General Psychology 101 Tips for College Students

An Introduction to Psych Course Survival Guide

Sep 8, 2009

General psych is often tougher than students realize. Students need to come to class, keep up with the readings, and seek out opportunities for help and extra credit.

Psychology 101 is one of those quintessentially "college" classes that countless students take every semester. Many student take this course their first semester freshman year. Unfortunately, general psych often is not nearly as fun or easy as it sounds. In fact, many schools use general psychology as a so-called weed out course to get rid of the large numbers of students who think they want to be psychology majors.

So what's so difficult about introduction to psychology? As is the case with all survey classes, the course covers a little bit about a lot of material. This means students need to memorize more than their share of names, dates, and ideas, and need to keep these ideas straight. In addition, for students at large universities, Psych 101 is a huge lecture hall class with hundreds of students. This impersonal environment is hardly ideal for learning.

So what's the best way to get through Psychology 101 with a good grade? Here are some tips to keep in mind.

Do Not Blow Off General Psychology

This tip may seem pretty obvious, but it's amazing how many students don't show up to Psych 101. After all, the class is huge and no one will notice. For first semester freshmen, the ease of not showing up can be quite a temptation.

However, General Psych is not a good class to blow off. Because there's so much information in this class, the ability to take strong notes is essential and cannot be replicated by copying someone else's notes. Be there, pay attention, and take good notes.

Use Available Resources for Help

Intro to Psych classes generally do not come with a professor who faithfully goes out of his or her way to help students. However, many classes do offer resources to help students get ahead, such as:

In addition, don't be afraid to go to the TA or the instructor with questions or for help. That's part of their jobs.

Time Management and the Psychology Reading Load

General psych classes usually come with fat (and expensive) textbooks that are filled with dry reading. Unfortunately, because this is a survey class, the reading will cover many different topics, so it's difficult to skip reading without losing important material.

It's always a good idea to manage a college reading load carefully, but this is especially true in a survey course like General Psych. As much as possible, keep up with the readings and complete them by the scheduled time on the syllabus. This will make lectures easier to understand. In addition, this will prevent reading large chunks of dry material all at once, which makes it quite difficult to retain information.

General Psychology Extra Credit

In addition, general psych students should keep an eye out for extra credit opportunities. Psychology professors and graduate students always need people to participate in psychology experiments, and a common way to find research participants is to offer extra credit to students in Psych 101.

The Challenge of General Psychology

Psych 101 can be a more challenging course than students realize. By coming to class regularly, keeping up with the readings, seeking out opportunities for help, and looking for extra credit, students can keep on top of this difficult survey course.