AP Psychology Reviews for Class Taught by Gary Welton

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To Prospective AP Psych Students posted by Elise Porter on May 13 2008 at 21:34:11

When I began this course, I wasn't really sure what I was getting into. I mean, all I ever really knew about psychology was a little bit about Freud. You know...repression, psychoanalysis, free association...that kind of stuff. I looked at the syllabus and was a bit scared. I'd have to write at least 15 essays about this subject that I currently knew nothing about. Plus, there were these long college-level modules and extensive review exercises.

Don't be fooled. While this class is college-level and an AP class, it is not as hard as you might think. If you are a good student and complete all assignments on time, you will have basically nothing to fear when the AP test rolls around. Just make sure sure you understand each module thoroughly before moving on and do a little cumulative review as you go along. The 15 essays will help you understand and often go into greater detail on what exactly it was that you read in the most recent module, and Dr. Welton's extensive Q&A handouts are especially informative.

Personally, I put in an average of 5 to 7 hours a week, though occasionally I did less and sometimes more, especially as the test approached. Thankfully, though, the last week is for preparation for the test alone. Overall this was a great class, and I learned a lot. If you have ever wanted to know more about psychology than who Freud was, this is the class for you. I can guarantee that you will come out with a great understanding of the modern field of psychology.

Excellent Preparation for Test posted by Anna Brinkman on June 13 2006 at 15:16:53

I highly recommend this class! Professor Welton is very responsive and makes sure to answer/clarify questions from everyone in the class. In the multiple-choice section of the AP test, there was exactly ONE question on a topic that we hadn't covered in Welton's class. The preparation was excellent! Even though the test and book come from a liberal standpoint, Welton's conservative view of psychology helped me understand the book better and discern how the text was biased. He grades fairly; although I didn't always agree with his choices of model essays, he never gave me a grade I didn't deserve. This is a difficult class, but if you actually do all the assignments and report your work honestly, you should be fine. I usually put in between 3 and 4 hours a week throughout the year, and several hours a day the week before the exam. My main problem was a tendency to not do anything until the day before or the day it was due. Don't do this! It's easy to fall into this trap because everything is always due on the same day of the week, but when I spread it out over the week I always learned the material better. This course definitely enhanced my interest in psychology; the best assignment was the "Internet Report," in which we all took a few hours over the course of a week to explore websites on psych-related topics and then write reviews of the sites for our classmates. I not only found many interesting sources myself, but found those offered by others in the class to be quite interesting and helpful. All in all, if I had it to do over again, I would definitely take this class. Take it if you have the chance!

posted by Jessica LeClair on May 24 2006 at 12:46:58

Dear Future AP Psychology Students,

This course is a straightforward introduction to psychology course. It is thorough in its preparation for the test and overview of important psychological topics. There is little interaction between students and Dr. Welton aside from the weekly questions he accepts. (He does, howevever, answer thoughtfully and completely an astonishing number of questions which are sent out in an e-mail.) The students did have an online message board, but there was almost no activity there at all.

Relatively speaking, the course load is light. I spent about four to five hours a week on this course. This course is particularly well suited for seniors, who have already taken a number of AP courses, and are looking for a slightly easier AP course for their senior year. It might also be a good course for sophomores who haven’t taken any AP courses before.

Overall, the course is solid in its preparation for the test. While it was not my most vibrant or demanding course, many of the topics were interesting, particularly if you are willing to dig around on the internet or other sources for further information.

Jessy LeClair

AP Psychology Course Review by Josh Kitamura, May 20 2005 at 17:18:39

AP Psychology is a fascinating AP course that teaches students a great deal about the mind and behavior. There is a considerable focus on the relation between biology and psychology which I found quite interesting. But personal fascination aside, do I believe the course prepared me for the AP test? I'd without a doubt say yes. I was surprised how well it did in fact. Going into a test like this there is a high chance that terminology might vary slightly or the test may be on subject that weren't covered in the textbook. But actually, I found that I had little problem when it came to answering the many multiple choice questions and even the essays weren't too difficult having studied through this online AP course. The workload for the year is entirely manageable too, something that was a great relief to me. And the workload is also very structured. With little variation you will one week be reading and writing a summary on one chapter and the next week be working on the study guide for the chapter you read the week before. I would say I spent roughly about 3-4 hours on the reading/study guide work and another 1-3 hours on the summary/essay per week (the essay is part of the study guide work week and the "/" refers to the different assignments depending on the week). There were only a couple weeks in the year that had different assignments then a normal week and these were not terribly difficult, but instead were interesting and enjoyable. One such assignment, for instance, was that one week we were told to search the internet for psychology based websites and study any aspect of psychology we desired. Then we were to write a short report on what we found out. The very regular schedule of work did not, to me at least, get dull or boring, but instead was a great benefit to me as I knew what to expect with each coming week and how to plan accordingly. The assignments are perfectly suited not only to learning the material, but also to preparing for the AP test. They involve not only learning through reading, but reinforcing the learning through summaries and study guide work. And you will have done numerous multiple choice questions and essays by the end of the year which is what the AP test is composed of, perfect preparation. With hard work through the year and a little review before test time, you will be well prepared for the AP test.

I did find that my interest in psychology grew greatly over the year. It was a very fascinating subject and this course dispelled many of the myths about the human mind and behavior that I had been exposed to in popular media. Much of the text involves looking at studies done by famous psychologists and analyzing the results, searching for scientific answers to questions such as "why does an individual behave differently when in a group then when alone?" These explanations promote great understanding about others and even yourself. I will also say that the textbook is very readable and I have heard from many of my fellow classmates, and can attest to this myself, that the textbook can often hold your interest in the subject as it is well written and insightful.

AP Psychology is an online AP class that does not require communication between students through any manner such as posting on a message board. This does have the result of minimizing the interaction between students and thus it is entirely up to the student how much they wish to participate in any class discussions. I found that most of my communication with fellow students occurred through instant messaging services, AOL instant messenger to be specific, and that the online message posting board was not regularly used by a good deal of the class. I do not think that this was a great drawback from the class though and many of my classmates were friendly and helpful so that I talked with a number of them over the year. Also, the AP teacher, Dr. Welton, was readily available via e-mail and both encouraged questions on the chapters we read and provided prompt replies.

This course did have some material that was slightly challenging to understand at times, but for the most part I would say that the subject was very well explained through the text and Dr. Welton's answers to questions. I did not have any great difficulties. There were many biological connections made in psychology (the text frequently stated this interaction between biology and psychology) so a student that felt comfortable and did well in their biology class would probably have a somewhat easier time in psychology. Even more, I think, this class would be suited for a student that took interest in science or human behavior (someone that perhaps often asks "why do we do the things we do"). The course is challenging, yet manageable and highly interesting so that I would easily recommend it to students considering doing AP Psychology online.