam is worth 60%.  :) In terms of motivation - I didn't set myself any specific goals in Year 12 (e.g. I want an ATAR of 95+), I just wanted to do the best that I could in every SAC and exam, and that turned out ok for me  :D So don't beat yourself up over one SAC mark, and just work consistently throughout the year!

Quote
3. Finally how would you word your answers to get full marks in questions?

Another top question  :) Unfortunately there is no magic formula for writing top Psych answers  :(  A couple of pieces of advice - make sure you include key terms, even if you think that they're obvious at times (e.g. classical conditioning). Refer to the example in the question as much as you can (obviously without being ridiculous) to show that you're linking your answer to the specific question. Other than that, be concise and don't bother rewriting the information that they've given you in the question (just refer to it). If it is a 2 mark question, I also try to make two clear, valid points, to make sure that I get the full marks  :D

Thanks for the questions, I hoped that helped!  ;D
Title: Re: Psychology Q&A with the ATAR Notes Psych Lecturer
Post by: howey on April 09, 2017, 12:11:46 pm
What is the best way to study and what scores are needed on SACS to reach a 40 Study Score Please  :D

Hi Ambergower, and welcome to the forums! Thanks for the question  :)

Personally, me preferred way of studying for Psych was to create my own chapter summaries, based off the textbook, and then read over these. I also did plenty of practice questions, particularly practice SAC's and practice exams (which I think are super important!).

In terms of SAC scores, this can vary greatly from school to school, depending on a number of things including how hard your SAC's are, how harshly they are marked and how strong your cohort is. All SAC scores are standardised by VCAA at the end of the year so I can really say what scores are needed for a 40, unfortunately  :( I can tell you that I average about 95% on my SAC's throughout the year and ended up with a 48, so if you can keep your scores up you should do really well!  :)
Title: Re: *LIVE RIGHT NOW* Psychology Q&A with the ATAR Notes Psych Lecturer
Post by: brenden on April 09, 2017, 12:23:42 pm
Hi Howey. Shouldn't your name be spelled howie? Or are we supposhed to call you howeigh?
Title: Re: Psychology Q&A with the ATAR Notes Psych Lecturer
Post by: howey on April 09, 2017, 12:38:56 pm
Hey!
I have a few questions for you;

What's the best way do you think to learn and retain information?

Hi Gracexx, and welcome to the forums  :) Thanks for all the questions!

I was quite lucky as I had a pretty good memory, so I could generally read over info a couple of times and remember it pretty well. The other strategy I used was to write it down - usually in both a chapter summary and then during answers to practice questions. In terms of retaining all of the content for the final exam (and there is quite a lot!), my primary way of remembering it was through doing stacks and stacks of practice questions  :D

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What's the best way to study?

This differs greatly from person to person, so I can't speak for everyone. My preferred way was to create chapter summaries and to do practice SAC's/exams, which I think is definitely the best way to study for the exam  :) In my class, we also created a 'visual diary', which was collection of diagrams, pictures and info to try and show the information in a colourful and exciting way. Although I am not at all a creative person, I found some of the diagrams really useful, including a flowchart on research methods and a flowchart on stress, and I would encourage you to create a couple of useful ones yourself  :D

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When do you start your actual exam preparation for psychology?

In terms of actual exam prep, I probably started around the middle of Term 3, when I started doing practice exams and going over all of the earlier content. Overall, I did about 10-15 practice exams for Psych, and they were my primary way of revising  :)

Quote
Did handwritten or typed notes work best for you?

Great question! I actually had a bit of both. As I mentioned earlier, in class we would create a visual diary, which was all handwritten. On top of that, I created typed chapter summaries for myself (I was too lazy to handwrite them), and I used both resources. In my opinion, you're more likely to remember info if you handwrite it, but it does take quite a bit more time and effort, and there is the possibility that they can get damaged  :( Either way, I would recommend that you always handwrite answers to practice questions and practice exams.

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Did you have a psychology tutor? If so, do you think it was worth it?

No, I didn't have a Psych tutor, or any tutor at all during Year 12. If you are looking for a tutor, I hear there's a great one that works for ATAR Notes  ;)

Quote
Best strategies leading up to the exam?

To put it simply, do practice exams - as many as it takes until you feel comfortable. Other than that, work hard but work smart (there's no point working hard for eight hours if you don't actually learn much]  :)

Quote
How should we approach the end of year exam? Any tips?

As I said earlier, work until you're comfortable and confident :D Other than that, don't freak out (those people always really annoyed me). The exam is a great chance to show off what you know, and if you've done the work, you will get rewarded :)

Quote
Did you go to any psychology lectures? If so, which ones are the most worth it to attend?

I did go to a couple, although none by the major companies and, to be honest, I wouldn't have a clue who they were run by :-[ I find they can vary a bit, they can be really useful, but they can also be really boring if they're not that good. My overall view is that lectures can be helpful, but aren't usually worth paying a fortune for. Just so you know, ATAR Notes will be running free Psych lectures in July and September, so you can't really lose by going to them ;)

I hope that helped! Let me know if you have any other questions, and good luck for the year!  ;D
Title: Re: Psychology Q&A with the ATAR Notes Psych Lecturer
Post by: Joseph41 on April 09, 2017, 12:42:11 pm
No, I didn't have a Psych tutor, or any tutor at all during Year 12. If you are looking for a tutor, I hear there's a great one that works for ATAR Notes  ;)

Sneaky Tim, at it again. ;)

Great responses thus far! Keep the questions coming, y'all. :)
Title: Re: *LIVE RIGHT NOW* Psychology Q&A with the ATAR Notes Psych Lecturer
Post by: Butterflygirl on April 09, 2017, 12:51:23 pm
More questions:

What rank do you have be to get above 45 for psych?


Did you buy any extra resources for psych other than the textbook that helped you?


When did you start preparing for an upcoming SAC?



Did you pre-learn the course?



For you answers, did you write in dot points or sentences?



Thanks! :)



Title: Re: Psychology Q&A with the ATAR Notes Psych Lecturer
Post by: howey on April 09, 2017, 12:53:07 pm
Hey Howey,
I have a few questions:
How do I learn to answer questions on the exam to ensure I get full marks?

Hi Mariamnourine, and welcome to the ATAR Notes forums!  :)

Good question! Unfortunately, there isn't a magic way to answer questions and get full marks. My pieces of advice would be to always include key terms (such as operant conditioning and negative reinforcement), even if you think that it is really obvious. Refer to the example in the question as much as possible, if there is one. And just be concise in general - you probably won't get marks for waffle, unfortunately ;) Ultimately, the best way to learn how to answers questions and get full marks is to do stacks of practice questions and read sample top answers.

Quote
How do I answer the 10 mark question in the research methods section?

A great question! This is an area that students struggle every year. Again, my main piece of advice would be to do plenty of practice 10-mark questions (sorry, I know that's probably really obvious). Other than that, practice picking out extraneous variables, as that is nearly always a part of the question. Good ones to remember are individual participant differences, convenience sampling, the experimenter effect and the placebo effect :) To be honest, to score really high in the 10-mark section, you need to do a lot of writing, quite possibly a couple of full pages, so, if possible, spend plenty of time on it (e.g. I would be thinking at least 20 minutes, provided you have the time).

Quote
This year there is a new study design for psychology, this means I have no resources to practice on! Do you recommend any sites to visit or books to purchase that can help me?

Don't you just hate new study designs??!! It is a bit of an issue this year unfortunately  >:( In terms of resources such as info or practice questions, hopefully your teacher is good, because, to be brutally honest, there won't be a lot around for the new stuff that is focused on VCE Psych content only (and when it has extra, extended content it can just get more confusing). One place that I've found is here: https://www.youtube.com/user/Psyccounting/featured. In terms of practice exams, look around at places like NEAP, Insight and Engage, which may have some updated exams. Sorry I can't be of more help there!

Title: Re: Psychology Q&A with the ATAR Notes Psych Lecturer
Post by: howey on April 09, 2017, 01:19:45 pm
HIII TIM !!

Here are my questions:

1.My teacher had informed us earlier this year that 'Section C' (The research methods part) of the End of Year examination had been taken out and instead replaced with a 'Ten-mark' question that requires us to apply our learning. Is this correct ? And if so, could you please give some advice on how we should go about answering a question worth 10marks (I know this is difficult considering we don't know what the ten mark question is).

Hi laaawang! Welcome to the forums!  :)

Your teacher is correct, Section C has been taken out and has (sort of) been replaced with a 10-mark extended response question in Section B. Whether it will be based purely on research methods or will incorporate other stuff (see the 2016 Exam, Section C Q4 or the VCAA Sample exam 2017 Q9 for an example of this). It is pretty tough to say with no idea about the question, but I will say that to get a high score on these extended response questions, you have to write quite a lot of detail, so practice writing long answers to the questions. To give an idea, I would probably allow at least 20 minutes for it on the exam. In terms of actually tacking it, I would read through it, then go back and highlight some key points (e.g. if there is convenience sampling), and then write my answer  :)

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2.What advice would you give regarding exam preparation ? What do you specifically do to prepare ?

Personally, I think the best way to prepare is by doing practice exams - as many as you can, or until you feel comfortable. To give an idea, I did about 10-15 for Psych. I also created chapter summaries and read over them - but my key strategy was doing practice questions and exams :) Work hard and work consistently, but work smart!

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3.How do you keep yourself motivated during rough times in Year 12 ?

Top question! Year 12 is pretty tough at times. I had a great group of friends, and we all helped each other through. Other than that, I just aimed to do as well as I could on every SAC without setting myself specific numerical goals. I also tried not to do too much on the weekend during most of Year 12 to give myself a break. :)

Quote
4.I understand that information stored in L.T.M must be retrieved by the S.T.M. So does that mean that that information (formally from the L.T.M) gets lost after being retrieved into the S.T.M and used ? Or does that information-after being used-simply flows back into the L.T.M ?

So when info comes into 'working memory', which is STM, it is retrieved from LTM. After it's been used, it is then just encoded again and stored in LTM, so it is definitely not lost, but can be slightly changed from the original memory that was retrieved (this is what Loftus looked at - you'll get this better once you look at her in class).  :)

I hope these answers helped and good luck!  :)
Title: Re: Psychology Q&A with the ATAR Notes Psych Lecturer
Post by: howey on April 09, 2017, 01:56:27 pm
Hey! :)

Here are my questions

1. When making notes, how did you sort through the information that was relevant and info that isn't needed? I find when making my notes I put in a lot of extra info that I may not need but I'm scared to take it out just in case it pops up somewhere

Hi -273.15! A good question, it can be tough to cut down on the Psych content. Basically I put in definitions, an then limited myself to 2-3 sentences max. on each thing I was summarising (e.g. the role of the hippocampus). That way, I really cut it down to the basics, which is what the majority of the exam is testing :) Any stories or examples in the textbook aren't relevant, as well as most of the stuff after the first couple of sentences on each topic  ;)

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2. As psych is a content heavy subject, how did you go about learning all the info? In particular, all the definitions and info where specific terminology has to be used

Psych is a super content-heavy subject. In terms of definitions - I didn't bother learning any of them word-for-word. I know a lot of teachers tell you to, but in my opinion it's a waste of time and effort (and no-one wants that!). VCAA don't (usually) ask you to 'define ...'. So I didn't bother with learning them at all, just be able to explain what something means in your own words, on the off chance that it comes up. For other information, I just made chapter summaries, read over them multiple times and did lots and lots of practice questions :) 

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3. I'd love to try and get a 45+ in psych. Any tips on trying to do this?

A great goal - definitely aim high! Work solidly and consistently throughout the year - it's really difficult to learn everything in enough detail to get a really high mark just before the exam. Before the exam, do lots of practice exams and other preparation if you need to - the exam is worth 60% of your study score. And work with your teacher, they're usually your best resource :)

I hope these answers help, and good luck on getting a 45+!!  ;D
Title: Re: Psychology Q&A with the ATAR Notes Psych Lecturer
Post by: howey on April 09, 2017, 01:59:25 pm
Is it effective to work through chapter questions or should we only focus on practice exam questions (for topics in previous study designs)?

Hi miniturtle :) (love the username)!

I found that chapter questions were quite good for prepping for SAC's, as SAC's tend to test stuff based on the textbook. For the exam, I would definitely be using practice exam questions - chapter questions are probably a waste of time unless you want to revise your basic knowledge :) Hope that helps!
Title: Re: *LIVE RIGHT NOW* Psychology Q&A with the ATAR Notes Psych Lecturer
Post by: howey on April 09, 2017, 02:04:20 pm
Hi Howey. Shouldn't your name be spelled howie? Or are we supposhed to call you howeigh?

Ah, brenden, our resident full-time joker. (Or should that be Brendan?)   ???

The good news for everyone else is that hopefully there will be plenty of people like Brenden focused on trivial things like names that are already spelt correctly and not important things like Lazarus and Folkman's Transactional Model ;)
Title: Re: *LIVE RIGHT NOW* Psychology Q&A with the ATAR Notes Psych Lecturer
Post by: howey on April 09, 2017, 02:15:34 pm
More questions:

What rank do you have be to get above 45 for psych?

Hi again Butterfly girl! :)

To be honest, this varies greatly from school to school depending on SAC difficulty, cohort strength etc, so I can't really say. To give you an idea, I averaged about 95% on my SAC's and got a 48. If you're talking about overall state rank, then a 45 means that you are in the top 2%, so it is quite high :)

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Did you buy any extra resources for psych other than the textbook that helped you?

No, I didn't buy any other resources other than the textbook. I created my own chapter summaries and at my school we created a visual diary, which was basically a handwritten summary that included plenty of colour, pictures and diagrams :)

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When did you start preparing for an upcoming SAC?

To be blunt, generally the weekend before I had it (I know, that's probably not a good habit) :-[ I'd generally do a bit of study a few days before (usually the weekend before) and then go over everything again in the couple of nights leading up to the SAC :)

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Did you pre-learn the course?

No, I didn't pre-learn anything, and during the year I never really went ahead of where my class was at, apart from occasionally having a brief read through the upcoming chapter (which we were meant to do as homework anyway) ;) I focused on learning the content thoroughly as we went through it instead of going ahead.


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For you answers, did you write in dot points or sentences?

Either is fine, but I preferred sentences as I felt that they made the answer flow a little bit better, and just a bit nicer to read. I only ever used dot point if the questions specifically said something like 'list two strengths of...'. Then I would use dot points to make it clear I had made two different points :)

I hope that this helps, and thanks for all the questions, Butterflygirl! ;D
Title: Re: *LIVE RIGHT NOW* Psychology Q&A with the ATAR Notes Psych Lecturer
Post by: pootato on April 09, 2017, 02:20:11 pm
Did you do 1/2 along with a 3/4 sequence?
Would you recommend doing 3/4 without 1/2? I find psychology very interesting and I don't know whether or not to skip the 1/2 component. Please help!
How would I catch up with the "assumed knowledge" if I didn't do 1/2?
Do you think two 3/4s (Lit and Psych) in year 11 will be manageable and rewarding, given that I try my best?
I've heard a lot about research methods being carried over into 3/4, but I don't know what it is. Could you please explain it or direct me to any sites?
Do you think psychology is a time consuming subject compared to others?
Could you list the most important things you did that helped you to succeed in psychology?
Title: Re: *LIVE RIGHT NOW* Psychology Q&A with the ATAR Notes Psych Lecturer
Post by: howey on April 09, 2017, 02:47:55 pm
Did you do 1/2 along with a 3/4 sequence?

Yeah, I did both Psych 1/2 and 3/4 :)

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Would you recommend doing 3/4 without 1/2? I find psychology very interesting and I don't know whether or not to skip the 1/2 component. Please help!

Psych is definitely a subject where you could pick up 3/4 without doing 1/2 if you have to, but I would recommend doing 1/2 if you can. It just makes things a bit easier at the start of Year 12 as you don't have to catch up on anything :)

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How would I catch up with the "assumed knowledge" if I didn't do 1/2?

Good question! Research methods is the main thing you need to catch up on if you decide not to do 1/2, as that is the primary bit of assumed knowledge. The other thing I would look at are the different parts of the brain and their different roles, as that is also important knowledge in Year 12 :) I must admit I'm not an expert on this as the study design for 1/2 and 3/4 has changed since I did it, so therefore some of the overlap has changed as well. But the two key parts are research methods and the brain :)

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Do you think two 3/4s (Lit and Psych) in year 11 will be manageable and rewarding, given that I try my best?

If you work hard and you generally do ok at school, it will be manageable (although be aware that Lit and Psych both do have a reasonable workload, particularly near exam time). Personally, I only did the one during Year 11 (HHD) and I found that it was definitely a great experience to do one, as I then knew what to expect in Year 12 (and that I had to lift my game!) ;) Just be careful that you don't disregard your 1/2 subjects (as many people do) as they are really important to set you up for the next year!

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I've heard a lot about research methods being carried over into 3/4, but I don't know what it is. Could you please explain it or direct me to any sites?

Ok, cool, no worries :) Research methods are basically things like hypotheses, experimental designs, ethics, statistics, variables and sampling that are used in psych investigations. It's generally considered to be the most bring part of the course (just a heads up) ;)

If you go to Facebook and join a group called 'The VCE Discussion Group' (you may have already), there will be a file called 'Psychology - April Lecture Slides.pdf'. If you download that, the entire last third of the presentation, which I gave at the start of the April school holidays, is on research methods ;)

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Do you think psychology is a time consuming subject compared to others?

I would say it is slightly higher than average in terms of time required, but not ridiculously so. If you have a good memory, Psych can actually be pretty straightforward, as most of the challenge is remembering the stacks of content - the content itself isn't actually too hard  :)

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Could you list the most important things you did that helped you to succeed in psychology?

Sure!
- Work solidly and consistently throughout the year
- Do lots of practice exams
- Create my own resources (e.g. chapter summaries)
- Ask questions! (super important - your teacher is there to help you) :)

I hope that helps! ;D
Title: Re: *LIVE RIGHT NOW* Psychology Q&A with the ATAR Notes Psych Lecturer
Post by: dummypurse42 on April 09, 2017, 04:02:14 pm
Hey I would just like to know how to make it easier to pick out important information from long examples in exams and write a short but correct answer.
Title: Re: *LIVE RIGHT NOW* Psychology Q&A with the ATAR Notes Psych Lecturer
Post by: Psychislife on April 09, 2017, 04:41:56 pm
Hey,

How did you approach the end of year exam? Did you do the sections in order?
How did you allocate time to the different sections on the exam and how long do you suggest we spend on each one?
What are your study tips? How did you retain information throughout the year?
How did you revise for each chapter?

Thanks  :)
Title: Re: *LIVE RIGHT NOW* Psychology Q&A with the ATAR Notes Psych Lecturer
Post by: howey on April 09, 2017, 05:16:46 pm
Hey I would just like to know how to make it easier to pick out important information from long examples in exams and write a short but correct answer.

Hi dummypurse42, welcome to the forums!

Good question! The best advice I can give about picking out important info from long examples is to identify key words. For example, a question about the nervous system might say 'very excited' - that's all you need to know to understand that the question will be referring to the sympathetic nervous system. So practice scanning questions for key words, and highlight them if it helps :) In terms of writing a short but correct answer - there is no need to repeat what is said in the question (although it is good to refer to examples in the question) and you won't get marks for waffle, so being concise is always better.

For example, with this question:

Billy was a horse that was owned by Farmer Jim. Billy loved apples, and would salivate whenever he saw an apple. Every time that Jim came into Billy’s paddock, he would feed Billy an apple. After this happened five or six times, Billy began to salivate at the sight of Farmer Jim.
Using the terminology of classical conditioning, explain how Billy learnt to salivate at the sight of Farmer Jim.

Your answer could simply be:
Billy always salivates (unconditioned response) at the sight of an apple (unconditioned stimulus). When the apple is continuously paired with Farmer Jim, who is the neutral stimulus, Billy eventually learns to salivate (conditioned response) at the sight of Farmer Jim only (conditioned stimulus).

So even though the question sounds complex, its actually answerable in a couple of sentences, provided you use lots of key terms :)

I hope this helps! ;D
Title: Re: *LIVE RIGHT NOW* Psychology Q&A with the ATAR Notes Psych Lecturer
Post by: howey on April 09, 2017, 05:25:55 pm
Hey,

How did you approach the end of year exam? Did you do the sections in order?

Hi Psychislife, welcome to the forums and congrats on having such an enthusiastic Psych username! ;)

I simply did the sections on the exam in order, so I started with MC and then did the short-answer, and finished with the extended-response. If there were any questions I didn't know, I simply skipped them and came back to them at the end when I had time. Basically, I tried to keep it as simple as possible for myself :)

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How did you allocate time to the different sections on the exam and how long do you suggest we spend on each one?

The format of the exam has changed since I did it, but I would recommend:
MC - 20-25 minutes (or as short a time as possible while still being correct)
SA - 80-90 minutes (again, you can probably cut this down)
ER - 25-30 minutes (or even more if you have time)

This will differ depending on the individual, but my basic strategy would be to smash through the MC as fast as possible if you're a fast reader (obviously while still getting them right), and then spend plenty of time on SA and ER questions :)

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What are your study tips? How did you retain information throughout the year?

For studying, I created chapter summaries, which was my primary form of revision throughout the year. Everyone in my class also created a visual diary, which was a summary book with lots of pictures and diagrams. My advice for studying would be to stay on top of it as you go - it can get really difficult if you fall behind, so work solidly and consistently :) Also, before the exam, do heaps of practice questions and practice exams :)

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How did you revise for each chapter?

Basically just doing chapter summaries to try and cut the info down, and then some practice questions (I tended to prefer practice SAC's/exams to chapter questions, as I didn't find them that great) :)

I hope that's useful! ;D
Title: Re: Psychology Q&A with the ATAR Notes Psych Lecturer
Post by: Amelia.d99 on April 09, 2017, 06:34:33 pm
Hi and thank you for offering this free Q&A!

Firstly, how would you suggest to manage studying consistently throughout the year? Our teacher has recommended revising the content we've learned regularly, but how do you suggest we manage this with such a big workload? And what sorts of things do you suggest doing to revise this work?

Also, how do you tackle the exam at the end of the year? Would you suggest doing it in order, and how much time should you be spending per mark?

With the 10 mark question that is on the exam and is new to the study design, how do you suggest we handle this? Where could we get practice for these questions?

How would you suggest revising for research methods? Do you suggest maybe doing a concept map to link terms together? And how should we prepare for the poster ERA?

Any other tips on managing and prioritising the workload during year 12, as well as dealing with multiple sacs in a week would be useful also!! In particular, how do you suggest we timetable our September school holidays to effectively revise for each subject?

Thanks a lot!
Title: Re: Psychology Q&A with the ATAR Notes Psych Lecturer
Post by: howey on April 09, 2017, 08:24:14 pm
Hi and thank you for offering this free Q&A!

Firstly, how would you suggest to manage studying consistently throughout the year? Our teacher has recommended revising the content we've learned regularly, but how do you suggest we manage this with such a big workload? And what sorts of things do you suggest doing to revise this work?

Hi Amedlia.d99, and welcome to the forums! No worries at all :)

A top question! I mentioned in one of my earlier replies that this was probably the biggest thing I did wrong when I did Psych - not revising regularly enough. It is a tough one with such a big workload. Honestly, how I did it was simply just reading over my summaries that I'd made earlier in the year, when we covered a topic, and very occasionally doing a couple of questions on an earlier topic. But certainly don't overwork yourself trying to revise earlier stuff the whole time - if you learn it well you will remember a lot of it when it comes to studying for the exam anyway :)

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Also, how do you tackle the exam at the end of the year? Would you suggest doing it in order, and how much time should you be spending per mark?

Good question. The exam format has changed very slightly since I did it, but I simply did it in order, skipping any questions that I was stuck on and coming back to them at the end. I find keeping it simple is best, and it's definitely best to do MC questions first :)

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With the 10 mark question that is on the exam and is new to the study design, how do you suggest we handle this? Where could we get practice for these questions?

Yeah, this is a bit of a tricky one. You can practice on past VCAA exams because they had a section C and the last question was usually worth 10 marks (particularly check out the 2016 one as I think this year will be quite similar in terms of combining research methods and content). I would suggest you try and allow heaps of time for it on the exam (think 20-25 minutes or even more). Practice writing a lot for these questions as you have to give a high level of detail to get a really good mark :)


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How would you suggest revising for research methods? Do you suggest maybe doing a concept map to link terms together? And how should we prepare for the poster ERA?

For research methods, I put together a flowchart/concept map type thing to link all of the different elements together, so I think you're spot on there ;) Also practice writing hypotheses (always include Independent Variable, Population, Operationalised and Dependent Variable - acronym IPOD) and picking out extraneous variables, as they are very common question :) The ERA has been added since I left school, so I can't tell you how I prepared for it unfortunately :( My advice, simply off reading the VCAA brief would be to keep it simple and concise, and simply tick off each part (sorry I can't be more help with this)

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Any other tips on managing and prioritising the workload during year 12, as well as dealing with multiple sacs in a week would be useful also!! In particular, how do you suggest we timetable our September school holidays to effectively revise for each subject?

My main piece of advice is to work solidly and consistently throughout the year, as it can be quite difficult to catch up if you fall behind. In terms of dealing with multiple SAC's together (which seems to happen a lot), my strategy was simply to start studying for them a bit earlier than usual - so I might start looking over stuff a week before the SAC rather than a few days before. You just need to make sure that you have enough study time that you are confident. Also, don't be afraid to do homework or study on Friday nights when you need to ;) Finally, during the September holidays my main focus was practice exams. I didn't have a specific timetable, because some days you just don't feel like doing Maths, for example, but I tried to do one or two practice exams a day if I could, so that I'd done maybe four or five for each subject by the end of the holidays :)

I hope this advice helps you and good luck! ;D
Title: Re: Psychology Q&A with the ATAR Notes Psych Lecturer
Post by: evalk13 on April 10, 2017, 06:47:47 am
Hi Howey :)

How would you go about operationalising Independant Variables such as Age and Nationality?

Tyyyyyyyyy
Title: Re: Psychology Q&A with the ATAR Notes Psych Lecturer
Post by: Joseph41 on April 10, 2017, 10:01:28 am
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A big, big thanks to howey for his work in this thread! We're going to keep this discussion OPEN for now, but Tim's only in the Centre a couple of days a week, so responses may be slightly more spaced out. :)
Title: Re: Psychology Q&A with the ATAR Notes Psych Lecturer
Post by: howey on April 10, 2017, 05:08:28 pm
Hi Howey :)

How would you go about operationalising Independant Variables such as Age and Nationality?

Hi evalk13, and welcome to the ATAR Notes forums!

Operationalising these independent variables actually isn't too bad. For example, say I had an experiment on memory, and the scenario said that the experiment was testing people aged 20-29 and 70-79, my hypothesis would simply read something like:

'Young people aged between 20-29 will score higher on a standard memory test that older people aged between 70-79'.

Usually you don't have to worry too much about operationalising variables such as age and nationality, because the information will be given to you in a scenario - you just have to make sure that you include it in your hypothesis :)

I hope that clears that up (and that I've understood the question correctly). If you have any other questions, feel free to ask ;D

Title: Re: Psychology Q&A with the ATAR Notes Psych Lecturer
Post by: evalk13 on April 14, 2017, 07:32:09 am
Hey Howey  :),
How would you justify if a particular event or situation was a major stressor or not? Eg. Running out of car fuel  on your way to your Psychology exam.
Thanks buddy  ;D
Title: Re: Psychology Q&A with the ATAR Notes Psych Lecturer
Post by: howey on April 18, 2017, 06:33:02 pm
Hey Howey  :),
How would you justify if a particular event or situation was a major stressor or not? Eg. Running out of car fuel  on your way to your Psychology exam.
Thanks buddy  ;D

Hi evalk 13!

Ooh... great question! (And a tough one).

There is a bit of grey area here, definitely.

A major stressor is an event that is extremely stressful for (almost) everyone that experiences it. E.g. an armed robbery or a serious car crash

In terms of running out of fuel on the way to the Psych exam, I feel like this would be right on the edge between a major stressor and a daily pressure. I would probably classify it as a daily pressure, as I feel like major stressors are slightly more intense events that are more frightening. However, it could be argued either way.

For other events, generally on SAC's and exams they should be pretty obvious (e.g. an armed robbery would be a major stressor, an argument with a boyfriend or girlfriend would be a daily pressure).

Sorry I can't be of more help, unfortunately there is no clear line :)
Title: Re: Psychology Q&A with the ATAR Notes Psych Lecturer
Post by: littledreamer on April 18, 2017, 06:57:34 pm
Hello! I was just wondering what exactly we need to do with research methods and how to practice them? Was research methods the section C of the exam in the past? (However I think the current study design has an exam with only sections A and B but B includes a 10 mark question). Will research methods also appear in MCQ part of the exam? I have a rough idea of what research methods are but was wondering when and how we would use things like inter-rater reliability or parallel form reliability etc. And how I can practice using research methods, should I start doing section C from old VCAA papers?

Was also wondering if you have any idea what a practical report SAC is as I'm having one this term, would this be dependent on my school?

Thank you so much for your time :)
Title: Re: Psychology Q&A with the ATAR Notes Psych Lecturer
Post by: howey on April 19, 2017, 11:43:52 am
Hello! I was just wondering what exactly we need to do with research methods and how to practice them? Was research methods the section C of the exam in the past? (However I think the current study design has an exam with only sections A and B but B includes a 10 mark question). Will research methods also appear in MCQ part of the exam? I have a rough idea of what research methods are but was wondering when and how we would use things like inter-rater reliability or parallel form reliability  etc. And how I can practice using research methods, should I start doing section C from old VCAA papers?

Was also wondering if you have any idea what a practical report SAC is as I'm having one this term, would this be dependent on my school?

Thank you so much for your time :)

Hi littledreamer,

Section C of past exams was based around research methods, and therefore is a good place to start with study. The last question of Section C (particularly in 2016) is similar to what I would expect the extended response question in Section B to be this year. And yes, you are correct, they have scrapped Section C this year :) Research methods definitely does appear in the MC section of the exam, and can pop up quite a bit.

I have never used terms like inter-rater reliability or parallel form reliability in an answer (and to be honest don't even fully understand what they mean ;)) so I seriously doubt you'll need to know those. Questions are generally around hypothesis, types of investigation (e.g. experiments vs observational studies), sampling and picking out extraneous variables, off the top of my head.

Section C of old VCAA and exams, and research methods VCAA MC questions are probably the best place to start studying for research methods, so you can get an idea of what they're likely to ask about :)

Hope that helps! Cheers
Title: Re: Psychology Q&A with the ATAR Notes Psych Lecturer
Post by: pha0015 on April 19, 2017, 07:26:31 pm
What's the difference between approach/adaptive  and avoidance strategies and problem focused and emotion focused coping strategies? And to what extend can they overlap?
Title: Re: Psychology Q&A with the ATAR Notes Psych Lecturer
Post by: howey on April 25, 2017, 11:04:22 am
What's the difference between approach/adaptive  and avoidance strategies and problem focused and emotion focused coping strategies? And to what extend can they overlap?

G'day pha0015!

Good question, and sorry for the delay in answering :(

Approach coping strategies involve direct efforts to deal with the stressor itself (e.g. if stressed about an upcoming test, then studying for that test). Avoidance coping strategies involve evading the stressor and dealing indirectly with it (e.g. if stressed about an upcoming test, then just accepting that you will do badly, or refusing to think about the test). :)

It's hard to tell if problem-focused and emotion-focused coping is still on the study design or not. Problem-focused coping refers to direct efforts to manage the stressor (it is very similar/the same as avoidance coping strategies). Emotion-focused coping involves effort to decrease the emotional component of the stressor (it is very similar/the same as approach coping strategies). Therefore, there is a lot of overlap :)

I hope this helps! Cheers :)
Title: Re: Psychology Q&A with the ATAR Notes Psych Lecturer
Post by: Anterograde_Amnesia on July 03, 2017, 12:10:59 pm
Hi Tim, where can I find a copy of the slides you presented at the ATAR Notes psychology lecture yesterday?
Title: Re: Psychology Q&A with the ATAR Notes Psych Lecturer
Post by: Joseph41 on July 03, 2017, 12:20:03 pm
Hi Tim, where can I find a copy of the slides you presented at the ATAR Notes psychology lecture yesterday?

Hey - welcome to ATAR Notes! :D

Tim's slides will be emailed out, and later uploaded to The VCE Discussion Group. :)

Hope you enjoyed the lecture!
Title: Re: Psychology Q&A with the ATAR Notes Psych Lecturer
Post by: Ashjames on July 03, 2017, 05:16:55 pm
Hey everyone!!!

I just wanted to ask if anyone has finished the AOS on research methods(my school is reluctant to start it for some reason- but I'd like to get ahead). What SAC did you have to complete on this, or more specifically, what is the poster you have to complete about??


Title: Re: Psychology Q&A with the ATAR Notes Psych Lecturer
Post by: amigos on July 03, 2017, 05:29:44 pm
Hey everyone!!!

I just wanted to ask if anyone has finished the AOS on research methods(my school is reluctant to start it for some reason- but I'd like to get ahead). What SAC did you have to complete on this, or more specifically, what is the poster you have to complete about??

The poster is essentially the ERA from the previous study design, with some stuff cut out or added in, in a poster format. For our study, we were allowed to do anything as long as it was based off another study previously done.
Title: Re: Psychology Q&A with the ATAR Notes Psych Lecturer
Post by: Bri MT on July 03, 2017, 07:49:26 pm
Hey everyone!!!

I just wanted to ask if anyone has finished the AOS on research methods(my school is reluctant to start it for some reason- but I'd like to get ahead). What SAC did you have to complete on this, or more specifically, what is the poster you have to complete about??

We have completed ours, and at my school we could pick any experiment relating to stress, memory or learning as long as we got it approved by the teacher. I chose to test if recall or recognition was a more sensitive measure of retention. In the poster you discuss relevant background information and previous research, your experiment (inc hypothesis aim etc) and how it followed scientific methodology, what the results were (using descriptive and inferential statistics), and discuss the results and their implications.