2017 AP Psychology Summer Assignment
Due: August 10, 2017 (the first day of school)
Welcome to AP Psychology! I think this is a great course, with wonderful, applicable material.
Reading and Vocabulary are two integral, foundational components to succeeding in this course and on the AP Exam in May. Over the summer, you will begin this process. The work you will do over the summer will mirror the work you will put in throughout the school year. I implore you: Read the book, take good notes, and spend time learning your note cards!
Reading
Read Unit 1 (Psychology’s History and Approaches) of our Psychology for AP textbook. You may find a PDF version of the unit along with this assignment.
You will want to be intentional about reading every unit of the book while in the class. It contains wonderful information that will not always be covered in class.
Notes
Take detailed reading notes on Unit 1.
Here is my recommendation on how to best read and take notes in this class:
· Pay attention to section headings. They offer a schema, or framework, for the material that will be covered, and will often help you better understand the context of the information.
· Avoid writing vocab terms and definitions. You will already be working with the bolded vocabulary terms and definitions in your note cards… There’s no need to do the same work twice! If you’d like to incorporate vocab words into your notes, give examples or write how they apply to the material, to help you better understand and relate to the information.
· Consider italicized words as secondary vocabulary terms. The author was intentional about signifying these words as important. Make sure you know and understand them, and take the time to write them down.
· Pay attention to any graphs or diagrams. The author took the time to put these images and diagrams into your book. They contain important information that you may need to know. Follow his lead and take time to put that information in your notes.
· Make note of any information that comes in groups. The author often breaks information into groups (ie: “There are three main components of…”, or “There are 6 key elements of…”). He did this to better help you categorize and understand the information. I suggest you include this material in your notes.
You will be reading each unit of the textbook throughout the year. Make sure you know how to best read and take notes. It will help you earn desired grades in the class.
Note Cards
Complete a note card for each bolded vocabulary term in the unit. A list of terms is included with the assignment, along with a description of how the cards should be completed.
On the back on the card, along with the definition, you will draw a picture or write a mnemonic to help you remember the word and its significance. We will learn in the cognition unit (Unit 7), that pictures, mnemonics, and other associations aid in the encoding process and lead to more accurate, rapid recall later. In short, working with the terms through pictures/mnemonics will help you learn and remember the material.
Make sure to number each note card on the bottom right corner.
I look forward to having you in class next year!