Entry #1 -- Starting

So I'm deciding to self-study AP Psychology. How is it like?

I so far (and by this I mean that it will probably remain that way) have in my arsenal:

• Princeton Review AP Psych 2008
• textbook Psychology by Bernstein, et al
• a Barron's AP Psychology book.

Now usually one study guide and a textbook is required, but I figured that since I could borrow the book, why not?

I've briefly scanned through the following items.

Princeton Review...(now to be shortened to "PR") -- too much text [and as one who does not know what is expected on the AP Psychology exam, I do not know if I have the time]. It was somewhat dizzy for me to attempt to read even the first chapter ... so I briefly put it on hold.

Psychology the textbook wasn't much better. As much as I would love to take in as much information as I can, I know that in all AP courses, they expect you to only take in the essential information. In APUSH, I literally started out attempting to know everything, despite the "don't attempt to learn everything because it can't happen" warnings from my teacher.

Annnd it didn't really happen. I don't think I'll try ;).

Then I flipped to the Barron's study guide. It was all blocks of text, as expected. But then, this is an AP course. What are we expecting? Picture books and a few sentences in each page...Nah. But it was organized in a neater manner than the other two, and appealed to me because my upperclassmen recommended this as a study guide.

What's known is that there is a lot of information and knowledge to cover, and it is time to get started.

From there, I began my own "style" of "reading" a "textbook". That style being taking notes, and that textbook being the Barron's book. I have Barron's 2nd edition [when the latest one is the 3rd edition] as I didn't really have a choice when I was going to the library to borrow it.

I opened the book. Flipped over the first page. And stared at the 16 chapters (technically 15, as the last one was on essay writing -- still important though) that I was about to cover in, hopefully according to plan -- which is in about 2 weeks.

That is equivalent to about 1.07 chapters per day. Great.

Now by the time I am writing this, the "two weeks" would have already started, and so have I (not that I want for this to be a race).

The first chapter was relatively short, which was a good "warm-up" in the psychology part of my brain (I'll tell you which part of my brain soon ;)).

For those who might want to keep track of progress or share notes or anything, check out the AP Psychology Notes section.

How was the first chapter then? It talked about history and approaches. It was quite interesting actually -- I was never really into psychology, yet it was very intriguing to see the different approaches that one could take when attempting to solve one client's one problem. You can tell by my voice though, that while the information was great...the book wasn't. Having a teacher there does make a difference. Self studying is a lonely activity =P.

Continuing on, there were some names that had to be associated with each perspective, something that I've often had a problem with -- either way, I soon finished the chapter, which was like 5 pages (the next chapter is 20 pages, don't you worry).

I rushed on to take the psychology "practice quiz" at the end of the chapter. 15 questions. Yay, 10 more than Princeton Review.

Aaaand I failed. 10/15. Good job!

Well clearly I'm not getting the hang of this self-study thing. While I do not think I lack the discipline for it, for the first time perhaps I truly understood what use a teacher was.

I would remember that my peers would complain "he/she doesn't even teach!" -- Sometimes that was half-true. But at least knowing that you will be held accountable for what you do in their class (which makes you learn better), as well as having someone to ask the questions, even though they might not always answer with a patient attitude...that really makes a difference.

So highlights of Entry #1, "My first chapter ever self-studied?" (technically that's not true).

Melancholy and excitement, both at the same time =P. Go figure.