Hi, Just doing a bit of textbook shopping! I know I will need my bio/chem/kin books but are the psych 1x03 books required? I heard a lot of people say they were a waste of money and never used. Any advice?

Is it "Psychology" by Peter Gray? The course may have changed since I took it in 2008/09 but the textbook was never used. Even the TAs said not to purchase the textbook. The course handbook on the other hand is mandatory so be sure to purchase that today--and be sure to use it during the course.

I'd hold off on the Textbook. Wait until classes start in September to see if you really need it (your TAs or Joe Kim should tell you), but I don't think you will need it at all.

Best of luck and enjoy the courses!

it was a waste of money in my opinion
Dr. Kim had an online PDF that you could buy that had material on it and he said that a small percentage of the test would be based on the PDF material but in my experience with it- it was basically the same information from the online lectures but just with better examples
it is worth it if you want to have an extra source to help you study- because some people have troubles with the podcast style lectures- but if youre fine with it i dont really think it is necessary.... plus A LOT of people had issues downloading it and ended up wasting money... but hopefully they fixed that this year

Thanks alot, appreciated

Originally Posted by Manley

Is it "Psychology" by Peter Gray? The course may have changed since I took it in 2008/09 but the textbook was never used. Even the TAs said not to purchase the textbook. The course handbook on the other hand is mandatory so be sure to purchase that today--and be sure to use it during the course.

exactly right- we didnt need it in the 2010-11 year either

Originally Posted by chelseac

Hi, Just doing a bit of textbook shopping! I know I will need my bio/chem/kin books but are the psych 1x03 books required? I heard a lot of people say they were a waste of money and never used. Any advice?

dont buy anything for psych, i never needed the manual, the manual doesnt give enough space for notes for the online lectures. Just use lined paper or type the notes.

Also, dont buy chem or kin books. Kin only the lecture notes were tested on, same with chem.

dont need it, not one bit, waste of good money, and good paper/data

I found the custom coursewere useful

never bought the text.. heck i never even used the custom courseware either... so when i got to 1xx3 i didnt bother buying the courseware

while im at it.. honestly most of the science courses ive taken are easily doable with only the lecture notes... the text usually is only for a more detailed explanation

I would recommend getting the custom courseware. The main points of each lecture are outlined and some important slides are given. I used it as a guideline for my own notes. Generally, what the prof puts in those little bullet points and slides are the most important points, so it's great for knowing what things to focus more attention on. It also has some questions at the end of each lecture to get you thinking about the material. That being said, there isn't really any information exclusively in the courseware, so I wouldn't say that it's essential, only that it's useful.

However, I would not recommend the textbook. I really regretted buying it. It was just all the same concepts, with nothing new, paraphrased. If you feel that reading the textbook will really reinforce what you learned in the lectures because you're that kind of learner, then go for it! But in reality, most people that I've spoken to don't end up using this textbook at all.

Hope I was helpful!

Psych 1X03? I don't think there is a textbook for it. ***Edit: Sorry, I'm wrong (see below). You can buy some custom courseware that's completely unnecessary for twenty something bucks that has slides from his web lectures and some small exercises and sample questions.

This class is literally watching web lectures and taking notes, and then going to a tutorial to further dissect what you've learned. Not a bad class in my opinion, except that the midterm was 50 minutes long and 25 questions last year.

hahahahahaha have fun with joe kim

Originally Posted by cjdzl

hahahahahaha have fun with joe kim

I took that class and never once saw my own prof in person.

Therefore he must not be real.

Originally Posted by Theashe

Psych 1X03? I don't think there is a textbook for it. You can buy some custom courseware that's completely unnecessary for twenty something bucks that has slides from his web lectures and some small exercises and sample questions.

This class is literally watching web lectures and taking notes, and then going to a tutorial to further dissect what you've learned. Not a bad class in my opinion, except that the midterm was 50 minutes long and 25 questions last year.

There's one that's online written by Dr. Kim. I believe this just started last year.

Originally Posted by ~*Sara*~

There's one that's online written by Dr. Kim. I believe this just started last year.

You're absolutely right, I remember now. I forgot because I didn't buy it. The TA said that there would be content on the tests from the text that we wouldn't learn in the lecture slides, but that wasn't true at all. I got a 10 in the class just from taking notes on the lectures two or three times each throughout the semester and going to tutorials.