Psychology: class or selfstudy???

<p>Hey. I want to take psychology next year. i’m very interested in the topic. I probably want to go for the AP test also. i have 3 choices:</p>

<li><p>take the psychology regular class at my school. the class pretty much slacks off a bit and doesn’t prepare for the AP. i could self study in addition to it however but it might just waste my time studying from two sources. it will lower my gpa also. </p></li>
<li><p>take psycholgy at community college and study for the AP also.</p></li>
<li><p>self study psychology all the way with a good textbook and prepbook.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>which should I choose? i’m a senior next year and I wouldn’t mind experiencing a college course. however, i don’t want to take anything too hard. i’m leaning towards choices 2 and 3 right now.</p>

<p>a very important question is: Is psychology a topic that is more self study-able or does it require a teacher? </p>

<p>THANKS!</p>

<p>i guess it all depends on what type of learner you are, but i would go ahead an vouch for the self-study-able-ness of psych material. my friend who took it last year said that reading the book would accompish the same thing as paying attention/taking notes during class. psych was definitely one of my easiest classes this year, though, so if you want an easy course load senior year, i would recommend (also, depends on what its like at your school)</p>

<p>the test isn't till tuesday, but i've heard that it's nothing to freak out about.</p>

<p>im thinking about self-studying for psychology as well next year (my senior year). I'm also interested in hearing opinions.</p>

<p>I have not taken any of the above paths, so take my $0.02 lightly.</p>

<p>I know a few people who have self-studied psychology. It seems easy enough, but there is quite a bit of memorization involved. If you only want to get a 3, then self-studying isn't hard. If you're aiming for a 5, it may be wiser to take a course. However, the courses in choices 1 and 2 might not cover what you need to for the AP Tests, so you still might need to study quite a bit outside of class. But, if you have the motivation, I think psychology is perfectly "self-study-able."</p>

<p>self-study, definitely.</p>

<p>Even though my school offers AP Psych as a class, I opted to self-study this year. Didn't hurt me one bit: last week, the teacher let me take a practice AP along with the rest of his kids, I outscored everyone taking the actual class.</p>

<p>Psych is one of the APs this year that I am not at ALL worried about.</p>

<p>Oh, and if you want, you can also consider online AP courses, such as Apex Learning.</p>

<p>Is it easier than AP Bio? much easier?</p>

<p>I'm self studying it for this year. (no AP psych in my school) </p>

<p>It's really really easy. Almost all memorization. Compared to AP bio its null, almost.</p>

<p>Nice. Are you pacing yourself? How have you been managing your time? Would I be able to spend like a few weeks on it toward the end of the year?</p>

<p>is the Barron's AP Psychology book good? it is quite thin. would it be a good choice for someone who opts to self-study for the exam?</p>

<p>I would say psychology is one of, if not the most, self-studyable AP exams, along with economics and English. If you get a reasonably concise book like Princeton Review, it shouldn't even take that long. There is a lot of memorization of vocabulary words and theories about various things, but not really hard concepts to digest and understand. It's kind of like biology but easier.</p>

<p>i used nothing but the barron's ap prep book for psychology and got a 4. yeah definitely self-study. </p>

<p>btw, think colleges will look favorably upon the fact that i didnt even take a class and got a 4 on the ap test? will they even know?</p>

<p>If you're someone who can motivate yourself to self-study early and often, then you should be able to self-study it. Nothing's so complicated that you need a teacher, there's just a lot of stuff to remember.</p>

<p>If you're someone like me who has no self-discipline, I'd go the college route. You're certainly not going to get anything out of the high school class if they don't really prepare for the AP. I'm lucky, my high school psych teacher is more like a college professor. I've had to put up with him doing absolutely nothing but lecturing and never once being absent, but I've also had to do zero work outside of class and I do very well on the practice APs we've taken.</p>

<p>take the course. it will be easy and with some studying you should get a 5 easy.</p>

<p>yeah. Go with barrons. I got the REA since barrons's don't have that much practice tests (REA has 3) but REA's content seems archaic and out of track with the AP.<br>
Time to cram~</p>

<p>ok. well since i'm going to be a senior next year, is there any point to take the AP even if i get a 5? i don't know what colleges i'm applying to. i'm mainly a math/science guy but i think psychology will be interesting.</p>

<p>In my opinion, the AP psych exam is ridiculously easy. I think that its one of the only AP's where it's perfectly possible to get every single mc question right. Definitely self-study. You should be able to get a 5 with maybe 5-8 hours of studying (use Princeton review and 5 Steps to a Five).</p>

<p>im taking it this year, self studied, extremely easy - its only a semester class. Give youself 2 weeks and you can pull a 4 easy. 5 is very possible. Hopefully i can get a 5.</p>

<p>I am interested in taking Honors Psychology/Sociology from UCCP online. I just want to make sure I can get honors credit at my high school. Do you think my counselor would easily grant me the extra GPA point, especially since it's through the UC system? :)</p>