Whether to stay or swap out of psych!? help!

[sararara565]

At my school 1/2 psych isnt offered and I picked it due to heaps of people telling me they loved it etc. and to fill up my last subject. Anyways, I went to a psych lecture for two days and I found the course really sciencey with lots of hard concepts which put me off seeing as science isn't my strong point at all. I have had friends who hate science go through psych and absolutely love it so I am unsure if it was just the lecturers that put me off the subject. Should I stick out the year and see how I go or swap to H&HD ?
Thoughts, feelings and comments to help me decide would be appreciated!

[Inside Out]

Sorry to break it to ya but psych is suppose to be sciencey because it is a science subject. You have to write up pracs too but in a more complexy frustrating way than bio.

[pi]

Its quite possible that the lecturer put you off.

Sorry to break it to ya but psych is suppose to be sciencey because it is a science subject. You have to write up pracs too but in a more complexy frustrating way than bio.

Having said that, it's the least sciency of the lot

[totaled]

Its quite possible that the lecturer put you off.

Sorry to break it to ya but psych is suppose to be sciencey because it is a science subject. You have to write up pracs too but in a more complexy frustrating way than bio.

Having said that, it's the least sciency of the lot

definately, i would say its not science at all, its just common sense (e.g. what is stress)
only may be 10% of it is actually science

and you don't need 1/2 for 3/4, 1/2 is literally completely irrelevant (except for a bit of research methods), i personally didn't do 1/2.

[monkeywantsabanana]

1&2 Psych isn't needed to do 3&4, I didn't do 1&2 either... and i entered Psych 3&4 late as well, like 3 weeks into the course. It's also definitely not very sciency... it is however pretty interesting... you learn names of simple phenomenon that you experience in daily life.

[Mech]

I'd argue psychology, when I did it with the past Study Design, it was indeed a very soft science. If they made it more of a neurobiology class, yes, it would be a science. You are learning how to conceptualize certain mental processes and have a descriptive means of going about studying "mind" - which will not be elucidated very well in the psychology course; you will learn more studying the philosophy of mind in Philosophy.

Firstly, if you dislike the subject, you will most likely do poorly in it. Personally, for me, it was all common sense and I bullshitted all the way through the course and got A+s all year in SACs. Exam time, I had not prepped and bummed out on the exam despite scoring a boderline A. I did not get a crash hot Study Score. Psych is very competitive and requires full/nearly full marks to get a decent score. Same with HDD. Have you studied HDD before? If not, borrow someone's text book and give it a read over. I have never sat the subject, but, from what my friends have said, it is much like Psych with re: to Study Scores.

[totaled]

I'd argue psychology, when I did it with the past Study Design, it was indeed a very soft science. If they made it more of a neurobiology class, yes, it would be a science. You are learning how to conceptualize certain mental processes and have a descriptive means of going about studying "mind" - which will not be elucidated very well in the psychology course; you will learn more studying the philosophy of mind in Philosophy.

Firstly, if you dislike the subject, you will most likely do poorly in it. Personally, for me, it was all common sense and I bullshitted all the way through the course and got A+s all year in SACs. Exam time, I had not prepped and bummed out on the exam despite scoring a boderline A. I did not get a crash hot Study Score. Psych is very competitive and requires full/nearly full marks to get a decent score. Same with HDD. Have you studied HDD before? If not, borrow someone's text book and give it a read over. I have never sat the subject, but, from what my friends have said, it is much like Psych with re: to Study Scores.

hate to say it, but you don't need near full marks to get a high score

you could lost 18.5 marks in the more recent exam, and still gotten A+
in the same regard, i had a frien dwho lost 9 marks on each exam, and still got a 50.
you can lose a heapload of marks in psychology, probably more so than any other VCe subject

[Mech]

hate to say it, but you don't need near full marks to get a high score

you could lost 18.5 marks in the more recent exam, and still gotten A+
in the same regard, i had a frien dwho lost 9 marks on each exam, and still got a 50.
you can lose a heapload of marks in psychology, probably more so than any other VCe subject

I did psych a couple of years ago. I got A+ SACs and my end up year was an A. I cannot remember my mid-year, actually. Might have been what buggered me up. Forgot psych even had a mid year for a second there.  It would have been my first ever VCE exam as well.

I swear lots of people got full marks in the Psych exams and it was a high mark. Unless people had lied to me about their results...

[totaled]

hate to say it, but you don't need near full marks to get a high score

you could lost 18.5 marks in the more recent exam, and still gotten A+
in the same regard, i had a frien dwho lost 9 marks on each exam, and still got a 50.
you can lose a heapload of marks in psychology, probably more so than any other VCe subject

I did psych a couple of years ago. I got A+ SACs and my end up year was an A. I cannot remember my mid-year, actually. Might have been what buggered me up. Forgot psych even had a mid year for a second there.  It would have been my first ever VCE exam as well.

I swear lots of people got full marks in the Psych exams and it was a high mark. Unless people had lied to me about their results...

yeah about 4ish years ago you need 87/90 for a 50 on each exam, nowadays you can get sometihng like 81ish/90 and thats considered en route to a 50

[Mech]

yeah about 4ish years ago you need 87/90 for a 50 on each exam, nowadays you can get sometihng like 81ish/90 and thats considered en route to a 50

Heh. I guess I was just shitty at psychology. Ah well, I can live with this.

Your cohort would have some impact though? I mean, if you cohort did poorly on the exam, that would influence grading.

[Slumdawg]

It's mainly because VCAA exams for psych were much much easier in previous years. In the last two years the exams have been harder and more ambiguous, therefore the marks required to do well have decreased.

Also I wouldn't say it's common sense either, although the topics are all familiar to you, most of the information (in the new study design at least) you definitely would need to all learn properly.

For the OP, I think it might have been the lecture you went to. Psych definitely has some very scientific aspects which could be difficult for you if you don't like science. I'd say have a look at the study design and one of the year 12 texts to get the best idea. But psych is a really interesting subject which most people really enjoy, having said that most people find HHD much easier so if you're after an easier subject go for that because psych requires a lot of time to be put in to score highly...