I'm not exactly sure how much this course has changed over the years, but this year, Psych 1A03 got renamed to Psych 1X03.

So this course introduced you to some of the most basic concepts and theories in psychology. I'd say this a pretty unique course in the fact that all lectures were...

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are Dr. Kims lectures good enough to get you threw this course?

Or must we read the text book? --- Its alot of BS + when u take Critical n Culture Studies = MORE BS

do i need to buy the handbook for this course?

The handbook for this course was completely useless, and I'm one of the people who buys everything "required".

I was thinking about taking the course during the summer semester. Is it possible to do the entire course online and not go to class as I will also be working. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance

Originally Posted by GirlPower

I was thinking about taking the course during the summer semester. Is it possible to do the entire course online and not go to class as I will also be working. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance

Well there are tutorials to go to (not sure if there are marks given for participation or quizes) but when I took this in the summer, it was pretty much all online (in-class night lecture was pretty much useless), and I managed a good mark. As long as you work hard and watch&rewatch the lecture videos, you should be fine.

im just wondering, if i put in the effort, could i achieve a high mark (9-12) or is this class to hard? also does it matter much that i dont have biology? ( i am taking 1P03 concurrent with this course)

It says the exam is 60% now and 30% for the quizzes in the course description...did they really change it this year because this is such an awful format in comparison to having a 25% midterm and a 40% exam....

Originally Posted by SarahLee

It says the exam is 60% now and 30% for the quizzes in the course description...did they really change it this year because this is such an awful format in comparison to having a 25% midterm and a 40% exam....

Yes.
30% quizzes - one per week for 13 weeks and your lowest 3 are dropped.
10% tutorial participation - you get graded once every 3 weeks, and the lowest of the 4 marks are dropped.
60% final exam - can be reduced to 55% with 2 experiment participation credits.

Near the end they also introduced a possible bonus of up to 3% off your final if you could achieve certain marks in the quizzes (e.g. top 25% of all marks, your tutorial is top 25% of the tutorials, etc.)

This course was actually a great course and not as hard as people make it out to be. You do have to keep up with it though.

Every week you have a tutorial, where you meet and discuss case studies that relate to the course material. They were pretty helpful, the case studies drove some of the concepts home. You get marked on your participation, and it's not hard to do well. Most people won't put their hand up, so as long as you do it at least once, and try to participate in the online discussions, you should do well.

The weekly quizzes were not as hard as it seemed. I remember I was worried about how hard psych would be, but I found it to be doable. Yes, once in a while, you will get a really ambiguous question where you spend most of the time deciphering the meaning of the question because Dr. Kim loves making tricky wordy questions. But you can also easily eliminate 2 or 3 options. Instead of picking out the right answer, you should pick out answers that are wrong, and that will usually leave you with the wrong answer. Because an option may be completely right, but one word makes it wrong, so you have to watch out for that. Also, most of the time, it relies on luck honestly. The type of questions you get for your quiz make a MAJOR difference. As long as you understand the module, it's fine. I found the modules a great way to learn course material. It's easier for the information to stick in your hand vs. reading the textbook, and the majority (about 90% of your questions on the quizzes and exams come from here). The textbook is a bore, it's so annoying to read. I was able to get a 91 pre-exam, so it's not hard to do well.

If you participate in two research experiments, your exam is worth 55% instead of 60%, and they had additional ways of reducing your exam to 52% based on your quiz marks. The exam was a lot easier than the quizzes, it was easy to eliminate wrong answers and there was no ambiguous wording or tricky options. If you knew your stuff, it wasn't difficult at all. Don't let it intimidate you, as long as you kept up with your psych readings, a lot of time to study for it is not needed.

I must say upfront that psychology has never intrigued me. Yet, I went into this course with low expectations trying to keep an open mind.

The good things about the course:

-The online lectures. I did like being able to watch them when it was convenient for me. The lectures themselves were actually semi enjoyable. They presented the information in a way that made it seem deceptively easy. This actually turned out to be a bad thing.
-They really did make a good effort to make everyone feel comfortable in tutorials and to encourage discussion.
-The study aids were very helpful
-TA lobby hours - only went twice right before the exams, but found the TA's very willing and helpful when I did go

The bad things about this course:

-The lectures and the tutorials COMPLETELY dumbed down the content, leaving you cluelessly staring at your computer screed saying "what the heck" at every question on your weekly avenue test.
-The tests were hard. Not really because the material was hard, but because the questions were extremely poorly worded, abstract, and ambiguous. Notes won't help you. Textbook won't help you. Google won't help you.
-I understand the benefits of application questions, but this is a FIRST YEAR class. Most of us know nothing about psychology, and we were not prepared at all for the types of application problems on the tests.

Yes course material for psych 1XO3 is deceptively easy - in order to prepare make sure you take notes while watching the web modules (you can pause the web module with the space bar) - writing concepts down in your own words will help you to retain and better understand the information. Also, come up with your own examples for things, instead of the ones given that will also help with application questions in the future. Just thought I'd share some tips!

I thought it was alright. the web modules are convenient because you can watch whenever you feel like it. although the weekly tests were challenging, you can always have your notes open on your lap or someone can help you out and search for info as you do the test.

BEST TIP is to do the test with a small group so you have back up to help you out... but not a huge group coz then you lose your focus :p

Personally, I enjoyed this course more than PSYCH 1XX3. I felt like the course had a sastisfying balance between biological psychology, as well as the more social side of psychology, delving into topics such as human behaviour, language and personality. I found that I could apply a lot of what I learned into everyday life and was interested enough in the course that kept me motivated through the sometimes arduous readings. The tutorials were also pretty easy to do well in, where the knowledge is kind of summarized and the TA's try to apply to different scenarios to help you with the weekly tests.

In terms of studying/other thoughts:

1) make sure you keep up with the readings
2) did the quizzes with a group of friends (sometimes helped, sometimes didn't)
3) make sure you do a thorough job going over all the chapters for the exam (it was one of the easiest exams I had in first year!

Overall, I really liked this course. Keep on keeping on 1X03!