Welcome to AP Psychology
• Are you a student with:
– Excellent test taking skills?
– Strong writing skills?
– Excellent listening skills?
– Good reading skills?
– A serious interest in learning?
– Excellent attendance?
– Good behavior?
– An open mind towards new, sometimes even
controversial, issues regarding human
behavior?
– An ability to discuss abstract theories?
– A serious interest in a branch of psychology
as a possible career choice?
• Excellent test taking skills?
– The entire purpose of this course is to
prepare students for the AP Psychology
Exam in May of this school year.
Period. In preparation for that exam,
there are 14 unit exams, 4 cumulative
exams, multiple announced and
unannounced quizzes, and multiple
practice AP exams that figure into each
student’s grade each marking period. If
you are not a good test taker, this
class is most definitely not for you.
• Strong writing skills?
–Nearly 1/3 of the AP Psychology
Exam score is made up of two
required free-response questions.
In preparation for that portion of
the exam, student will be writing
multiple responses to multiple
practice prompts throughout the
year, in addition to writing several
short papers dealing with
psychological issues.
• Excellent listening skills?
–95% of this course is taught
via lecture. That means that I
talk for 237.5 minutes out of
the 255 minutes of the class
time allotted each week (5
days per week X 50 minutes
per class = 255 minutes X
95% = 237.50 minutes.)
• Good reading skills?
– Students will be issued a textbook at the
beginning of the school year. You will be
required to read each chapter as we
progress through the units. Pop quizzes will
be frequent, and test questions will come
from the textbook, though they may not be
directly referenced in lecture. Students will
occasionally be given research studies and
modern psychological debate readings to
analyze and respond to in written papers. It
will be important for students to be able to
analyze and disseminate the questions of
the AP Exam in order to do as well as
possible.
• A serious interest in learning?
–The course content of this class is
equivalent to the course content of
a typical college Introductory to
Psychology class. Thus, students
taking this course should be
college-bound and ready to begin
assuming the responsibilities of a
college undergrad. Intense
studying will be required to pass
each marking period and ultimately
to pass the AP Exam.
• Excellent attendance?
– Students are expected to be in class, on
time, and on a regular basis. We will be
covering one unit every two weeks, so the
pace is quick and the notes are plentiful.
Your teacher will not be printing your notes
for you, nor will your teacher be hounding
you to hand in missed assignments or to
make up exams. The responsibility is solely
yours to maintain excellent attendance and
to complete all of the required work on time.
Regardless of your attendance prior to an
exam, all tests will be taken on the date
announced. If you are absent for a test, you
will take it the very next day you attend
class.
• Good behavior?
–If you plan on using class
time to talk to your friends,
listen to your headphones,
text message your significant
other, program new tunes in
your phone, sleep, or
otherwise disrupt class, find
another class to take.
• An open mind towards new,
sometimes even controversial,
issues regarding human
behavior?
–There is almost a limitless range of
possibilities when it comes to
explaining human behavior. Many
of the topics that we will discuss are
steadfast and proven facts, and
some are still in the research stage.
• An ability to discuss
abstract theories?
–Class discussion is an
important key to learning the
course content. Be prepared
to ask a lot of questions, to
ponder deep theories, and to
discuss a wide variety of
challenging topics.
• A serious interest in a branch
of psychology as a possible
career choice?
–Ideally, this class is intended for
those students who either have a
keen interest in a particular field of
psychology already (ie. child
psychology, counseling), or have an
interest in a field related to
psychology (ie. nursing, human
resources).
• If you answered “Yes” to all
of the above questions, then
you may be a good
candidate for taking AP
Psychology.
2007-2008 Grades
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A–7
B – 37
C – 32
D–5
F–1
Class Averages
5–9
4 – 18
3 – 16
2–7
1–8
74% of AP
2nd – 78
3rd – 79
4th - 77
students passed
with a “3” or better