If you’re like most people on a psychology course or going for a Masters in Psychology, you hate the research methods classes. You signed up to study human behaviour, not statistics! Why are they teaching you this?! Most people don’t realise that there’s a strong element of statistics in psychology – or how crucial it is.

Worst case scenario: You have no knowledge of research methods or statistics. The results section of journal papers is impenetrable – you have no idea what it means. You make mistakes in your essays because of this. You talk about terrible studies as if they were perfect. Your marker realises you don’t have a grasp of the topic, and marks you down. You feel a lot of stress about the research methods assignments, and say “I’m terrible with numbers” a lot.

Best case scenario: You have a deep and comprehensive knowledge of research methods and statistics. You know more than the person marking the paper, in fact sometimes what you put in your papers is so advanced they just mark you up because they don’t have the time to check out what you’re saying. You can quickly see the flaws in any journal paper, and you bring up these criticisms in your essays, which gets you extra marks. Research methods classes are a breeze – you sometimes work on other assignments in lectures to save time because you already know the material.

‘How to Study Psychology’ won’t get you to the best case scenario, but it will move you far away from the worst case scenario. You’ll learn the minimum you need to get you to that ‘aha’ moment. It’s all explained for you in plain English, including:

• The scientific method explained in plain English
• Descriptions of the four main types of statistical analysis – the t test, ANOVA, correlation, and regression
• How to read the results section of a journal paper
• How to read and report statistical results, so when you see something scary like this: F (2,132) = 5.324, p < 0.001 – you’ll know what the numbers mean
• Quick reference sheets to use when reading papers

Cut study time in half through better ways of finding information

I imagine you probably use standard reading methods, like starting at page 1, then reading all the words in order until you get to the end of the book. This is a horribly inefficient way to read. Also, how do you go about researching topics? Do you type a few phrases into Google Scholar and leave it at that?

This section explains how find the knowledge you need and take it all in. Learn where to go for your information, how to increase your reading speed to that your ‘to read’ list actually goes down instead of up, and a simple trick that lets you do 10-20 hours of extra study each week without intruding on your free time at all. By finding what you need, ignoring what you don’t, and digesting it quickly, you’ll save a lot of time and stress.

What’s the point of learning something if you can’t recall it in an exam? A key worry many students have is the sheer volume of the information you have to learn on a psychology course. And it’s a valid concern – there’s a lot to do. The standard procedure seems to be, read and re-read your notes over and over until it sinks in – maybe write them out again. But this is a poor way to learn. This section covers five different techniques to help you recall the information you learn, so that it’s there for when you need it.

The aim is to be able to sit down in an exam and easily recall everything you need, and in turn, reduce your stress because you’re more confident in your ability to do well.

Many students end up just ‘studying for the test’ – they do the minimum amount required of them to pass, and nothing more. But that doesn’t make sense. You’re on the course, why not learn what you can while you’re here? Also, if you made more effort to genuinely learn the topics, you’d have more chance of passing, and you’d be less stressed because that understanding would give you more confidence in exams.

Then there are the other students, who don’t actually care about the test results, and just see them as a tool to help them learn. As long as they get the knowledge they want from the course, they don’t care what grade they get. These students are rare, but I have met them.

More common than both of these combined, are students who want to learn about the topics, AND get a good grade to help them get jobs and pursue careers later. This section is for everyone then, and explains how to deepen your understanding of psychology – not just how to effectively memorise the facts (although that is useful), but to really know your stuff. Also, this section includes what to do when you come across a topic that’s particularly tough to get your head around.

In psychology, it’s not enough to learn the information within the field. Science courses don’t work like that – there’s rarely a definitive answer to the questions being asked, so you have to be able to know why a certain theory is more favoured than others, and why a certain paper is flawed. This ties in quite a lot with the research methods given in another chapter – it’s not enough to memorise information and regurgitate it in your assignments. You’ll get a poor mark if you do this, plus you finish with a weak understanding of the field.

To do really well, you will need to do things like “Show your understanding,” display “Critical thinking” and “Original thinking.” In other words, you need to process the information that you’ve gotten into your head. This section describes several ways you can do this.

You get tips to help you understand difficult material that you’re struggling with, and a very comprehensive critical thinking section – an essential component to any psychology study guide (and one that’s often lacking). Also included are two critical analysis check lists – one for when you’re evaluating theories, the other for when you’re criticising evidence. You simply take a theory or research paper, go down the check list point-by-point, and you’ll instantly see its strengths and weaknesses. You can then use this information in your assignments.

The essay section is very detailed, and explains everything you need to know to write excellent essays, including how to interpret questions properly, how to structure essays, and how to make the essay ‘flow’. If your essay flows logically from point to point, is structured well, and if the grammar is good, the marker will have a much higher opinion of your work than if you’d used the same information but in a poorly presented essay. The truth is that perception matters.

Also included in this section are:

• The seven most common errors in essays
• The very first thing you should do before starting your essay
• How to choose which essay question to work on
• How to interpret the essay question properly
• How to structure your answers
• How to make your essay flow and link your paragraphs together smoothly
• There’s also a comprehensive section on writing lab reports

I don’t think anyone can claim to make a dissertation easy – it’s a big, challenging piece of work, possibly the largest and most time consuming project you’ve ever worked on. Having said that, you can definitely make it harder for yourself than it has to be. Personally I think it’s best to aim for something that you’ll be able to publish in a journal afterwards (whether you choose to or not). As I explain in this section, setting your sights this high actually makes the dissertation easier.

I include sections on how to choose a suitable dissertation topic (as I know this is a worry for many students), information and tips on collecting your data, and a useful checklist of 10 questions to ask yourself before you start the dissertation.

Personally, I’m not a fan of exams as a method of assessment. I’m sure you’re not either – I’ve yet to meet a person who actually -likes- exams! I don’t think it’s fair to assess your skills and knowledge in a situation that you’ll never be in ever again. But still, exams exist so we’ve got to play the game until they don’t.

You’ll learn how to properly prepare for exams, how to handle exam stress, and what you should do on the actual day of the exam, and how you should tackle the questions once you’re sat down in the exam room. Also, there a section on multiple choice exams, in case you’re lucky enough to have them.

Everyone procrastinates, it’s completely normal. When a deadline’s far away, it’s easy to think “I have plenty of time, I’ll get to it later.” And when you do need to get down to it, you sometimes just can’t seem to make yourself do it! Lacking motivation sometimes is normal too – especially when you have a big intimidating task ahead of you and you’re not looking forward to it.

But there’s much you can do to increase your motivation, give yourself more mental energy, and minimise procrastination so that you get more done. Like all effective study skills, being more motivated and making continuous progress on assignments has has the added benefit of reducing your stress level.

It is absolutely possible to spend less time studying, and actually get more done. It boils down to organisation, planning, and doing what you can to improve your concentration when you actually sit down at the desk. These are arguably the most important study skills. Since psychology as a field has contributed so much to what we know about how to increase human performance, it’s surprising this stuff isn’t taught in the syllabus by default!

This section covers:

• How to properly set goals (based on the most recent scientific research)
• A simple but effective method for planning your time
• How to improve your focus, and deal with mental fatigue on those days where you just don’t have the mental energy to get going.

There are also worksheets you can use to quickly apply all of the techniques you need to boost your motivation and productivity, which you can print out and fill in if you like.

The overall philosophy of How to Study Psychology is that by breaking the process of studying down into smaller parts, you can streamline the whole process and make it more efficient. The result is better grades and lower stress, with less time spent actually studying.

I’m certain that when you buy the ebook and skim through it, you’ll be impressed by the ideas in it, and I think you’ll realise that the advice inside could dramatically improve your grades. That is why I offer a 30-day money back guarantee – try the ideas presented in the book for 30 days, and if it doesn’t make your course easier, you can get a refund with no hassle. There’s absolutely no risk to you.

How to Study Psychology is available as a 155 page ebook – no need to wait for delivery, it will be downloaded to your computer seconds after you purchase. The price is $19.95 – averaged over your college experience, this works out at a few pennies per day.

Still not sure? Then try before you buy. Click here to get a free preview copy of the first chapter, or click below when you’re ready to purchase:

Pay by credit card or Pay Pal