Psychology 3&4

[monkeywantsabanana]

So, I'm doing International Studies 3&4, the content is so hard to grasp.

I don't know whether or not i should change from that to Psychology 3&4

I did not do Psychology 1 & 2

Any views?
Should I change?

What are the pros and cons?

Cheers.

[iNerd]

Take note that the Psych study design is new
This means that there will be less resources in terms of revision and also you might not like the new AOS; 'Mental Health'.
Also take note that rumours are flying that there will be a mini-essay type question on the exam.
As for not doing Psych 1 & 2...that does not matter at all. Only thing you should do over the holidays is master ETHICS and RESEARCH METHODS

As for IS...I've heard its damn hard to get a good SS.

[Slumdawg]

Psychology is an excellent subject, a lot of the things you learn will help you in the future. The concepts aren't difficult to grasp (a few can be tricky), however there's a lot of them so you need to manage your time well so you have enough time to remember all of the content and then make sure it's very precise. That's the thing that trips most people up in psychology. If your answers aren't precise enough you can drop from A+ to C+ so quickly because it's very competitive. However, I think because psychology is so interesting you'll probably find that you'll automatically devote study time to it.

Not doing 1/2 won't have a major impact. You can definitely catch up, only small parts of 1/2 are in 3/4. Having said that, you learn about structures of the brain in year 11 which means you have an advantage in the brain section of 3/4. Also ERAs (and other research methods stuff), basically prac reports you'll need to learn too, and psych has its own way of writing these reports. But with help and effort it will be fine. A negative side of psych is how competitive it is, due to how many people do it and how many people enjoy it, it's very hard to be in the top end however hard work will always get you there. You just need to learn how to write proper answers in a way that psych assessors like, and that will come with time.

I would do psych for sure Then again I'm probably really biased in this because psych is my favourite subject (tied with media)..

[burbs]

Well, I think I'm qualified to answer that in some respect, because I dropped out of International Studies 3/4 for Psych 3/4, despite not doing 1/2.

Look at it this way, IS is one of the most difficult subjects with a very low return on investment when compared to psych. The support for psych, despite it being a new study design, is still much higher than that of IS and with psych, the past exam papers will still kind of apply, you just don't do all the questions + there will be new exam papers for this year.


Change

[monkeywantsabanana]

Thanks for the quick reply.


I will probably change.
Does it require a lot of rote learning?


That being said, i did have a look at the 2010 exam for Psychology, a bit intimidating, that's for sure.
oh and just outta curiosity why do many people do Psychology anyways?

Thanks guys again !

[Slumdawg]

Thanks for the quick reply.


I will probably change.
Does it require a lot of rote learning?


That being said, i did have a look at the 2010 exam for Psychology, a bit intimidating, that's for sure.
oh and just outta curiosity why do many people do Psychology anyways?

Thanks guys again !

haha well I'm pretty sure you guys will all have a pretty easy year for psych cos 2010 they gave us the hardest lot of exams.. bastards. But I think they like sticking to the application of information. Psych is becoming much much less about rote learning due to all the case studies in the exams now. If you compare any other year of psych exams 2010 basically has a case study for every MC instead of just a simple recall. This obviously makes the questions much harder and catches out people who've just learned by rote. Ummm I wouldn't say a lot of rote learning. I studied psych until I understood it, if you understand something you're set. I didn't spend any time learning definitions, from a solid understanding you can craft them with ease.

Um psych has heaps of numbers because for most people it's the only option for a 3/4 in year 11. A LOT of year 11s do psych 3/4. And also because it's an interesting field of study, heaps of people WANT to learn about the brain and sleep and about our memories, etc. etc. It's just very relevant to us which really makes it awesome   I hate subjects that I can't apply in real life, makes learning them seem like a waste of time.

[iNerd]

Thanks for the quick reply.


I will probably change.
Does it require a lot of rote learning?


That being said, i did have a look at the 2010 exam for Psychology, a bit intimidating, that's for sure.
oh and just outta curiosity why do many people do Psychology anyways?

Thanks guys again !

haha well I'm pretty sure you guys will all have a pretty easy year for psych cos 2010 they gave us the hardest lot of exams.. bastards. But I think they like sticking to the application of information. Psych is becoming much much less about rote learning due to all the case studies in the exams now. If you compare any other year of psych exams 2010 basically has a case study for every MC instead of just a simple recall. This obviously makes the questions much harder and catches out people who've just learned by rote. Ummm I wouldn't say a lot of rote learning. I studied psych until I understood it, if you understand something you're set. I didn't spend any time learning definitions, from a solid understanding you can craft them with ease.

Um psych has heaps of numbers because for most people it's the only option for a 3/4 in year 11. A LOT of year 11s do psych 3/4. And also because it's an interesting field of study, heaps of people WANT to learn about the brain and sleep and about our memories, etc. etc. It's just very relevant to us which really makes it awesome  I hate subjects that I can't apply in real life, makes learning them seem like a waste of time.

This

[Russ]

There's also the idea that psychology is a soft science and thus if you don't like chemistry or methods you can do psych and enjoy it. Needless to say, don't do this

[burbs]

The relevance/interesting argument is true, but so is IS so its not a good reason to change.

[Glockmeister]

Psychology is an excellent subject, a lot of the things you learn will help you in the future. The concepts aren't difficult to grasp (a few can be tricky), however there's a lot of them so you need to manage your time well so you have enough time to remember all of the content and then make sure it's very precise. That's the thing that trips most people up in psychology. If your answers aren't precise enough you can drop from A+ to C+ so quickly because it's very competitive. However, I think because psychology is so interesting you'll probably find that you'll automatically devote study time to it.

Not doing 1/2 won't have a major impact. You can definitely catch up, only small parts of 1/2 are in 3/4. Having said that, you learn about structures of the brain in year 11 which means you have an advantage in the brain section of 3/4. Also ERAs (and other research methods stuff), basically prac reports you'll need to learn too, and psych has its own way of writing these reports. But with help and effort it will be fine. A negative side of psych is how competitive it is, due to how many people do it and how many people enjoy it, it's very hard to be in the top end however hard work will always get you there. You just need to learn how to write proper answers in a way that psych assessors like, and that will come with time.

I would do psych for sure Then again I'm probably really biased in this because psych is my favourite subject (tied with media)..

Actually, I believe the change of study design means all brain-related things are now all taught in Unit 3.