TEXTBOOK

Most exam items will focus on material covered both in the book and in class (i.e., in lecture, sections, and/or labs). However, the exam also will contain questions on material presented in the textbook that was not covered in lectures, labs, and sections. In other words, I view the textbook as an important learning tool, I expect students in the class to read the book, and class lectures will overlap only partially with the content of the text. The purpose of lecture/sections/labs is not to try to race through everything covered in book, but rather, to focus on selected topics and to mix text coverage with class discussion, critical thinking activities, films, and so forth.

Key terms in each chapter are highlighted in blue text. You should understand each of these concepts. Understanding is not reflected simply by memorizing a one-sentence definition. It involves knowing the meaning of a concept or term and being familiar with the textbook's discussion of the concept. On exams I often test understanding by presenting a "story" or "scenario" that asks you to apply a concept or identify the concept being illustrated. Other emphasized information sometimes appears in italics. As you study each chapter, however, you should go beyond the boldfaced and italicized terms. Other important information is contained within each chapter.

Chapter Self-Tests and End-of-Chapter Review Questions. There are several "self-tests" within each chapter and also some short review questions at the end of each chapter. Almost all of these self-tests and review questions are short-answer type questions.  Although our exams will NOT have short-answer questions, you should be able to answer these questions if you know the material. Obviously, in those chapters where I have assigned only part of that chapter to read, skip the items that correspond to the deleted textbook pages.The practice items in the book are only a sample of the broader number of questions that could be asked. Thus, some questions on my exams will assess your knowledge of concepts contained in these review questions, whereas other exam questions will go beyond these review questions. Do not study each chapter by going to the self-tests and review questions first and then "picking out" only the information pertaining to these questions. Rather, study each chapter more fully, and then see how well you can answer the review questions. Answers to the self-tests appear at the end of each chapter. .

End-of-Chapter Application Exercises. There are several application exercises at the end of each chapter. Unfortunately, Goodwin only provides answers to a subset of them in Appendix C at the back of the textbook. You may wish to look at Appendix C, see which Application Exercises are answered, and then focus on those exercises to help you prepare for the test. As you read each exercise you will see that some can be done quickly whereas others are likely to take a lot of time. Depending on how much time you have, you might limit yourself to those exercises that you feel you can do quickly.

Online Multiple Choice Questions in Goodwin Study Guide. You can access the online study guide from the course homepage. Be prepared for the possiblity of dealing with your pop-up blocker as you try to access each study guide web page. You might want to temporarily disable your blocker. The study guide offers many types of practice questions (such as "matching items"), but if your time is limited I would suggest focusing on the practice multiple choice items.

Names, Dates, "Classic Study Boxes," and numbered "Case Studies" in each chapter.:
1. You do not need to memorize researchers' names and dates cited in the text.
2. I DO expect you to read the Classic Study Boxes and the numbered Case Studies in each chapter. Most of these are designed to illustrate key research principles or issues: by linking those principles and issues to concrete examples, you should better understand and remember them. FOR EXAMPLE, see Box 3.3 on page 101. I would not have a question such as "What was the name of the person who uncovered the truth about the horse, "Clever Hans." However, I WOULD consider it appropriate to ask: "When Oskar Pfungst examined whether the famous horse, Clever Hans, had special mental abilities (e.g., the ability to add, subtract, divide, etc) what strategy or process best illustrated Pfungst's approach: introspection, confirmation bias, tenacity, falisfication?" I would consider it appropriate to ask such a question, even if we do not cover the case of Clever Hans in class. 

LECTURES, DISCUSSION SECTIONS, AND HANDOUTS

Be sure to study the material covered in lecture, discussion sections, and handouts. Some material that we cover in class is not in the textbook and some test questions focus on this material. FOR EXAMPLE, the exam contains questions designed to further test your knowledge of the correlation statistic, the general concept of correlation, and basic descriptive statistics (including advantages and disadvantages of mean, median, and mode).

ADDITIONAL PRACTICE QUESTIONS

In addition to the practice questions provided in your textbook and the Study Guide website, I will create a Practice Test for each of our three exams. Also, in Week 2 the TAs will distribute/distributed a Statistics Handout to you that contained a sample data set for you to practice calculating descriptive statistics. If you've lost it, click here for a copy of the Statistics Handout and of the Answers to the Statistics Handout Practice Questions. Additional practice questions and answers regarding the types of statistical computations you'll be asked to make on Exam 1 will be found on the Practice Exam 1 and Practice Exam 1 Answer Keys, available at the Exam & Grades page.