My Grind for the Psychology Unit 1 Exam
Alright, so the Psychology Unit 1 exam popped up on the schedule, and honestly, I wasn’t feeling super prepared right off the bat. First thing I did was grab the syllabus and the course outline. Had to figure out exactly what topics were gonna be on this thing. You know, scope out the battlefield.
Spent a good chunk of time just rereading my notes from the lectures. Some of it made sense, some of it felt like I was seeing it for the first time, which is always a great sign, right? I tried just reading the textbook chapter straight through, but my eyes started glazing over pretty quick. Too dry.
So, I switched tactics. Active recall, that’s what they call it, I think? Anyway, I started making flashcards. Not for everything, just the key terms and the main people, like Freud, Skinner, all those guys. Wrote the term on one side, definition or key idea on the other. Made a decent stack.
- Got a pile of index cards.
- Wrote down terms like ‘classical conditioning’, ‘cognitive perspective’, ‘neuron’.
- Flipped through them whenever I had a few minutes spare.
Then I hit the practice questions. Found some at the end of the chapter and a few online quizzes someone shared. Man, that first round was rough. Showed me exactly where the gaps were. Apparently, I’d completely zoned out during the bit about research methods. Statistics stuff? Ugh.
Had to double back. Went specifically to the research methods section in my notes and the book. Forced myself to actually work through the examples. Drew little diagrams to understand correlation versus causation. Felt silly, but it started clicking eventually.
I also tried explaining the concepts out loud. Just talking to myself, pretending I was teaching it to someone else. Helps you figure out if you really get it or if you’re just recognizing the words. Found myself stumbling over the different schools of thought – structuralism, functionalism, behaviorism. Had to make a little summary sheet just for those, comparing them side-by-side.
Didn’t really do a study group this time. Sometimes they help, sometimes they just turn into chat sessions. Decided to just grind it out solo.
The night before, I didn’t cram new stuff. Just reviewed my flashcards one last time and glanced over my summary sheets. Tried to get decent sleep, which is always a struggle before an exam.
Woke up, had some coffee, and went in. Felt reasonably okay. Not like I was going to ace it perfectly, but felt like I’d put in the work and covered most bases. The actual exam wasn’t too surprising, matched the topics list pretty well. We’ll see how the grade turns out, but the process felt solid this time around.
