Description
No matter why you are taking introductory psychology, it’s a safe bet you’re interested in maximizing your understanding of the material and getting a good grade.
And you want to accomplish these goals as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Good news: Several subfields of psychology have identified different ways to help you learn and remember material you will study throughout college. Here’s my guarantee to you: If you learn and follow the guidelines in each of these areas, you’ll become a better student and get better grades. Always remember that good students are made, not born.
Adopt a General Study Strategy
Psychologists have devised several excellent techniques to improve study skills, two of which are described here: “P.O.W.E.R.” or P repare, O rganize, W ork, E valuate, and R ethink; and “SQ3R,” or Survey, Question, R ead, R ecite, and Review.
P.O.W.E.R. This learning system entails the following steps:
• Prepare. In Understanding Psychology, Twelfth Edition, read the broad questions called Learning Outcomes to Prepare yourself for the material that follows. Learning Outcomes are at the start of each chapter and of each module.
• Organize. The Organize stage involves developing a mental roadmap of where you are headed. Understanding Psychology includes the outline at the beginning of each chapter. Read it to get an idea of what topics are covered and how they are organized.
• Work. Because of your effort in the Power and Organize stages, the Work stage will be easier. You know what questions the material will answer based on the Learning Outcomes, and you know how it is organized based on the outline. Read everything in the content, including the material in boxes and the margins, to fully understand the material.
• Evaluate. Evaluate provides the opportunity to deter- mine how effectively you have mastered the material.
In Understanding Psychology, questions at the end of each module offer a rapid check of your understanding of the material. Evaluate your progress to assess your degree of mastery.
• Rethink. This final stage, Rethink, entails re-analyzing, reviewing, questioning, and challenging assumptions.
Rethinking allows you to consider how the material fits with other information you have already learned. Every major
section of Understanding Psychology ends with a Rethink section. Answering its thought-provoking questions will help you think about the material at a deeper level.