Taking the Final

• There are three different forms. Each form consists of 100 multiple choice questions. All forms are fairly comparable. The items on all forms are different but cover the same material. It will take about one and a half hours.
• Exams will be given only in my office at ES 306 any Wednesday, 2-4 PM ( by appointment, to insure there is room). In order to take three forms, you will need to take the first one before or on May 7; a second one (before or on May 14), and a third and last form if you need it (before or on May 21) during final exam week. Any changes in room or time will be emailed to you.
• Notes will not be permitted during the exam. Also, no food, drinks, cell phones, babies, etc.
• Bring only a pencil (with an eraser on top of the pencil). Scantrons are not needed.
• Please show Student ID
• You may send me an email to obtain your score and letter grade. No other feedback will be given. After the 2nd attempt you may request an analysis of what areas gave you trouble.
• You may take a second and third form of the final if you wish to improve your grade. The highest of the exams you take is your course grade, if syllabus has been followed.
• The score for the last form will not be available until grades are posted.
• You can stop after any exam and receive the highest grade of any forms that you took.
• See the syllabus for grading and for the dates.

Review for the Final

• Reread the text material, noting important points which came out in the unit tests. You should then know what material was filler or background and thus not essential.
• Do NOT restudy the progress checks, exercises, unit tests etc. The final will have all new questions and you need to know the concepts in order to answer specific questions, some of which will require reasoning across units.
• Make a flow chart -- showing chronological progression of ideas along major dimensions (e.g. the empiricists, associationists, nativists, mentalists, etc.)
• Be sure you have done all the True-False questions (but do not memorize them). Change the false statements into true ones by changing the subject or the predicate or both -- which should cover a major idea or two.
• Read outside sources (e.g. Wertheimer's "A Brief History of Psychology" or Boring's "History of Experimental Psychology.") Or -- many similar books on the BH 80-105 shelves of the library.
• Ask the instructor questions you do not understand.
• Always prepare as if you were taking an essay exam -- outline, organize ideas, memorize, etc.
• You will need to spend at least 18 hours preparing for the exam -- which is what is expected in the last three weeks which we are reserving for taking (if needed) the three forms.
• Use the Index for the course to see what people and concepts are mentioned frequently and how they may crop up in various units.
• Search for concepts, people, etc. by using the SFSU main page "search" box, typing in "601 and a concept." That will bring up the units where the concept appears. You can then do a "find" for the exact place in the unit for where the concept is discussed.
• Use the basic concepts below as a check list.

Basic Concepts

• I hesitate to make this available. Sometimes students study only this, memorizing two or three things about each person. That does more harm than good. Use it, however, as a check list for major areas of review before spending time on other topics.
• Note especially the issues and assumptions in the last half of Unit 1 -- determinism, centralism, associationism, nativism, etc. and apply these to the various theorists and theories.
• Unit 3 is large so needs more stress.
• Relate people and concepts in one unit to those in another -- questions on the final will cut across units (e.g., the philosophical background to behaviorism; localization theory as related to phrenology, physiology, testing, etc.).

Good luck!