An introductory course typically provides a broad overview of all areas of psychology—sort of an “Around the world in 80 days” approach. This journey will likely both confirm and challenge some of your own beliefs and intuitions about human behavior. Ideally, taking a psychology course should help you in all of your other coursework. If you learn to apply what psychologists have discovered about how the mind works, you will be able to improve your own learning, studying, and memory skills in a variety of ways.

You might be thinking that you have already spent years in a classroom at this point and you have developed some pretty good learning strategies. Take a moment to ponder all the elements of this page, and to reconsider your way of learning!

How Do You Study?

Are rereading the chapter, highlighting, or reviewing your notes the study strategies you depend on the most? If so, you are not alone. These strategies are often among the most popular choices for people when studying. However, these very popular strategies also appear to be generally ineffective. One of the goals of this section is to provide you with information about how learning works best and to give you appropriate and effective tools to put this knowledge into practice.

Some Quick Advice

Be friends with your professor. Read The X-Factor Is Making Friends With Your Professor.
Find a friend in the class. You should have someone you can talk to about the class. It makes it a much more pleasant experience, and it gives you someone you can reach out to when you need help or have questions.
Be open to feedback. When the instructor gives you feedback, read it, and take it seriously. Look at feedback as a golden opportunity to learn.

Advice from previous students

I surveyed students at the end of the course and asked what they would like to advise future students taking this class. Here are some of their answers:

Something I've learned during this class is that it is important to study beforehand and also to take notes during class. That is where success comes from. If I would have understood that at the beginning, I think I would have started off better.
General Psychology is a difficult class no matter the teacher. I have talked to a lot of students who have taken it and almost all of them have said that it is extremely difficult. I agree that it is hard, but I really enjoyed it. When you consistently work on it, it isn't too hard overall.
I only wish I [...] put forth harder effort to learn such an interesting subject. [...] I know that I took it the wrong way and thought I could somehow avoid the inevitable consequences of MY procrastination. This is a class that requires lots of work and lots of studying. PLEASE do the discussion boards and don't be ashamed to reach out to a study group for help. I had so many opportunities to do better, yet my pride got in the way.
I wish I had known that a lot of this course revolved around group work.
Plan ahead and make sure you [have] enough time to not feel rushed. If you can find some way to apply it to you, it will make it more enjoyable.
I wish I had known that it was okay to ask dumb questions because chances are, there are other people struggling with the same things, and you can all benefit from it.
Just make sure to continually review material.
I wish I could have realized how easy it was to meet with the tutor and ask our teacher about mistakes I made on the tests.
I definitely recommend to future students to not procrastinate! Learn from my mistakes, haha.
When we first went over the syllabus for this class I was very nervous. Now that we're at the end I can say that I'm glad that I stuck with it.
As such I think this is the only class I've had to show up for and do the readings for and work hard for. As such this is the only class I've really learned from.

Advice for teachers

I've noticed that my best students...
- Get oriented to the course structure and routines early on.
- Self-advocate when needed and are specific about the help they need (for example, no vague emails at 2:31 am containing only the words "I don't get how to do it").
- Read the announcements each week and know where to find answers to common questions. I'm often amazed at the questions I receive from students that would be answered by simply reading the announcements and learning the basic routines early on. I create my announcements based on trends I'm noticing and things students really need to know, not simply as a "check the box" type of exercise.
- Use available resources, including their group (as appropriate), and additional resources provided by the instructor.
- "When the time to perform has come, the time to prepare has passed" (thanks, President Monson!) Take the time to verify understanding before and after assessments.
- Read feedback and learn how to fix their mistakes (i.e. don't make the same mistake on future assessments that they made on past assessments).
- Get started early so I have enough time to help them as needs arise and give their brains time to absorb and make sense of the material. Seconding what was said earlier about getting things done early, not only does it limit our time to help them, but the brain doesn't work well under stress when it's 11:47 pm (MST, of course) on Saturday evening and that inevitable tech problem we warned you about is about to make your test late. It is still amazing how many students email me on Sundays with a problem to solve, usually related to an issue that could have been resolved if they'd started earlier.
In my class, I have seen most students fit into two categories; "haves" and "not ready test."
"Haves"
- The "haves" will log into the course regularly.
- They seem to follow a calendar appropriately and ask for help or clarification when needed, willing to meet course expectations like group meetings.

"Not ready test"

- The "not ready test" seems to do the opposite of the first group.
- They try to do the work on the weekends or just a few days a week.
- They seem to not know when deadlines are supposed to occur or assume they don't have to follow deadlines.
- They don't ask for help or respond to questions when emailed, or phone calls are made.
- They avoid group meetings and try to "lone wolf" the course.
- They try to put 1/2 as much time as needed (mainly due to working on the course on the weekend).
- They also seem to try to do things differently than taught.

Additional help is also provided in the guides "How do I create a study plan?" and "What is the best way to study for an exam?".

Useful resources

15 Habits of Top College Students

40 Ways to Be Successful in School: Practical Tips for Students

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