Psychology at University

Hi everyone :smile:

So I've just this week finished my a levels and hoping to start university this september!!

I've applied to do Bsc Psychology at York (firm) and UEA (insurance). Just wondering if any Psychology undergrads could recommend any books to get and read over the summer that would be helpful before starting a psychology course at uni?

Thanks in advance!! :biggrin:

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Reply 2

punctuation

16

Original post by kathryn25t

Hi everyone :smile:

So I've just this week finished my a levels and hoping to start university this september!!

I've applied to do Bsc Psychology at York (firm) and UEA (insurance). Just wondering if any Psychology undergrads could recommend any books to get and read over the summer that would be helpful before starting a psychology course at uni?

Thanks in advance!! :biggrin:

Good luck with your degree, hope you get into York :smile:

'Helpful' books would honestly not be any popular psychology books. If you're looking to get ahead, I would recommend learning some stats, how to critically analyse papers, and maybe some basics in psychology areas.

How to read a paper -- I haven't read this but it's been recommended by academics: http://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Read-Paper-Evidence-Based-Medicine/dp/1444334360/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1372087009&sr=1-1&keywords=how+to+read+a+paper

Understanding research methods/basic stats techniques -- Recommended by my stats lecturer http://www.amazon.co.uk/Research-Methods-Statistics-Psychology-Coolican/dp/0340983442/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1372178939&sr=8-1&keywords=coolican+research+methods+and+statistics+in+psychology

Finally if you can figure out which textbook first years use, get ahold of that and start reading! I got my year's textbook over the summer and wasn't terribly productive with it, but did manage to get quite a few pages of notes on cognitive psychology, which definitely saved me time when exam revision time rolled around. :smile:

I wouldn't recommend *buying* these books as they're quite expensive, try to find them at a library first but all in all it would never hurt to have these in your collection!

Reply 3

DeelyBopper

16

Original post by kathryn25t

Hi everyone :smile:

So I've just this week finished my a levels and hoping to start university this september!!

I've applied to do Bsc Psychology at York (firm) and UEA (insurance). Just wondering if any Psychology undergrads could recommend any books to get and read over the summer that would be helpful before starting a psychology course at uni?

Thanks in advance!! :biggrin:

Hiya, I've just finished (today!) my first year at York doing psych! (this is creepy because UEA was my insurance too!) Books wise, theres no reading that actually needs to be done before you start! I would definitely wait until results day before buying any books as both courses are quite different.

I can't comment on good books to get for UEA, but for York, you can get most of the textbooks you will need at the library with little difficulty, but two you might want to get is 'Basic Vision' by Peter Thompson and also 'Principles of Cognitive Neuroscience' by Purves et al as they are two books that were ALWAYS out at the library! Purves is a key book for first year especially and the Pete Thompson one is good for all 3 years :smile:

If you want to get ahead on the required reading, its chapters 1-4 for Basic Vision and 2-5 in Purves for the first term :smile:

Also, in terms of books, never buy brand new always get second hand! I bought both of mine through amazon marketplace at the end of august for dirt cheap as a load of third years will be selling them then! If you can't get them through there, try ebay or you can wait until you get here because we get spammed daily with older years selling their books on the cheap!

Hope this helped!!

Btw one of the welfare reps for psychology at York so if you've got any more questions about the course or about the uni in general just ask! :smile:

Reply 4

iammichealjackson

18

Just enjoy your summer. I found going through a biology textbook (Campbell & Reece) good for getting the background knowledge (i didn't do biology a level), or I would recommend a neuroscience textbook. If you don't know what a codon, receptor or hormone is- these terms come up a lot in psychology papers so its good to learn now. I think Its better do read around the subject then read things now which you would do anyway in term- you'll have plenty of time during term to do that!

Also download itunes and go to the ItunesU section of the store- there are lots of free lectures on that, and just watch/listen to something that seems interesting.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 5

kathryn25t

OP

Thanks so much for the replies!! I'm definitely going to take time out during the summer and not even think about working but I find psychology so interesting so reading around the subject really wouldn't feel like work to me!

Thanks for the recommendations, will see if my local libraries have them because I know that uni textbooks can get expensive! Roughly how much would you say that buying your textbooks for the first year cost you?? Just wondering if I should start saving now!!

Reply 6

iammichealjackson

18

Original post by kathryn25t

Thanks so much for the replies!! I'm definitely going to take time out during the summer and not even think about working but I find psychology so interesting so reading around the subject really wouldn't feel like work to me!

Thanks for the recommendations, will see if my local libraries have them because I know that uni textbooks can get expensive! Roughly how much would you say that buying your textbooks for the first year cost you?? Just wondering if I should start saving now!!

I didn't buy any first year textbooks. My uni was well stocked in terms of libraries (also, people did essays at different times so there wasn't so much of a scramble for a particular book after a lecture). I don't think ive ever written a first class essay using a textbook; after a bit you should rely pretty much rely on research articles which are free with your uni pass and are downloaded online. DO NOT BUY TEXTBOOKS BEFORE STARTING UNI--- you want to know which ones will be useful- definately don't buy everything on the reading list!!!

p.s. you can find free downloads of many popular textbooks online in pdf form :wink:

Reply 7

iammichealjackson

18

Actually i take back what i said in caps: if your going to read a textbook for sure its worth buying if you want to read over the hols- but don't buy a bunch of them based on "required reading lists".

Reply 8

DeelyBopper

16

Original post by kathryn25t

Thanks so much for the replies!! I'm definitely going to take time out during the summer and not even think about working but I find psychology so interesting so reading around the subject really wouldn't feel like work to me!

Thanks for the recommendations, will see if my local libraries have them because I know that uni textbooks can get expensive! Roughly how much would you say that buying your textbooks for the first year cost you?? Just wondering if I should start saving now!!

For York you'll only need to actually buy about 3 to 4 of them as all the others are widely available in the library. I managed to get all the ones i needed for under £50. You just need to look in the right places and never pay full price!

Whatever you do don't buy the 'essentials reading pack' they will send you an advert about with your welcome letter because its about £150 and those books are ALWAYS available in the library and you hardly ever need them anyway.

Psychology at University

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