How to Study Psychology? Part 2

Hello Everyone! In the previous note I shared my booklist for psychology. In this note I am going to talk about how i prepared this optional. Besides, there were many requests for uploading my handwritten notes of Psychology and also uploading some of the answerscripts that I wrote in psychology test series conducted by Mukul Pathak sir. Friends, I didn't prepare handwritten notes as such for preparation. I relied on book reading and marking the important portions therein. I do have handwritten notes of Mukul Pathak sir, but that's available in Old Rajinder Nagar as well. This notes is too voluminous to upload. But, I am sharing some snapshots of answer scripts at the end in my note. 

The structure of psychology syllabus is such that if read and understood in the right manner it becomes quite manageable. Paper 1 of psychology is the foundation of whole syllabus. Paper 2 is it's application in myriad ways. Hence, it's absolutely essential to have all the concepts of Paper 1 in mind. How to do that?

This is why i find this optional so much interesting. The solution to above question is provided by the same Paper 1. The answer is, as far as I have realized, to make a book or notes as the base, reading it multiple times so that its concepts seep deep into the cognitive structure. All the techniques of remembering need to be applied here. Revise and re-revise. Once a degree of remembrance is achieved, one can read other books for value addition in terms of better diagrams, examples etc. But, essentially, the concepts remain unchanged even if books one refers to change.

The second aspect while doing this is to look for the connections in the chapters of Paper 2 and noting them down. But here again i must say, the more is the frequency of revisions, the better is the base or foundation in one's memory, the effortless will be the connections, the greater will be writing speed provided a decent command on language (which is anyways expected of  candidate!). As i wrote in the previous note for GS, what's in mind that will be on paper.

Not digressing away from the second aspect, it's important to read the paper 2 along with paper 1 concepts of specially Social Psychology, Personality & Self, Motivation and Emotion, Thinking and Problem Solving, Developmental psychology to name a few. Here also the same approach helps. Making a particular resource as base resource helps. But, here one also needs to have an open mind to receive fresh perspective from multiple sources as I mentioned in my booklist. I feel there's a need to accommodate as many psychological dimensions as possible in answers in paper 2. For that one needs to be an intelligent receptor of fresh perspectives.Newspapers, psychologytoday.com, among many that an aspirant himself/herself, can stumble upon are the places to look for fresh perspectives. Besides, it's also helpful to remember the syllabus and sit 5-10 minutes regularly to reflect upon the possible interconnections between paper 1 and 2 with syllabi in front of us. Preparing a list of terms to be used in answers for chapters in paper 2 also helps during revision especially before examination. 

Covering the entire syllabus is mandatory i will state. One cannot leave some portions and take chances. Questions are such that they cover the entire syllabus. Not doing this means less attempt in the paper which definitely leads to less marks. With proper grasp of paper 1 it's not that demanding a task as it appears.

A special paragraph needs to be dedicated to Research methods and Methods in psychology portions of paper 1. I found the books mentioned in the booklist in the previous note quite helpful. I will recommend reading them multiple times. I personally read the A K Singh's book multiple times and also referred to Statistics for Psychology by Aron, Aron, Coups. This portion is the heart and soul of psychological research and is the reason why this subject claims to be science. While reading this, one needs to have paper 1 and 2  famous research works in mind. That way, it's easier to understand them.For instance, while reading experiments one should also relate concepts with Milgram's famous experiment or experiments studying attachment. Identify the operational definition, IV, DV, EVs etc. Similarly for other research methods, one can look for examples through which one can understand the concepts therein. Reading this part in isolation doesn't aid in understanding as i felt. While reading the statistics part, it's important to understand the 'psychology' hidden in the mathematics and bring that out in the answers explicitly. Just writing the mathematics part doesn't fetch marks. There's no need to get afraid of mathematics in this part as it's not asked. It's the psychology that is important.

Answer writing practice is an important part of this preparation. I joined Vajiram Psychology test series for the same. The feedback given was quite helpful. Test series needs to be joined only when one has gone through the entire syllabus at least once after the classes. Feedback is helpful only when one has put in effort to write answers after proper study. Then only one can judge one's strong and weak areas. Otherwise, this becomes a worthless ritual. Besides, after every test one needs to analyze, time management part, content part of answers, writing style and presentation part, strategy part of attempting the paper. It's this analysis and a sincere effort at improving in the next test makes all the difference I feel. It's also helpful to practise from previous year question papers and show answers to experts.

Another important area pertains to the way of attempting paper. It happens very often that we write a few good to excellent answers but fair abysmally in others. Friends, it's very important to write average answers in all the 5 questions. This way one's score will be quite good. It will always happen that one will write above average answers of some questions. But, the aim must be to write at least average answers in all, answers that fetch about 45%-50% marks. For that time management and covering syllabus hold key. This thing should be taken care of while writing tests.   

I am posting links of some snapshots hereunder. The questions answered are:

1. Is perception plastic? substantiate. (10 marks)

2. What is Metamemory? How does it help in remembering? (20 marks)

3. What are barriers of communication? (20 marks)

4. How does Transferance and Countertransferance affect psychoanalytical psychotherapy? (10 marks)

5. What role does non-cognitive factors play in remembering and forgetting ? (20 marks)

6. What is Community Psychology? Discuss its scope and applicability? (30marks)

I have also given links to a few snapshots of one page notes of psychological terms for paper 2 as sample, about which i talked in the note above.

https://www.facebook.com/notes/ravi-ranjan/my-experiences-with-civil-services-examination-part-3/10202349223806098

Thanx and all the best !