University of Bath
Bath
Psychology Lectures, Seminars and Labratories
Hi there,
I'll be starting the BSc Psychology with Work Placement course at Bath this September, and I've been worrying about the lectures, seminars and laboratories I will have to do as part of my course. I have never studied Psychology before, so I am worried about not being able to understand or keep up with the content.
I just wanted to ask current Psychology students about your experiences with the course, and how you take notes, using which software/applications and what devices (laptop, tablet, etc). Thanks!
I'll be starting the BSc Psychology with Work Placement course at Bath this September, and I've been worrying about the lectures, seminars and laboratories I will have to do as part of my course. I have never studied Psychology before, so I am worried about not being able to understand or keep up with the content.
I just wanted to ask current Psychology students about your experiences with the course, and how you take notes, using which software/applications and what devices (laptop, tablet, etc). Thanks!
Original post by TayTay_
Hi there,
I'll be starting the BSc Psychology with Work Placement course at Bath this September, and I've been worrying about the lectures, seminars and laboratories I will have to do as part of my course. I have never studied Psychology before, so I am worried about not being able to understand or keep up with the content.
I just wanted to ask current Psychology students about your experiences with the course, and how you take notes, using which software/applications and what devices (laptop, tablet, etc). Thanks!
I'll be starting the BSc Psychology with Work Placement course at Bath this September, and I've been worrying about the lectures, seminars and laboratories I will have to do as part of my course. I have never studied Psychology before, so I am worried about not being able to understand or keep up with the content.
I just wanted to ask current Psychology students about your experiences with the course, and how you take notes, using which software/applications and what devices (laptop, tablet, etc). Thanks!
Hello @TayTay_!
Huge congrats on your offer from Bath! Are you looking forward to starting? I am a recent graduate and did the same course as you 😊, so hopefully I can help you out.
In terms of keeping up with the content, I am confident you will not be the only one who will be new to psychology. When I did the course, not everyone had taken it at A-Level, and a couple had taken gap years, and the university understands this. Something I found really helpful with this course is that in the first year, you learn a lot of core skills such as research methods/design, basic concepts of psychology, controversies and debates in psychology – which effectively get everybody up to the same level of understanding ready for the subsequent years. Some of it will have been covered at A-level so if topics are brand new to you then it might help to do a little more background reading into them, but rest assured you are taught everything you need in that first year. And remember your personal tutor will always point you in the right direction if you are finding something difficult 😊
Notes - this is a fab question. Personally I used to download the lecture PowerPoint before the lecture (if it is not provided then most lecturers are open to you contacting them to ask), and save them onto my laptop. During the class as the lecturer spoke and moved through the slides, I would use the ‘notes’ section to type down all of my notes for the relevant slide. I found it helpful to see clearly which notes went with which section. A few of my friends did something similar with tablets, but it totally depends on what works for you. Some people took handwritten notes, but I found I could never write fast enough to keep up with the lecturers this way.
I really hope that helps – please enjoy your summer and if you have any more questions then please do ask 😊
Holly
University of Bath
University of Bath
Bath
Original post by University of Bath
Hello @TayTay_!
Huge congrats on your offer from Bath! Are you looking forward to starting? I am a recent graduate and did the same course as you 😊, so hopefully I can help you out.
In terms of keeping up with the content, I am confident you will not be the only one who will be new to psychology. When I did the course, not everyone had taken it at A-Level, and a couple had taken gap years, and the university understands this. Something I found really helpful with this course is that in the first year, you learn a lot of core skills such as research methods/design, basic concepts of psychology, controversies and debates in psychology – which effectively get everybody up to the same level of understanding ready for the subsequent years. Some of it will have been covered at A-level so if topics are brand new to you then it might help to do a little more background reading into them, but rest assured you are taught everything you need in that first year. And remember your personal tutor will always point you in the right direction if you are finding something difficult 😊
Notes - this is a fab question. Personally I used to download the lecture PowerPoint before the lecture (if it is not provided then most lecturers are open to you contacting them to ask), and save them onto my laptop. During the class as the lecturer spoke and moved through the slides, I would use the ‘notes’ section to type down all of my notes for the relevant slide. I found it helpful to see clearly which notes went with which section. A few of my friends did something similar with tablets, but it totally depends on what works for you. Some people took handwritten notes, but I found I could never write fast enough to keep up with the lecturers this way.
I really hope that helps – please enjoy your summer and if you have any more questions then please do ask 😊
Holly
University of Bath
Huge congrats on your offer from Bath! Are you looking forward to starting? I am a recent graduate and did the same course as you 😊, so hopefully I can help you out.
In terms of keeping up with the content, I am confident you will not be the only one who will be new to psychology. When I did the course, not everyone had taken it at A-Level, and a couple had taken gap years, and the university understands this. Something I found really helpful with this course is that in the first year, you learn a lot of core skills such as research methods/design, basic concepts of psychology, controversies and debates in psychology – which effectively get everybody up to the same level of understanding ready for the subsequent years. Some of it will have been covered at A-level so if topics are brand new to you then it might help to do a little more background reading into them, but rest assured you are taught everything you need in that first year. And remember your personal tutor will always point you in the right direction if you are finding something difficult 😊
Notes - this is a fab question. Personally I used to download the lecture PowerPoint before the lecture (if it is not provided then most lecturers are open to you contacting them to ask), and save them onto my laptop. During the class as the lecturer spoke and moved through the slides, I would use the ‘notes’ section to type down all of my notes for the relevant slide. I found it helpful to see clearly which notes went with which section. A few of my friends did something similar with tablets, but it totally depends on what works for you. Some people took handwritten notes, but I found I could never write fast enough to keep up with the lecturers this way.
I really hope that helps – please enjoy your summer and if you have any more questions then please do ask 😊
Holly
University of Bath
Hi Holly!
Thank you very much for your response and congratulations on graduating!
You've really helped to decrease my anxiety about starting university and the psychology courses. I too struggle to write fast enough to keep up aha, so I think I will try what you did and see if that style of notetaking is for me!
I have another question; what did your independent learning/study consist of (outside of exam prep and assignments)? Did you ever go over your lecture notes after each lecture? I just want to get an idea of where I should direct my independent learning, as I struggle with that. Also, any psychology book recommendations you have would be fantastic!
Cheers,
Claire
Original post by University of Bath
Hello @TayTay_!
Huge congrats on your offer from Bath! Are you looking forward to starting? I am a recent graduate and did the same course as you 😊, so hopefully I can help you out.
In terms of keeping up with the content, I am confident you will not be the only one who will be new to psychology. When I did the course, not everyone had taken it at A-Level, and a couple had taken gap years, and the university understands this. Something I found really helpful with this course is that in the first year, you learn a lot of core skills such as research methods/design, basic concepts of psychology, controversies and debates in psychology – which effectively get everybody up to the same level of understanding ready for the subsequent years. Some of it will have been covered at A-level so if topics are brand new to you then it might help to do a little more background reading into them, but rest assured you are taught everything you need in that first year. And remember your personal tutor will always point you in the right direction if you are finding something difficult 😊
Notes - this is a fab question. Personally I used to download the lecture PowerPoint before the lecture (if it is not provided then most lecturers are open to you contacting them to ask), and save them onto my laptop. During the class as the lecturer spoke and moved through the slides, I would use the ‘notes’ section to type down all of my notes for the relevant slide. I found it helpful to see clearly which notes went with which section. A few of my friends did something similar with tablets, but it totally depends on what works for you. Some people took handwritten notes, but I found I could never write fast enough to keep up with the lecturers this way.
I really hope that helps – please enjoy your summer and if you have any more questions then please do ask 😊
Holly
University of Bath
Huge congrats on your offer from Bath! Are you looking forward to starting? I am a recent graduate and did the same course as you 😊, so hopefully I can help you out.
In terms of keeping up with the content, I am confident you will not be the only one who will be new to psychology. When I did the course, not everyone had taken it at A-Level, and a couple had taken gap years, and the university understands this. Something I found really helpful with this course is that in the first year, you learn a lot of core skills such as research methods/design, basic concepts of psychology, controversies and debates in psychology – which effectively get everybody up to the same level of understanding ready for the subsequent years. Some of it will have been covered at A-level so if topics are brand new to you then it might help to do a little more background reading into them, but rest assured you are taught everything you need in that first year. And remember your personal tutor will always point you in the right direction if you are finding something difficult 😊
Notes - this is a fab question. Personally I used to download the lecture PowerPoint before the lecture (if it is not provided then most lecturers are open to you contacting them to ask), and save them onto my laptop. During the class as the lecturer spoke and moved through the slides, I would use the ‘notes’ section to type down all of my notes for the relevant slide. I found it helpful to see clearly which notes went with which section. A few of my friends did something similar with tablets, but it totally depends on what works for you. Some people took handwritten notes, but I found I could never write fast enough to keep up with the lecturers this way.
I really hope that helps – please enjoy your summer and if you have any more questions then please do ask 😊
Holly
University of Bath
Hi. Since every uni says we need to do compulsory reading in second year compared to first year. What do they exactly mean by this?? Please help. How is the exam structured based on reading in second year. Thanks
Hello @TayTay_!
Really glad we were able to help 😊 Fab question RE how to manage independent learning!
Usually in lectures, the lecturers reference research papers/sections of books which will give you more detail on the topic than they have time to give in the lecture – for example, if they are talking about a particular psychology study which demonstrates a theory, they may give an overview/snapshot of it in the lecture, and include a reference to the full study on the slide. Often these were the parts I found difficult as it was tricky to listen/understand/take notes all at once! So after the lectures I would always start with searching for those studies and reading through them in full, making mini revision posters on them. This not only helped with the lecture content, but those papers also had a lot more info about the general topic and details about research methods which helped with other modules. If the studies were older ones, I would also look for more modern ones which take the theory further (Google Scholar’s ‘cited by’ button was a great tool for this 😊). From then I would go through the lecture slides and try to neaten up my notes, adding in any extra bits I found out from the extra reading.
Lecturers will always include a reading list, which can sometimes seem long and overwhelming! Please don’t feel you have to read everything on there, but it definitely gives a great starting point, especially if there is something you want to know more about.
In terms of books, the only one I bought for myself when I was on your course was the latest version of Psychology: the Science of Mind and Behaviour, by Holt and colleagues, because it was recommended by a lecturer. This may have changed for your year, so please do check this – however I kept this for the whole of my degree because it had really good info about various areas of psychology so was brilliant to give a springboard for topics to read more about, and for refreshing knowledge later on! Most other textbooks lecturers recommend will be available either in the library to borrow or as e-books you can look at on campus for free. I personally would not recommend buying your own copies if this is the case as they may only be used for one module!
I hope that helps! Very best of luck and please feel free to post any more questions on here 😊
Holly
University of Bath
Really glad we were able to help 😊 Fab question RE how to manage independent learning!
Usually in lectures, the lecturers reference research papers/sections of books which will give you more detail on the topic than they have time to give in the lecture – for example, if they are talking about a particular psychology study which demonstrates a theory, they may give an overview/snapshot of it in the lecture, and include a reference to the full study on the slide. Often these were the parts I found difficult as it was tricky to listen/understand/take notes all at once! So after the lectures I would always start with searching for those studies and reading through them in full, making mini revision posters on them. This not only helped with the lecture content, but those papers also had a lot more info about the general topic and details about research methods which helped with other modules. If the studies were older ones, I would also look for more modern ones which take the theory further (Google Scholar’s ‘cited by’ button was a great tool for this 😊). From then I would go through the lecture slides and try to neaten up my notes, adding in any extra bits I found out from the extra reading.
Lecturers will always include a reading list, which can sometimes seem long and overwhelming! Please don’t feel you have to read everything on there, but it definitely gives a great starting point, especially if there is something you want to know more about.
In terms of books, the only one I bought for myself when I was on your course was the latest version of Psychology: the Science of Mind and Behaviour, by Holt and colleagues, because it was recommended by a lecturer. This may have changed for your year, so please do check this – however I kept this for the whole of my degree because it had really good info about various areas of psychology so was brilliant to give a springboard for topics to read more about, and for refreshing knowledge later on! Most other textbooks lecturers recommend will be available either in the library to borrow or as e-books you can look at on campus for free. I personally would not recommend buying your own copies if this is the case as they may only be used for one module!
I hope that helps! Very best of luck and please feel free to post any more questions on here 😊
Holly
University of Bath
Original post by Anonymous
Hi. Since every uni says we need to do compulsory reading in second year compared to first year. What do they exactly mean by this?? Please help. How is the exam structured based on reading in second year. Thanks
Hello Anon,
Great question and one which was definitely on my mind when I started second year. I can't speak for other universities, but here at Bath none of your assignments or exams 'count' towards the overall degree you achieve at the end for most courses (although its a great chance to get yourself into good habits 🙂). So in this sense its more important to follow-up on the reading lists from your lecturers in second year plus as they'll likely help you learn the content which will come up in exams.
In terms of exams it varies by course. What might you be interested in? In Psychology, my second year exams were based on the core content and theories we learnt about in the lectures. Some were multiple choice, but most were essay-based (although essays in exams are not usually marked as harshly as coursework essays!). Usually the questions are fairly broad so allow flexibility in how you approach them and what kinds of extra reading you bring in. You will usually have a couple of key, seminal papers and studies which define a particular theory, but after that you are quite free in the content you write about so long as its relevant!
Remember your lecturers want you to do well, so they'll give you lots of support with prep. They often suggest certain topics and psychology studies and books that will help you find material, and will also set example questions so you can practice, as well as help you with exam technique.
I hope that helps too, please do post any other questions you have 🙂
Holly
University of Bath
Original post by University of Bath
Hello @TayTay_!
Really glad we were able to help 😊 Fab question RE how to manage independent learning!
Usually in lectures, the lecturers reference research papers/sections of books which will give you more detail on the topic than they have time to give in the lecture – for example, if they are talking about a particular psychology study which demonstrates a theory, they may give an overview/snapshot of it in the lecture, and include a reference to the full study on the slide. Often these were the parts I found difficult as it was tricky to listen/understand/take notes all at once! So after the lectures I would always start with searching for those studies and reading through them in full, making mini revision posters on them. This not only helped with the lecture content, but those papers also had a lot more info about the general topic and details about research methods which helped with other modules. If the studies were older ones, I would also look for more modern ones which take the theory further (Google Scholar’s ‘cited by’ button was a great tool for this 😊). From then I would go through the lecture slides and try to neaten up my notes, adding in any extra bits I found out from the extra reading.
Lecturers will always include a reading list, which can sometimes seem long and overwhelming! Please don’t feel you have to read everything on there, but it definitely gives a great starting point, especially if there is something you want to know more about.
In terms of books, the only one I bought for myself when I was on your course was the latest version of Psychology: the Science of Mind and Behaviour, by Holt and colleagues, because it was recommended by a lecturer. This may have changed for your year, so please do check this – however I kept this for the whole of my degree because it had really good info about various areas of psychology so was brilliant to give a springboard for topics to read more about, and for refreshing knowledge later on! Most other textbooks lecturers recommend will be available either in the library to borrow or as e-books you can look at on campus for free. I personally would not recommend buying your own copies if this is the case as they may only be used for one module!
I hope that helps! Very best of luck and please feel free to post any more questions on here 😊
Holly
University of Bath
Really glad we were able to help 😊 Fab question RE how to manage independent learning!
Usually in lectures, the lecturers reference research papers/sections of books which will give you more detail on the topic than they have time to give in the lecture – for example, if they are talking about a particular psychology study which demonstrates a theory, they may give an overview/snapshot of it in the lecture, and include a reference to the full study on the slide. Often these were the parts I found difficult as it was tricky to listen/understand/take notes all at once! So after the lectures I would always start with searching for those studies and reading through them in full, making mini revision posters on them. This not only helped with the lecture content, but those papers also had a lot more info about the general topic and details about research methods which helped with other modules. If the studies were older ones, I would also look for more modern ones which take the theory further (Google Scholar’s ‘cited by’ button was a great tool for this 😊). From then I would go through the lecture slides and try to neaten up my notes, adding in any extra bits I found out from the extra reading.
Lecturers will always include a reading list, which can sometimes seem long and overwhelming! Please don’t feel you have to read everything on there, but it definitely gives a great starting point, especially if there is something you want to know more about.
In terms of books, the only one I bought for myself when I was on your course was the latest version of Psychology: the Science of Mind and Behaviour, by Holt and colleagues, because it was recommended by a lecturer. This may have changed for your year, so please do check this – however I kept this for the whole of my degree because it had really good info about various areas of psychology so was brilliant to give a springboard for topics to read more about, and for refreshing knowledge later on! Most other textbooks lecturers recommend will be available either in the library to borrow or as e-books you can look at on campus for free. I personally would not recommend buying your own copies if this is the case as they may only be used for one module!
I hope that helps! Very best of luck and please feel free to post any more questions on here 😊
Holly
University of Bath
Hey Holly,
Sorry for the late response, but thank you so much! That really helps a lot, and I appreciate the time you have taken out of your day to help me ☺️
I did have another question if you don't mind! I was wondering if they teach you how to write essays? I'm not the greatest at writing them really and that makes me dread doing them, which I know is a problem as there's going to be a lotttt of them aha. I just want to make sure I will be taught how to do them, and if they offer any other support when it comes to essay writing? Thanks!
Claire 😊
Original post by TayTay_
Hey Holly,
Sorry for the late response, but thank you so much! That really helps a lot, and I appreciate the time you have taken out of your day to help me ☺️
I did have another question if you don't mind! I was wondering if they teach you how to write essays? I'm not the greatest at writing them really and that makes me dread doing them, which I know is a problem as there's going to be a lotttt of them aha. I just want to make sure I will be taught how to do them, and if they offer any other support when it comes to essay writing? Thanks!
Claire 😊
Sorry for the late response, but thank you so much! That really helps a lot, and I appreciate the time you have taken out of your day to help me ☺️
I did have another question if you don't mind! I was wondering if they teach you how to write essays? I'm not the greatest at writing them really and that makes me dread doing them, which I know is a problem as there's going to be a lotttt of them aha. I just want to make sure I will be taught how to do them, and if they offer any other support when it comes to essay writing? Thanks!
Claire 😊
@TayTay_ please could you tell us how you structure your essay with examples? Thank you so much xx
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