Study Resources for your Developmental Psychology Test

Your first test of 3rd quarter is just around the corner, so you'll want to review carefully to start the semester strong! The resources posted here should help with your review, as should the MC study guide you received after last week's quiz.

• Quizlet flashcards will help you review vocabulary.
• Review your Unit Learning Objectives. If you are not ready to do each of these things, you're not ready for your test!
• If you finish the MC Study Guide and need additional practice, try these questions:
• Developmental Psych
• Child Development
• Sex and Gender Development
• If confused about certain course topics, or if you have been absent, consult the Slide Shows below. 
• For additional explanation, you might wish to view these Crash Course videos (note: these move pretty quickly and should be supplemented with retrieval practice for best outcomes).
• The Growth of Knowledge (Cognitive Development)
• Monkeys and Morality (Social and Moral Development)
• Adolescence 
• Study Session Resources: (I will post more as I finish building them...perhaps finalizing the slides after Tuesday's study session)
• Practice FRQ + Commonly Confused Term Pairs
• Slide Prompts for Review
• Also, I will leave a Socrative practice review up for your use tonight (rm 109495), if interested.

Studying for Your 1st Semester Final

With 1st Semester Finals right around the corner, it's time to get serious about review.

Tips for Success

1. Remember that the SPACING EFFECT is your friend. Plan to do a manageable chunk of reviewing each night from now until your test. Maybe a unit or two each day?
2. The TESTING EFFECT (or "retrieval practice") is probably your best friend. Resist the urge to just "look over" your notes. Instead, practice retrieving information from memory. You've got a couple of GREAT tools to help you with that:
• You received a Study Guide packet of practice multiple choice questions. Treat that like a test and see how you do.
• Challenge yourself to write or say a definition AND example of vocab words. You can use the Quizlet flashcards below OR the "Magical List"
3. BE SYSTEMATIC. Make checklists (or use some of the tools below) to make sure you don't miss any "big" ideas.

Study Resources

• Which One Doesn't Belong? (Completed in class 1/15). Here are my answers.  
• Your MC Study Guide. Want more practice MC items? Try the Mid-Year Review in Quizizz. Go to join.quizizz.com and enter game code 65833.
• The Magical List of Vocab Terms
• Famous People in Psychology (Diagnostic Guide; Completed in class 1/15)
• Quizlet Flashcards for vocabulary from Semester 1. Note: DO NOT ATTEMPT to complete these all in one sitting. Instead, if you haven't already, create a Quizlet account (free) and star ones you don't know. That way you can return to them later and/or look them up.

Study Session Materials - 1/17/16

• Who Am I? (Famous Psychologists) and Answers
• Also, I'll leave up the Socrative Practice Questions - Enter rm 109495 to attempt

Study Tools for your Motivation, Emotion, and Stress Test!

Hi Scholars! It's hard to believe, but your LAST unit test for 1st Semester is nearly upon us. On Thursday, (1/14), you'll be taking your test on Motivation, Emotion, and Stress, so I'm compiling some links/tools here that may be of help as you prepare to finish strong!

1. First, you may find it VERY helpful to review this unit's Learning Objectives. This is a list of things I would expect you to be able to know and do for the test. Especially since we began this unit before break, AND because there are a lot of different/separate topics we addressed, this is nice checklist to make sure you're not missing anything in your studying.
2. You also received Study Guide with practice multiple choice questions following last week's quiz. If you've been through those, and feel that more practice/new questions would be helpful, here are some (created by another AP Psych teacher).
3. Then, there's our good friend, Quizlet. I've embedded the flashcards below. 
4. Study Session Materials:
• Practice FRQ (also has confusing term pairs on pg. 2)
• Slides (will use these to prompt different review activties)
• (Short) vocabulary review [in part because I need to add to it]. Go to join.quizizz.com and enter game code 76532

Notes/Slides

Motivation


Emotion and Stress
Note: Still making some final edits on tomorrow's stuff. But, if you've been gone and want to see notes from an absence, everything up until tomorrow's (1/13) slides is current.

Pre-Break Resources

Welcome back! If you had been absent in the days before break, you might wish to check out these items.

Below you'll find the notes we completed up until break (more to come this week, of course, so this is an incomplete version of the slide show).

Also, you can try out the Mid-Year Review Questions we used on 12/23 by going to http://join.quizizz.com and entering code 39634. I will leave these practice questions active until 1/17/16, so you can access them at any time. :)

Reviewing for Your Biological Bases of Behavior Test

Holy cow! This has been an exciting unit, and I'm actually a bit sad that we're drawing to a close. I've had fun introducing you to the AWESOMENESS that is neuroscience, and I hope you've enjoyed the process, too. Since our unit test is coming up on Wednesday, October 28, here are some links to help you get started with review.

• Don't forget that you've got a multiple choice study guide to help with retrieval practice! (You picked this up after the quiz.)
• Be sure to review the Unit Objectives! These are all the things you should be able to know and do for this unit's test.
• Quizlet flashcards
• MORE practice multiple choice questions on Neuroscience and The Brain!
• Crash Course: The Chemical Mind - 10 minute overview of neurons, neurotransmitters, etc. Check your understanding as you view!
• Crash Course: Meet Your Master - Getting to Know Your Brain - overview of brain anatomy. Check your understanding as you view!

Quizlet Flashcards



Intro to Brain Science


Neurons


Nervous System v. Endocrine System


Techniques for Studying the Brain



Brain Anatomy



Nature and Nurture

Reviewing for the AP Psychology Exam

There are SO many things you can do to help you review for your AP Psych Exam, and it can be hard to know where to start. Never fear! Here are some links and general tips, including some important "Do's" and "Don'ts" to help you out.

What NOT to Do:
The following strategies have been shown by researchers to be ineffective (people using them don't do much better than people who hadn't studied at all), so DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME ON THEM.

• Re-reading your textbook. Skimming over previously read passages of your text is a terrible way to study, in part because 1.) it is time-consuming, 2.) you don't actually retain any more info after doing this, and 3.) (even worse) it fosters the "illusion of mastery,"  which leads to WORSE performance. For example, you may think you "know" something just because you think to yourself, "oh, sure, that seems familiar," when actually you aren't able to answer questions about it correctly. Of course, this tip assumes you read the textbook the first time. Also, note that there is nothing wrong with looking up a specific topic that you don't understand in order to get a question clarified or answered. Just avoid passive re-reading of whole chapters (or the whole book).
• Highlighting stuff in your notes. While it sure makes stuff look pretty, there is little processing going on when you highlight terms or ideas in your notes. Since memory is the product of thinking about something, you're better off doing something that forces you to think about the material.

What works?

• Distributed Practice. You may remember this being called "the spacing effect" in your textbook. Spacing out study of your material, rather than planning one giant cram session, leads to better memory. In fact spacing is most powerful once a little "forgetting" has set in. So, study a topic until you feel you've "got it," then come back to it in a day or two and quiz yourself. This strategy can also be a time-saver, since less overall time is needed to achieve the same result as cramming. However, it takes more planning, which is the hard part.
• Retrieval Practice or Self-Testing. There is NO BETTER way to prepare yourself for a test than to practice pulling information from memory. There are LOTS of online tools to help you do this, and I've included some of them below.

So...where do I start?

1. Take a practice test. This will help you identify areas of strength and weakness and provide you with feedback about how "far" you have to go yet to achieve mastery. Some options:
• There are online full-length practice tests available for free.
• Others will provide you with some free content, but charge for full-length versions.
• The College Board also has publicly released two previously given tests, and you could print these for your own practice: the 1999 Released Exam and the 1994 Released Exam. Granted, these are pretty old, but they still aren't bad for practice purposes.
2. Narrow your focus and make a plan. If you found out that you rock at Abnormal Psychology, but are not exactly comfortable with Developmental Psych, use that to plan your study sessions! 
• Write in "Study Time" on your calendar, and the topic you plan to work on each day.
• Plan to review your weakest areas more than once. You may need to go back and watch a video about a topic that is particularly confusing before testing yourself on it again. Some more tricky topics are explained here, too. 
• Brush up on the vocab for a topic by using Quizlet flashcards.
• Then, try out some practice multiple choice questions on a topic that has been troublesome. 
3. In the last couple of days before the test, plan time for "polishing." 
• Review Famous Psychologists to help practice many different areas of the course.
• Use the "combine sets" feature on Quizlet to study multiple topic areas at once.
• Study with a friend: take turns quizzing each other on major course topics (using flashcards or term lists).

The Home Stretch

Looking for some online review tools for brushing up on your AP Psychology knowledge over the weekend? In addition to topic area Quizlet sets that we've been using all year, here are some links you might find helpful:

1. ShortYouTube Clips on Difficult AP Psych Topics - These were created by a fellow AP Psychology teacher for the benefit of psychology students everywhere. At the time of this post, he's uploaded 33 brief (3-5 minute) videos on some of the most tricky concepts in AP Psych, including reviews of Standard Deviation, Neurotransmitters, Schedules of Reinforcement, Types of Memory, and more.
2. Famous Psychologists Quizlet - for reviewing all those people and their work!
3. Practice Multiple Choice Questions - sorted by topic area
4. Twitter as a last resort? - Twitter users, if you are stuck, you can compose a Tweet with a question and the hashtag #appsychreview. There are a number of psychology teachers that have been answering questions from AP Psych students via that hashtag, including myself (@Welle_APpsych).

I hope to see a number of you at Sunday's review session, too!

6th Hour Students review Stage Theories of Development

 

Look at All These AP Psych Exam Takers!

We've got quite a crew here at Chi-Hi on a Sunday taking practice AP Psych Exams to test their skills for the national test, now about two weeks away. Great turnout for a sunny Sunday afternoon!

For any students who were not able to make this practice exam administration, see Mrs. Welle ASAP if you'd like to arrange to take one in the next week or so. It is a great exercise for honing your skills and narrowing the focus of your reviewing!

About 20 Chi-Hi Students made it in for today's practice exam. Way to go, guys!

The Weeks Ahead

As I write this, only 26 days remain until the AP Psychology Exam on May 7^th! That means the next three and a half weeks will be extremely busy as we conclude our final curricular units and continue to intensify our reviewing.

No doubt, these last few weeks leading up to the exam will be a challenge for all. We’ve been building to this point all year. The content from our latest unit – on Psychological Disorders and Treatment – will be the most challenging we’ve faced to this point. Students will have to master many new vocabulary words (over one hundred) and apply concepts learned in previous units in order to differentiate between 27 different psych disorders and 9 different treatment approaches. They will have to know names of many common psychiatric drugs and the mechanisms by which they work.

Additionally, students will continue work on their 40-Day Countdown Packets. These comprehensive (but lengthy) review guides, which were distributed in early March, should be worked on DAILY from now until their completion. They are due on May 8^th (the day following the exam), and students have been marking their progress on charts in our classroom. While many students have been impressive in their progress to date, others are now finding themselves making up for time lost due to procrastination. Parents might help encourage their students to make steady progress on this assignment, as delaying it only means risking future nights of anxiety, panic, and despair as the exam date approaches.

It will also help to remain alert to a number of upcoming opportunities for review, engagement, and mastery over the next few weeks. These include a chance to take a full-length practice exam, two evening study sessions for our (two) remaining unit tests, and two weekend study opportunities for the AP Exam itself. Here are the “big” calendar items:

·        Thursday, April 12^th – “Out of the Shadows” Event @ Sacred Heart Hospital in Eau Claire (5:30 PM). Interested students have already registered for this event, which focuses on child and adolescent mental health in the Chippewa Valley.

·        Friday, April 13^th – Psych Club Team Trivia – Lunch B in rm 136. Get together a group of (no more than 5) fellow psych enthusiasts and test your knowledge of psychological terms, people, and concepts while reviewing for the AP Psych exam. Prizes and glory for the winners…but doesn’t everybody win when we learn? J

·        Monday, April 16^th – Psych Disorders & Treatment Test Review Session – 5:00 – 7:00 PM in rm 136. One final review with classmates and Mrs. Welle as you prepare for a very challenging unit test!

·        Tuesday, April 17^th – TEST: Psych Disorders & Treatment

·        Sunday, April 22^nd – Optional Practice AP Exam - 3:00-5:00 PM in rm 136. Take a full length practice test for the AP Psych Exam. Results (scored before you leave) will help you determine areas of relative strength and weakness (i.e. you will identify which topics need the most review in the final two weeks before the real thing). This also will help calm the nerves of first-time AP test takers (through simulated practice).

·        Tuesday, April 24^th – LAST Chapter Quiz (Ch. 18); Mandatory Pre-administration Meeting 2^nd Hour for all AP Testers. During 2^nd hour on this day all students registered for AP exams (in all subject areas) will complete pre-administration procedures for test day in the cafeteria, with the help of Student Services Staff. (Note to my 2^nd hour students…we’ll come up with a work-around for your quiz.)

·        Sunday, April 29^th – OPTIONAL AP EXAM REVIEW SESSION - 5:00 – 8:00 PM in rm 136. Prepare for the AP Psych Exam with the help of Mrs. Welle and your classmates. We’ll be taking suggestions for topic areas to be covered during the week prior.

·        Monday, April 30^th – Social Psychology Test Review Session – 5:00 – 7:00 PM in rm 136. Join us for our LAST review session for a unit test! Vocab, flashcards, & practice Free-Responses!

·        Tuesday, May 1^st – TEST: Social Psychology

·        Saturday, May 5^th = PROM… Have fun, but for goodness sake use good judgment and don’t wear yourself out too much.

·        Sunday, May 6^th – FINAL (OPTIONAL) AP EXAM REVIEW SESSION AND SIGMUND FREUD’S BIRTHDAY PARTY EXTRAVAGANZA – 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM (or later, as needed). This is it! Your chance to clarify any lingering confusions that you were alerted to during all your prior reviewing endeavors. It will be aimed at achieving confidence, fluency, and mastery of all we’ve learned this year. A time for putting the “final touches” on your understanding so that you can proceed to the exam the following day with cool self-assurance. Since this day is also Sigmund Freud’s birthday, wear your Psych Club shirt and expect cake.

• Monday, May 7^th – AP PSYCHOLOGY EXAMINATION @ CVTC Old Notre Dame Middle School (location changed from previous years to accomodate our larger crew)

I told you we’d be busy!

Given how much is on our plates this time of year, it can be easy to get overwhelmed. When you start to feel this way, remember that I am ready and willing to do whatever it takes to help you meet this challenge. My room is open to you during lunch for getting assistance or for just a quiet place to work (and you might see some classmates there). Please take advantage of all the evening and after-school study opportunities you can. It will help calm your nerves and improve your grades.

I’m confident that all of my students have what it takes to finish strong in the coming weeks, but it will take continued discipline and an “eyes on the prize” mentality. Best of luck to everyone as we grit our teeth and roll up our sleeves for this final round!

Then we’ll all have a collective sigh of relief on May 8^th. J

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Exciting developments this past week in AP Psychology! Upon returning from Mid-Winter Break, students received their 40-Day Countdown Packets, which will be their constant companions up until the AP Psych Exam on May 7th. As I write this, only 38 school days remain until that fateful afternoon.

This year, for the first time, students will be very visibly tracking their progress on their review packets via progress charts that I've posted in my classroom. For each completed "Day" of the packet, students can add a shiny star sticker next to their names. Who wouldn't want to do that?! (Admit it: since elementary school you've been longing to see more gold stars next to your name.)

So far, this strategy seems to motivating for some. In any case, it's a nice visible reminder every time we walk in the door that spaced practice will pay off (and that procrastination is an enemy to be challenged daily).

Quizlet for Personality Theory

Greetings, all! As promised, here is the link to the Quizlet on Personality Theory for this unit.

From here on out it can also be accessed through the "commonly used course links" on the left hand side of the blog.

Happy studying!

<----P.S. Freud wants you to do well here. Don't let him down. He can be cranky about these things.

Upcoming Exam Review Sessions

With finals quickly approaching, it's time to get together to review all the fabulous wisdom that has been imparted to you over the past semester. There are TWO dates I will be offering evening review sessions for interested students:

• This Sunday, January 17th at 5:00 PM (in my classroom) and
• Tuesday, January 19th at 5:00 PM (though, we can talk about adjusting the start time for that one, depending on who will be coming).

On Sunday, we will be doing a general review of all topics by dividing into teams and summarizing particular textbook chapters.

On Tuesday, I'm leaving the schedule open to whatever attendees want/need. We can review specific topics or just meet to help each other go over flashcards. Whatever you feel you need at this point is what we will do.

AP Psychology Review Sessions

It's almost here! The AP Psychology Exam approaches! In order to help you prepare, several study sessions have been planned:

Tuesday (5/5) and Thursday (5/7) during lunch.
The atmosphere will be quite casual, as this is a "drop-in" style review. Bring the 40-day packet or other materials to work on. I will be available to answer questions.

Sunday, May 10 - 6:00 PM - Rm 136
Bring your notes and textbook. We'll review major topic areas addressed by the exam. You will have the option of taking all or part of a practice exam, if you feel ready to test your skills. Specific topics addressed will be determined by the preferences of those who attend.

Monday, May 11 - 6:30 PM - Rm 136
Last chance to get help with review! Lots of options this evening: flashcards, Bingo, F-R tips, etc.

New Vocab Review Tool: Quizlet

Want to impress all your friends by nailing the next Term o' the Day? Sick of writing out your own color-coded notecards? Well, today is your lucky day. I'm starting to put together a vocab review for AP Psych using the popular study site Quizlet.

The site is a pretty handy tool, as it lets you print your own notecards and offers several review games and "tests" of your vocab knowledge. So far, my favorite is Space Race because it's so challenging. It's hard to type "generativity vs. stagnation" before the definition scrolls across the screen...especially if you're having a bad spelling/typing day.

Most of the terms on the AP Psychology Review - Mrs. Welle set are ones I've nabbed from other Psych teachers, but I'll be updating our list over the next couple of weeks. I hope to add a separate list of famous psychologists for your reviewing pleasure as well.