Psychology advice Unit 3/4 2021

[simkaur04]

Hey all - does anyone have any advice for Psychology 3/4 or just tips and tricks, anything they'd recommend to do really well, and stuff that others might not generally do/focus on? All contribution is appreciated

[markmorstentine]

Hey all - does anyone have any advice for Psychology 3/4 or just tips and tricks, anything they'd recommend to do really well, and stuff that others might not generally do/focus on? All contribution is appreciated

Hi, I just finished psych this year (raw 46) I would say the 6 biggest pieces of advice I would give is:

1. Don’t gain a superficial understanding of the content, understand what everything means or is and if your even slightly confused about a concept in the study design, read it up in the textbook or clarify with a teacher until understood, the exams are becoming increasingly harder and are now more so testing for a deeper understanding of the coursework. Also there a significant links between aspects of the coursework, acknowledge them.

2. KEY WORDS - marks in most cases are based on stating a specific term in each question. This is learnt through practice questions (more below)

3. Understand mark allocation most 1 markers are simple. 2 markers usually require and definition to a term and an explanation (in relation to question) unless it explicitly implies to just put two separate points. 3 marks etc.

4. Don’t underestimate the power of research methods, it was actually the 10 market last year (2020) and “threw” everybody off. I made notes for this during the summer holidays and actively revised it before each assessment.

5. My game plan for SACs were 1 week before spend 2 days on finalising notes for the topics and ensuring they were sound and for next 5 days to spam practice questions (checkpoints, past SACs etc)

6. Enjoy it, honestly the mindset about a subject can make or break the effort you put in and the scores that you get, enjoy psych and all it’s wonderful intricacies and information about the body you learn and it’s relevance to the outside world.

I’m also looking to tutor psych this year so if anyone is interested feel free to pm me. Notes and practice questions will be provided ($40 hr)

[vehura]

Hey! I did 3&4 psychology this year as a year 11 and achieved a study score of 50. It was easier for me to focus on this subject as it was my only 3&4, however there are some things I did that I found really helped me prepare for SACs and the exam throughout the year.


Find a study method that works for you.During the summer holidays, all I did was write notes for the research methods chapter, but this helped me to figure out how I would write notes for the rest of the year. I found the best way to note-take for me, personally, was to hand write summary notes from the textbook (trying to paraphrase), and then re-read through what I'd written and highlight the key terms with bright pens. This helped to ensure that I was consciously reading through what I had written down and understood the important information. I kept up consistent note taking in this way throughout the year, and if you are a verbal learner (as I am) this may help you retain the information. I did not use quizlets or flashcards for psychology, but this may also help you to learn information (however reciting definitions word-for-word is not necessarily needed in this subject).

Don't stress over one SAC mark. A lot of people think you need to average 95+ in order to achieve a high study score, but this is not necessarily the truth. I got a SAC mark in the 80s and I thought a high score was impossible, however I still managed to achieve a 50 in the end. If you put all of your hope/disappointment into one SAC mark, it will soon turn into a spiral of doubt and anxiety!! Don't do this.

Complete practice questions and receive feedback from your teacher. I think many psychology students will agree that doing practice questions and seeking feedback on your answers from either your teacher, or marking schemes which are published by exam companies or VCAA, is one of the most important ways to ensure that you know exactly how to answer questions. I frequently used checkpoints and other styles of practice questions right up until the exam (where I mostly did VCAA practice exams). There are certain styles of questions which may pop up on your SACs that are used in the exam. I found that these sorts of questions were worth 3-4 marks, and have an almost formulaic way of being answered, and so you ensure that, if you memorise how to achieve full marks on these questions then you will feel so much more confident when you see these appear on the exam and know exactly how to answer them. Some of these questions that come to mind which may be useful to revisit when studying for SACs or the exam are:

- The lock-and-key process

- Systematic desensitisation (always the same 4 consecutive steps for 4 marks)

- How Loftus' research into leading questions can be applied in certain scenarios

- GABA agonists and benzodiazepine agents

- Literally any question asking you to use the "language of classical/operant conditioning/observational learning" - ABC model, 3 stages of classical conditioning, and ARRMR (you will learn these in unit 3)

There are definitely more examples that you will discover throughout the year. Completing lots of practice for these questions and seeking feedback from your teacher (I sent so many emails to my psych teacher during the year) on your answers is a great way to solidify your understanding and smash the exam!!! Also, when doing practice questions and getting feedback, I always used a separate book than I used for note taking. You may have already done this for subjects in year 11, such as maths, but I also found it useful for psychology.

Further, when completing practice exams at the end of the year, you don't need to be smashing them. I think I did around 19 or 20 (these were not full either, with many things being taken out of the study design due to changes and the COVID adjusted design), and I'm fairly certain that even a couple of days before the exam, I didn't get above 90%. This was obviously not indicative of the score I received on the day of the exam, so don't stress about it.

Have fun with it! I found psychology to be one of the best, most interesting subjects I have ever done and would basically recommend it to everyone. Its content is extremely applicable to real life, and I really engaged with what I learnt and found it super easy to relate to my personal life. If you engage with the subject and realise its applicability, you will find it so much easier to study for. I'm a nerd, so whenever I was bored at work I'd be like, "how does long-term potentiation allow me to know which aisle salt is in", or, "how does observational learning work when I'm driving with mum," or like, "so that's why I get hungry when I hear Judge Judy on the television..."

I hope you find this useful! Please let me know if you have any further questions.