How to write a psychology essay in exam conditions

Be a bit selective

  • It’s always a good idea to try to remember the most important concepts and authors, year, and a brief description of each study.
  • Try to understand what the concepts mean and to explain them in your own words. Many psychology textbooks are written beautifully, and they are very informative, but again, most students are against time pressure, and they procrastinate (it sounds familiar to me too). So, it is impossible to remember everything. The solution is to try to be selective with what you must study. Think about it this way: when you read a chapter, what are the main important ideas the author develops, what are the most important theories, concepts, and pieces of research (evidence)? Pay special attention to the way the concepts are defined. Don’t try to reproduce the definition word-for-word or to remember everything, because it is not very efficient. Instead, think about the important elements of the definition. How would you summarise the definition? The tutors are not expecting students to remember everything. Rather, they want students to understand and to be capable of critically engaging with the material why? and how?
  • From my own experience, it’s always worth to learn less but better. Concentrate on the important concepts and authors. If you have an idea of what a concept means, but you are not quite sure perhaps you won’t be able to retrieve the information during the exam.

Remember to critically evaluate

  • A psychology exam is tests what you know, how you write (essay writing skills) and critical evaluation. Don’t just focus on knowledge and remembering lots of facts in detail, as if you fail to critically evaluate you will miss the chance to get the marks you deserve.

Study tactics: Depending on how much time you have to study

One to two days to study before an exam.

  • Now, you don’t really have enough time, but when I was studying for my previous degree, there were times when I procrastinated so much that there really was not enough time left. The solution is to focus on what is most important. You don’t have time to read the course books completely. So, a good idea is to turn the pages and browse for definitions, concepts, authors. Depending how much training you have in memorising things, trying to remember lots of authors can be exhausting. Less is always better. Pay some extra attention to the definitions and main concepts to get a good understanding.
  • Perhaps you don’t have the time to exercise writing entire essays in exam conditions, but you can make essay plans. What would be my main 5 arguments? What would be the concepts and authors included?

Three- Five days to study before an exam

  • For many students studying at least 3 days is good enough. It allows you to pay some extra attention to some of the most difficult concepts. My method of studying for psychology was to start with what I found most difficult. Studies show that we tend to remember better what we study first. For example, I had an exam when I had to remember a lot of information from biological psychology. Remembering how the visual system, neural pathways and optical illusions work was not easy. But I memorised it through small chunks of information at a time and I took pride in the fact that I could remember stuff. Chances are, if you find something extremely difficult, most students will as well.When trying to build your memory muscles, try to pay attention to what you are learning, what things mean, and make sure you really understand the words, concepts, etc. When in doubt, use a dictionary or the internet for extra clarification. It’s not a good idea to try to remember things we don’t understand.
  • Tip: don’t try to remember everything. You have almost enough time to study, but you need to make sure you can remember what you study. You can aim to memorise 20 things a day (authors, concepts, definitions, etc). If you find it difficult to remember so much, try at least 15 elements. You need to make sure you will be able to retrieve the information during the exam. Think about how you can make sentences using some of the new concepts (terms) you learned during your course.
  • Practice essay structures or essay writing is if you have the time.

Five days - Two weeks to study before an exam

  • Now you are enjoying luxury study time. Perhaps many students just don’t have this much time, or they procrastinate. Try following the tips I gave for “3-5 days of studying” only that now you have enough time to practice essay writing under exam conditions.
  • Tip: start with what you find most challenging first.
  • You have time to do some extra research for the exam, to google for some more studies, research for some more evidence and think more about critical thinking. It is very likely you are going to get an A.
    Good luck
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