Hi, I am going into Eng I and was thinking of taking Psych 1X03 as an elective first semester. I was wondering if anyone had done this before and how it increased their workload. Will the workload be too heavy? Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks

I havent personally taken this course, but two of my roommates did, they seemed to not have a problem with it. My roommate just listened to the podcasts rather than go to any lecture haha

Its a really easy course .. if you enjoy the content you'll have no problem. Its one of those courses that you don't have to be on campus for, so in your timetable, you can ignore the timeslot, and just keep up with the 'podcasts'. (still good to go to lectures though)

Theres a few assignments and quizzes, but nothing that's a big deal.

^The only thing listed for psych on your timetable is the tutorial which you can't ignore

It is very easy to achieve 9-10/10 on participation in tutorial, I consider that free marks. You also have a research participation option called Experimetrix. Basically you sign up to be a subject in current McMaster psychology studies, for example, I watched an an hour of fight club with subtitles hooked up to an EEG measuring my brain activity. Here you are earn another 8/8% and have the weight of your exam reduced from 55% to 48%. Other than that, the quizzes can be frustrating at times, but Dr. Kim takes your top 10/13-14 ish (subject to change annually). This is a great class (in all my biasedness).

When i took (the year the just past) it there were no test, only quizzes and final exam, so u must see that you do good on the quizzes.

This course has a fair bit of memorizing, but alot of the terms and concepts are very intuitive and engaging, so its not like your memorizing a bunch of definitions mindlessly. Also, u must go for tutorials, it really help u to understand the concept better and you getting marked for attendance.

In terms of increasing work load, I feel this course does require a bit more time than other electives, say econ. But all comes down to how much u like it. Is psych something u are genuinely interested in? If it is work from this course will not seem like a burden.

1) u have to read the text or at least skim through the chapter once for the topic being taught that week. Try spliting the readings over the course of the week.

2) U MUST watch the lectures and make notes (which will help on the quizzes)

Also, try to take a tutorial closer to the end of the week (Friday). Additionally this is course taken by MANY,so its not hard to find ppl when u need help. The person sitting right next to u in the lib could be taking it (from experience)

good luck in making a decision

Haha nothing requires less time than an econ course. You simply sleep through lecture, then write the test. The first year econ classes are by far the easiest courses to pass offered at mcmaster

Originally Posted by jon.john23

When i took (the year the just past) it there were no test, only quizzes and final exam, so u must see that you do good on the quizzes.

So there was not a midterm for this course?

nope not one

only a quiz and final. So quizzes and tutorial participation was a big part of you mark

**** this could change, he was trying out something new on us (which is the nature of psych) we were his genie pigs.

If you're looking to get a high mark though don't count on psych, it can be very time consuming.