ATAR Notes: Forum
VCE Stuff => VCE Science => VCE Mathematics/Science/Technology => VCE Subjects + Help => VCE Psychology => Topic started by: Camo on November 23, 2011, 02:43:25 pm
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I thought it would be necessary to include a new general guide for those who wish to have a high study score in psychology.
Here is a general guide in succeeding in psychology.
1. Get yourself a copy of the current study design.
http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vcaa/vce/studies/psychology/psychologysd2010.pdf
This will serve as your main resource to keep you on track of what you should be studying, and the topics that you will cover.
2. For each dot point of the study design, take it apart, brainstorm. Writing this in another notebook or just typing up these notes will consolidate information (however studies suggest handwriting can be linked to consolidation more than typing notes).
3: Ask Questions! Don't be that one person in class that thinks, 'I've got this, it's easy.' I know psychology can be easy in a clear view, however it is more beneficial to apply your knowledge to everyday life. An example of the unit three and four topics such as memory and learning link to student life, as well as stress during year 12.
4. Think Outside The Box! This can be anything from listening to podcasts, reading relevant information like recent psychological studies, and making your own practice exam. ::) I had a thread around here somewhere of videos from the big bang theory. two and a half men, etc, related to learning!
5. Always discuss topics with classmates and the teacher. I love to talk about psychology, I find a lot of the information interesting and very engaging. You can be exposed to information from a different perspective.
6. Remember, you have two exams! This gives you a lot more time to study for each one, especially if Psychology is your only mid-year, (thus allowing you to maintain attention towards it).
7. Practice, Practice, Practice! Practice exams are perfect for testing your knowledge. Try to aim for at least one a day at least two weeks before the exam.
8. Use your resources! Books, practice exams, *coughs* moderators. ;D
P.S. please do not message me asking for practice exams. I unfortunaly don''t have any at the moment.
Most of all, good luck, psychology is a rewarding and useful subject, where information can be applied to everyday life in a variety of beneficial ways.
Below are some other students advice.
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Thanks for the guide! 2012 is going to be a loooong year :D
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what podcasts do you recommend listening to?
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Never used them. My guide will be up on Dec 16.
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Never used them. My guide will be up on Dec 16.
:D even if you get 49 instead of 50 ;p
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Awesome advice :D
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Don't get stuck up on memorising. Do not. It will just blatantly waste your time - psychs turning into a more application based subject. Just UNDERSTAND how terms operate so you can quickly jot ideas down as it relates to the question in the real exam, because frankly, half the time you won't even need to use a perfect definition which you spent countless hours memorising - instead you'll be adapting it for the question. Just my 2 cents because I sure did waste so much time learning definitions instead of understanding the material which would've cracked the same score - as I discovered in the end of year exam.
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Hey guys,
I received a study score of 50 for Psychology (2011). Like most other subjects someone writes a guide, so here's mine!
BACKGROUND OF THE SUBJECT
VCE Psychology is regarded as a “fucking pisser” of a subject. Prior to 2010 I’d have to agree with this crude description of the subject. In 2010 a new exam panel was present and students across the state sat the hardest exam in that study design. The cut off usually hovers at ~80/90 but for 2010’rs it dropped to ~76/90. VCAA has changed the format of the questions such that it requires more thinking and less of regurgitation. The current SD (2011-2014) has been undertaken by myself and fellow 2011 Psych’rs and we were treated to the hardest midyear exam ever created – a cut off ~71/90. The message I want to send across is that do not take this subject with an “easy 50” in mind. This attitude will be your downfall.
FORMAT OF ASSESSMENT/WHAT YOU LEARN
The new SD brings a new format – an arguably ‘harder’ format.
Section A remains unchanged at 45 MCQ however questions are no longer sorted by AOS; questions may cross areas and be from more than one dot point on the SD.
Section B may be 30 or 35marks in the form of short answer questions generally ranging from 1-5mark questions. Questions may cross areas and be from more than one dot point on the SD.
Section C – the brand new section - may be 10 or 15 marks. The question can be an essay-type or research-methods based.
FAST FACT – 2011 u3 Section C produced an average of 4.8/15.
Unit 3 is broken into Mind, Brain and Body (AOS1) and Memory (AOS2).
Unit 4 is broken into Learning (AOS1) and Mental Health (AOS2)
In the previous SD Memory was tested in Unit 4 so make sure you do those practice questions as they are relevant!
HARD CONCEPTS
At the request of Ravit I shall list what I personally found ‘hard’. These may mean nothing to you now but they will make sense when you get to it.
Sleep-wake cycle shift, RAS, Reticular formation, Thalamus, Sperry’s work, Loftus, Change Blindess/Inattentional Blindness
The whole of LEARNING is a conceptual part of Psychology. There’s very little regurgitation in this AOS. You must understand the principles of each type of learning. For this reason it is either very hard or very easy because once you understand, everything comes to you instantly.
Mental Health is straightforward and my favourite AOS.
RESOURCES I USED
Grivas – best text, does contain a few errors though. Most notably, elderly people receive 20% REM sleep and not 33% as Grivas states.
Oxford – supplementary text. I used this only to clarify what Grivas said. Overall Grivas is better.
A+ Summary notes – Irrelevant information in it as well as relevant. You’d be better off buying a student’s notes IMO.
A+ Exams – too easy. Fundamental principles are tested though.
NEAP Guide – comes with 3 exams. Worth it. There are also AOS specific questions for SAC prep.
Checkpoints – didn’t buy it for u3 (don’t really see the point? All VCAA exams are available for free). I did buy it for u4 as Mental Health is a completely brand new AOS so I needed the extra questions.
MY RECOMMENDATION FOR A STUDY PLAN
Do not complete the whole of u3 before school starts.
I completed AOS1 only. Read through AOS2 though.
During school work consistently ahead of class. Ask questions. Gain an appreciation for the subject. Relate everything back to everyday life. Talk about Psychology. Ingrain it. It should become a part of your existence.
I recommend 20 exams per unit for the conscientious student aiming 45+
For u4 I finished the whole course in terms of note-making in the short term2 2 week holidays. Yes I no life’d this...it took me, on average, 4 hours a day. The reason I did this was to practise AOS1 – Learning – a much more conceptual area of study that required being exposed to examples. I must say it paid its dividends as I demolished the two LEARNING SACs.
Overall consistent work is the key to success. Always review what you already know – over learning ensures you won’t forget a definition on the day!
SLUMDAWG
This is the username of a 2010 Psychology 50’r. He mentored me throughout the year and was always there to address my concerns. However the best resource he can offer is his Unit 3 (self-created) exam. I endorse this as the best Unit 3 exam out there. It is very much an exam for those aiming extremely high (47+) as it is quite difficult. I got 78/91 and was Rank 1. Buy this exam. It is invaluable.
Unfortunately he did not make one for Unit 4. Have no fear – I shall be creating my own Unit 4 exam. Keep tuned for that!
TOTALED
This is the username of a 2010 Psychology 50’r. Pretty much the same role as Slumdawg but without the exam…but came with free notes! FAST FACT: After I complete Year 12, totaled and I may start up a company with Psychology lectures. Stay tuned.
THANKS TO BOTH SLUMDAWG AND TOTALED. Love you <3
SUMMARY
Psychology is a subject in which hard work will put off. It is inevitable that you will need to memorise definitions and there is a lot of content to work through so make sure you’re consistent in your work. It’s okay to be a perfectionist in your study but beyond all, LOVE IT. I shall miss it in Year 12.
GOOD LUCK!
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Hmm I forgot to mention lectures.
I'd recommend Connect Ed. The advantage of having a student lecturer is that he/she knows exactly what he/she's talking about because they've been through it before and done very well (got a 50). The lecture was very engaging as well, containing helpful tricks.
If not that, then Pathways although I dislike one of the presenters (not going to name names!)
Sign up to Connect's mailing list - may get discounts.
http://connecteducation.us2.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=32875de93ea23de4e99ccbbf2&id=d091cbf552
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ssnake you mentioned everything i wanted to know!!!! legend! congrats for your 50!!!!
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i cannot reiterate enough how important practice exams are!!!
i have a very good memory for text, so i can pretty much recite paragraphs from a book without much effort, but this precision won't get you over the line in psych! you have to have a conceptual understanding of the theory, and not forgetting to "communicate with psychological language"
the concepts aren't hard in psych, in my opinion, the most difficult bit is understanding exactly what the question wants from you. as you do more practice exams, your ability to decode the question increases majorly, and your confidence too.
i scored much lower on the exams than i should have because i simply avoided the question in my answers LOL
also everyone should have the grivas textbook. it has high quality learning activites (most of them) which i always wrote exam style answers. this helped to engrave the theory into my brain. most of these were purely set as homework by my teacher, but coursework can still be a very good revision tool for exams
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What is a "students note IMO" ?
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Didn't get a 50 or anything but I got above 45+ and looking back I would've changed a few things.
First of all I would highly recommend to do some regular revision of what you have learned at school; whether it be simply be re-reading or more effectively make up your own questions about a particular question and answer it. Use your notes from class, textbook, lecture notes to help you complete this, but I also found watching videos, even googling stuff, very effective in learning the overall background of complex topics.
Try to relate the content to your own experiences. Examples of a particular phenomenon WILL come in handy during the exam and this way it is easier to remember.
During the term break or throughout the year, create your own notes by following the Study Design Dot Points which can be done in a variety of ways whether it be typing it up on Word or a bunch of brainstorming maps.
You want to study for your SACS at least one week prior, I always left it to the morning or day before and for the mid year a month gives plenty of time. Try to have your notes all done etc so you can spend the time simply doing practice exams, questions and touching up on difficult topics.
I hope you all enjoy the course as much as I did, and with enough effort I reckon ANYONE could get 40+ and even 45+. I probably did 4-5 hours study for each SAC and about 12 practice exams and checkpoints, but the more you do the better!
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What is a "students note IMO" ?
IMO = in my opinion
Student's notes = a student, preferably who scored 48+, who made their own Psychology notes.
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im doing psych this year and im having trouble finishing the learning activities quickly. like it takes me around 1.5 hours to do one LA. does anyone have any tips on how to finish the LAs quickly but accurately?
thankyouu :D
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im doing psych this year and im having trouble finishing the learning activities quickly. like it takes me around 1.5 hours to do one LA. does anyone have any tips on how to finish the LAs quickly but accurately?
thankyouu :D
Do you read the text thoroughly/take effective notes? If you know the information inside out you'll find it a lot easier to complete learning activities :) After a while they become really quick, and I can usually finish them in around 20 minutes with full sentences and whatnot.
Good luck :)
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im doing psych this year and im having trouble finishing the learning activities quickly. like it takes me around 1.5 hours to do one LA. does anyone have any tips on how to finish the LAs quickly but accurately?
thankyouu :D
Do you read the text thoroughly/take effective notes? If you know the information inside out you'll find it a lot easier to complete learning activities :) After a while they become really quick, and I can usually finish them in around 20 minutes with full sentences and whatnot.
Good luck :)
how long are your responses to the questions? coz like idk if im trying to do mine too detailed or not. it always seems like im still lacking information. and is it better to copy answers out of the textbook? as in using their wording? or is it better to reword it?
thanks :D
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im doing psych this year and im having trouble finishing the learning activities quickly. like it takes me around 1.5 hours to do one LA. does anyone have any tips on how to finish the LAs quickly but accurately?
thankyouu :D
Do you read the text thoroughly/take effective notes? If you know the information inside out you'll find it a lot easier to complete learning activities :) After a while they become really quick, and I can usually finish them in around 20 minutes with full sentences and whatnot.
Good luck :)
how long are your responses to the questions? coz like idk if im trying to do mine too detailed or not. it always seems like im still lacking information. and is it better to copy answers out of the textbook? as in using their wording? or is it better to reword it?
thanks :D
Well it depends on the question, a straightforward question like "Define..." might only be one or two sentences, but analysis questions may be quite a large paragraph. Detail is good - it's what distinguishes your answers from others.
And DEFINITELY reword it. It'll help you remember the information and understand it better.
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I was going through the Study Design and was wondering whether I should just trust VCAA and stick to the information listed there. I'm currently using the Oxford Psych textbook and in the research methods chapter, it seems to mention information that aren't on the study design so now I'm starting to feel that the SD is a little vague.
My number one concern is the reliability and validity. The SD states: Validity including construct and external, and Reliability including internal consistency.
Now it doesn't seem to mention inter-rater reliability, test-retest reliability and parallel form reliability (actually my textbook doesn't have 'internal consistency' but I'm assuming 'internal reliability' is the same thing), so should I not study them?
Same goes with the validity construct and external. It just seems a bit vague to me to be honest. It says external validity, but does that also include criterion-related validity (which seems to go under it)?
I know VCAA can't be specific with everything, but it just seems that in some areas they're quite broad and general and others seem to be really specific. Have there been any cases where examiners or whoever that writes it (for any subject) haven't stuck to the study design??
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I was going through the Study Design and was wondering whether I should just trust VCAA and stick to the information listed there. I'm currently using the Oxford Psych textbook and in the research methods chapter, it seems to mention information that aren't on the study design so now I'm starting to feel that the SD is a little vague.
My number one concern is the reliability and validity. The SD states: Validity including construct and external, and Reliability including internal consistency.
Now it doesn't seem to mention inter-rater reliability, test-retest reliability and parallel form reliability (actually my textbook doesn't have 'internal consistency' but I'm assuming 'internal reliability' is the same thing), so should I not study them?
Same goes with the validity construct and external. It just seems a bit vague to me to be honest. It says external validity, but does that also include criterion-related validity (which seems to go under it)?
I know VCAA can't be specific with everything, but it just seems that in some areas they're quite broad and general and others seem to be really specific. Have there been any cases where examiners or whoever that writes it (for any subject) haven't stuck to the study design??
Your probably best to use a variety of textbooks and guides as to approach psych. Examiners don't often go outside the study design but they can surprise you.
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About the Grivas textbook, is this the right one? (I'm scared of getting the wrong edition): http://www.macmillan.com.au/secondary/onix/all/3242BD69B64E290ACA257730001EDD04?open&div=Secondary&cat=Science%3EVictoria&template=domSecondary&ed=site/seced31.nsf
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yes thats the one^
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hey do you where the answers are for the oxford psychology text unit 3 and 4, are they on the CD or the website?
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hey do you where the answers are for the oxford psychology text unit 3 and 4, are they on the CD or the website?
I actually don't know whether they have the answers. I've gone through the CD and textbook constantly, but I wasn't aware of the website though.
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there is a mention of the answers being located on this website http://www.oup.com.au/psych12, in the introduction of the book, but there are none there.
But it states later that only teachers have access to them!
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there is a mention of the answers being located on this website http://www.oup.com.au/psych12, in the introduction of the book, but there are none there.
But it states later that only teachers have access to them!
Well that's stupid. How am I suppose to know whether I'm doing the questions right. It'll be too weird for me to ask for ALL the answers from my teacher :S
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is it possible if you could ask to teacher and ask her to link you answers to particular chapters when you require them, i don't think there would be anything wrong for her to provide answers to chapter questions..... hopefully :D
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Could someone please explain the difference between confounding variables and extraneous variables? I've read that a confounding variable is a type of extraneous variable (not sure if that's true), but other than that, I really don't understand the differences :S
is it possible if you could ask to teacher and ask her to link you answers to particular chapters when you require them, i don't think there would be anything wrong for her to provide answers to chapter questions..... hopefully :D
Yeah when I get back to school I'll ask if he can send them and I'll post it here :)
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I'm a little rusty lol but an extraeneous variable is one that has a potential effect on the DV but has not yet (which can be eliminated), whereas a confounding variable is a variable that has a systematic effect on the DV (already happened and can't be separated from the results). They are both unwanted :) I hope that's correct lmao.
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I'm a little rusty lol but an extraeneous variable is one that has a potential effect on the DV but has not yet (which can be eliminated), whereas a confounding variable is a variable that has a systematic effect on the DV (already happened and can't be separated from the results). They are both unwanted :) I hope that's correct lmao.
Thanks for the reply! But just wondering, when you say "which can be eliminated" do you mean that extraneous variables can still be eliminated even when results are obtained? Or can they only be eliminated BEFORE the study/experiment is conducted?
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Do we have to know the exact order of the NREM/REM cycle stages? My textbook isn't quite clear in terms of the order and I can't find any on the internet besides diagrams (which appear to be different from what's given in my textbook (Oxford))
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the macmillan book explain them really well !
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Well, roughly
NREM 1 --> NREM 2 --> NREM 3 --> NREM 4 --> NREM 3 --> NREM 2 --> REM --> NREM 1 --> NREM 2 ... (and so on)
I'm pretty sure VCE Psych still retains the NREM 3/4 distinction (although it's been a while since I've done it myself - I did get a chance to read one of the new study design descriptions).
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How well do you need to memorise definitions? Do you need to regurgitate the words from a book or is a general definition fine ? .. because i find it difficult to remember every single definition word for word but i 'know' it .... hmmm :S
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Thanks for the reply! But just wondering, when you say "which can be eliminated" do you mean that extraneous variables can still be eliminated even when results are obtained? Or can they only be eliminated BEFORE the study/experiment is conducted?
Since extranneous variables can have an unwanted effect on the results, they would have to be eliminated before the experiment. Once the results have been obtained, the damage is done :P
From my understanding anyway :)
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How well do you need to memorise definitions? Do you need to regurgitate the words from a book or is a general definition fine ? .. because i find it difficult to remember every single definition word for word but i 'know' it .... hmmm :S
I think they look for key words...not sure though