hi , i am thinking if chaging one of my electives , does psych involve alot of essay writting and readings ?

thank you

The course changed a bit since last year so some stuff might have changed but anyways:

Essay: last year it was one group essay (pretty short. Only needed to be like 2 pages). Group of 3. It *will* pull down your mark if you're group's not working well though.

Readings: Last year, none. Everything you needed to know was done through online lectures. This year apparently the courseware has more testable stuff on it (from what I've heard), but I doubt it'll be a lot of reading.

Originally Posted by Alessia

hi , i am thinking if chaging one of my electives , does psych involve alot of essay writting and readings ?

thank you

I'm not sure if they changed it this year but last year there were no actual readings but there were a bunch of online lectures that we had to watch. In terms of essays I think there were 1 or 2 but done in groups.

There were a total of three assignments one of which was a group essay worth 20% (do or die - depending on group). Then two other mini-assignments worth 5% each (pretty simple). Tutorial marks were like 10% (easy to obtain as long as you participate or talk enough times). Then there's 20% midterm which was brutal. Then there is 40% exam which was actually easier than test. All I can say is watch the lectures on time, so you will not mess up on the end of class quizzes which boosts your mark if you do bad on exam.

This is what it says in the Psych handbook in terms of essay writing and readings:

Written Assignments (15%)

Three assignments worth 5% each will be distributed in tutorial. ... designed to improve research skills including working with primary journal articles, analyizing experimental design, and scientific writing.

No mention of group work here. Although, there may still be group work, who knows - but it wasn't mentioned at all.

Tutorial Participation 10%
ELM Quizzes 10% (6 quizzes, multiple choice, 2% each, lowest score won't count towards mark)
Midterm 25% - (may cover material in web modules, tutorials & handbook readings. None from textbook)
Final 40% - culmulative (covers information from entire term)

The handbook doesn't have THAT much reading. The web modules are easy to follow as you can copy down everything Dr. Kim is saying by clicking on the 'notes' tab. (You'll know what that means if you switch. :])

hmm i am in that class, and im wondering if we get to chose our own groups

Originally Posted by Al-mansi

hmm i am in that class, and im wondering if we get to chose our own groups

I think it depends on your TA. Mine picked our groups for us (for the essay thing).