Psychology is present in our lives whether we like it or not. Rather than ignore this fact, I decided to make good use of psychology this year in college. One of the major things that I struggled with on my transition to college was that I did not know exactly how to study for my exams. I especially looked forward to the memory portion of our class, hoping that I would learn some useful tricks and tools to studying for tests. When we came to this section I read the chapter and was happy to find some useful concepts to apply to my studying. One of the major concepts that I used was the distributed versus mass studying. Instead of cramming for a test the night before, I decided to distribute my studying throughout the week before the test. Thanks to this, I earned a much better grade on my Biology test than I had before I learned this method. Another concept that I found to be prevalent in my studies was the testing effect. I noticed this greatly in none other than my Psychology class! Throughout the chapters there are short true or false quizzes, after reading the chapter there are chapter quizzes, and before the exam there are practice quizzes. After taking each of these and testing myself as much as possible, I was able to retain much more information and do better on the exams. Over all, psychology has been an ever-present force in my studies and has allowed me to do my best in my classes.
Psychology: From Inquiry to Understanding PG 261
I also was looking forward to the memory portion of our psychology semester and found that by not cramming and spacing out my studying over a period of time, I am much more successful on my exams. In addition, it significantly reduces the amount of stress in my life making me a more fun person to be around. Win win situation.