If you have any questions, PM user u/Silent-Cut5129 on reddit

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Resources

• Trying to understand the material for the first time
  • Inthinking
    • This resource is really all that you need. Whenever i wanted to learn for the first time and my teachers slides were not enough, Inthinking was the way to go. I started by simply reading their textbook and then by taking notes from it. Their revision site is also very helpful as it includes list of all possible SAQs and potential ERQs. You can also find summarised relevant studies for each topic there. You may get access to it through your school, or can use ib docs version (however, it is a bit outdated and does not include all pages).
  • IB your way out
    • I used this page whenever i felt that i did not feel like Inthinking had enough information or felt like i could not find enough critical thinking. These are notes by topic made by an IB student. Even though i think they are missing some information somewhere, they are still useful to use in combination with other resources. The website also includes her marked SAQs and ERQs, which i found very helpful.
  • Ib docs
    • Ib docs includes free version of Inthinking, past papers, specimen papers and syllabus guide. Guide is quite important in Psychology and i read in thoroughly quite a few times since it tells you exactly what can be asked on SAQ level and what can be asked as an ERQ.
• Revision or review

  • My notes

    IB_Psychology_HL_script.pdf

    • These are pretty comprehensive notes I combined together - i used some notes i found online (by mythic_fci#1141), IB your way out, my teachers slides and Inthinking. I tried to condense them as much as possible and included only things i would write in SAQ or ERQ. They include research methodology + ethics, Cognitive approach on ERQ level, Biological approach on ERQ level, Sociocultural approach on SAQ level and P2 options Abnormal Psychology (aetiologies) and Human relationships (interpersonal relationships and social responsibility) These notes are really all that my classmates and I used for finals.

  • Pre-written SAQs

    SAQ´s.pdf

    • Actually, there are not as many possible SAQs as you think - you can actually pre-write all! Personally, I would recommend that you write them yourselves in your own words as this makes them easier to learn (from my experience). Still, i found online samples very helpful, which is why I am linking all of mine.

  • Paper 3 flashcards

    • There is not much content to revise for paper 3, and the content is relatively easy. It is mostly recall based. Therefore, I created a short and simple Quizlet that I used every time i had a test on paper 3 / actual exams. </aside>

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Tips and General Advice

• Start early
  • Psychology is known to be a subject heavy on memorisation - and you can only master the content if you have enough time. My recommendation is that you start in mid-april for may exams and make flashcards for studies and critical thinking.
• Study the mark schemes from past papers for P3
  • When studying for finals I collected all the answers from the mark schemes of past papers. This helped me spot patterns in how questions were answered and what the examiners looked for. There are not much questions that may be asked on P3. Therefore, the mark schemes provide you with literal answers you can use on your exam - you do not even need to paraphrase them.
• Exams
  • Make sure you know the content really well since you do not have a lot of time in the exams. If you are going to try to remember and/or formulate every sentence you write you are going to run out of time. Ensure that you are well prepared and know what you want to write so that you do not waste valuable time on the exam for sentence formulation.
• Critical thinking on essays
  • Ensure your critical thinking points are well explained - otherwise your sentences might sound generic and you might loose points. Start by stating your point, continue by adding why do you think so and finish by the consequence it has on the study or theory - we call it WSW - what, since, which. (Ex. The study has low ecological validity since it was conducted in rather artificial settings, which makes it hard to generalise and apply to real world situations). </aside>

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SAQ formatting

1. Theory
   1. Focus on the theory: write all that you know about the theory - for example how things work, why does it work like that… if command terms are describe or explain make sure that the description is very thorough, and for explain you need to include causes and consequences. (1/2 - 1 page)
   2. Focus on the study: write only key terms and things you consider necessary for the study to be understood. ( up to 1/2 of the page)
2. Study
   1. Focus on the theory: short description of the study that is used as a support for the theory, but still include the aim, procedure, results and conclusions. ( up to 1/2 of the page)
   2. Focus on the study: A more detailed description. Include the aim, procedure, results and conclusions. Also provide information about the nature of the participants, any methodological terms (ex. what were the IV and DV…) and conditions that participants were in. (1/2 - 1 page)
3. Link back
   1. Link the study to the theory - in other words why does it support the theory/why does the study matter/what does it tell about the theory. A sentence or two is enough. </aside>

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ERQ types and formatting

General format

1. Introduction
   1. Start by interesting sentence about the topic that will interest the reader. Then, paraphrase the question so the reader knows what the essay is about. Lastly, list the theory and studies you will use.
2. Theory
   1. I did the same things as i would for SAQs or went into more details for certain topics (such as neurotransmitters…)
3. Study 1
   1. Aim, Procedure, Results, Conclusion
   2. Critical thinking - AT LEAST one strength and one limitation of the study (if the focus is on theory do 1 strength 1 limitation, if the focus is on the study do more)
4. Study 2
   1. same as for study 1
5. Critical thinking paragraph
   1. methodological considerations, areas of uncertainty, testability of theory, bias, empirical evidence, applicability to real life settings, construct validity, predictive power of the theory…
6. Conclusion
   1. Summarise the main (critical thinking) points of your essay. You may finish by addressing what is yet to be cleared up or by making a recommendation of what further research should address.

Essay types

• Discuss/evaluate theory - follow the general format
• Discuss/evaluate study/studies - make much longer evaluations of the studies and leave out general critical thinking paragraph about the theory. Even though one study should be enough, i would do two since i heard that this is what examiners prefer.
• TWE - follow the general format, but I would recommend that one study supports the theory and one contradicts it. In addition focus the critical thinking on addressing the extent to which something can be explained by the theory / the extent to which theory can explain something.
• Contrast essay format
  • Intro - include what theories will be contrasted
  • Theory 1
  • Study 1 (relevant to theory 1)
  • Theory 2
  • Study 2 (relevant to theory 2)
  • Contrast paragraph - the differences between two theories. Include anything, even if it is really obvious (ex. WMM assumes that STM is not unitary store, whereas MSM does)
  • Conclusion

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About me!!

Hello, I’m an M25 graduate as well who scored a 43/45 on the IB Diploma. I scored a 677 on my HLs (Language A lit, English B, Psychology), and a 777 on my SLs (Math AA, Biology, Chemistry). My EE in Psychology scored an B, and I received an B in TOK as well (2 points).

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