How to do well in 2nd year Psychology?

My advice would be:
Do the reading, don't just read it but take notes to help it go in and so you have summaries to revise from/use for essays later
Go to lectures, make notes in the lecture, then I usually write up my lectures as one neat set of notes, again for consolidation and also revision.
When you're looking at a study don't just take what they say for granted, think about the methods they use, the assumptions theyre making, their statistical approach, how warranted their conclusions are etc. so you can approach it critically as this is generally how you get high marks.
Also when reading a study think about what questions it leaves you with, have a think about what kind of research would need to be done to answer those questions and see if you can find any papers that have tried it. Reading outside of the reading lists and lecture content is another way to help you get high marks.
Set yourself working hours each day (I was doing 9-5/10-6 on weekdays with weekends off but you might not need to do as much as my uni was very very intense) and stick to it as much as you can.
Learn how to reference and find a tool to do it that you like, but don't just rely on a referencing tool as they can sometimes make mistakes and it is easier to check if you know how to reference manually too
Make sure you edit your work before submitting, try and get coursework done a few days/a week before the deadline so you have time to take some time away from it, then come back and edit with fresh eyes before submitting
If you have closed book exams start revising early, I mainly used Anki flashcards to learn study details then once i had that sorted I used Quizlet flashcards and games to revise linking studies with their author and date. I also did loads of practice essays.
If exams are open book don't just assume you'll be fine and not do any revision. Try to have an easy read and organised set of notes on lectures and readings for every topic that you can use to quickly find information in the exam. Also do practice essays as this helps you think about how to link up ideas.
Aim for originality in your work, this is a bit of a nebulous concept but the best way to think about it is try to include things in your work that aren't just taken from lectures or from readings on the reading list. Coming up with your own independent criticism is so important for achieving highly!

This is basically the approach i used during my second and third year and it got me a first in the end!

My advice would be:
Do the reading, don't just read it but take notes to help it go in and so you have summaries to revise from/use for essays later
Go to lectures, make notes in the lecture, then I usually write up my lectures as one neat set of notes, again for consolidation and also revision.
When you're looking at a study don't just take what they say for granted, think about the methods they use, the assumptions theyre making, their statistical approach, how warranted their conclusions are etc. so you can approach it critically as this is generally how you get high marks.
Also when reading a study think about what questions it leaves you with, have a think about what kind of research would need to be done to answer those questions and see if you can find any papers that have tried it. Reading outside of the reading lists and lecture content is another way to help you get high marks.
Set yourself working hours each day (I was doing 9-5/10-6 on weekdays with weekends off but you might not need to do as much as my uni was very very intense) and stick to it as much as you can.
Learn how to reference and find a tool to do it that you like, but don't just rely on a referencing tool as they can sometimes make mistakes and it is easier to check if you know how to reference manually too
Make sure you edit your work before submitting, try and get coursework done a few days/a week before the deadline so you have time to take some time away from it, then come back and edit with fresh eyes before submitting
If you have closed book exams start revising early, I mainly used Anki flashcards to learn study details then once i had that sorted I used Quizlet flashcards and games to revise linking studies with their author and date. I also did loads of practice essays.
If exams are open book don't just assume you'll be fine and not do any revision. Try to have an easy read and organised set of notes on lectures and readings for every topic that you can use to quickly find information in the exam. Also do practice essays as this helps you think about how to link up ideas.
Aim for originality in your work, this is a bit of a nebulous concept but the best way to think about it is try to include things in your work that aren't just taken from lectures or from readings on the reading list. Coming up with your own independent criticism is so important for achieving highly!
This is basically the approach i used during my second and third year and it got me a first in the end!

Hi there! I start my second year next week so I'm still unfamiliar with the workloads.I take from this that I will start on course work early and have a set routine in place to manage work and life. Thank you for suggestion of closed book exams. I get that I need to keep on top of my lectures and seminars.
However, what are things outside those that I could do to boost my scores and grades compared to many? Do you suggest reading articles every week or library books? certain videos/podcasts?