How to study for Paper 2 - IB Psychology

Summary

In this video, Themantic Education guides IB Psychology students on the best ways to prepare for Paper 2. The video emphasizes the importance of selecting one specific topic to focus on, outlining all potential topics, and understanding various psychological approaches and research methods. The process involves listing key examples, key terms, and creating central arguments. The creator stresses preparing for critical thinking by identifying weaknesses in arguments, which is essential for scoring higher marks.

Highlights

• Choose one topic and focus your study efforts on that to ensure you're prepared for at least one question in Paper 2 ✅.
• Make a comprehensive list of potential topics including key points under each main topic 📝.
• Include different approaches (biological, cognitive, sociocultural) and research methods when organizing study content 🔍.
• Prepare specific examples and explanations for your chosen topics to strengthen your arguments 💡.
• Focus on central arguments and critical thinking to achieve higher marks in your essays 📚.

Key Takeaways

• Choosing and focusing on one specific topic for Paper 2 can enhance your performance, ensuring you're prepared for at least one question on that topic.
• Understanding different approaches (biological, cognitive, sociocultural) is crucial in explaining topics in IB Psychology exams.
• Organizing your study material by listing potential questions, key terms, and studies provides a structured revision path.
• Critical thinking, through identifying weaknesses in arguments and research, is essential for achieving high marks.
• Focusing on central arguments rather than just command terms can help develop a meaningful understanding of psychology concepts.

Overview

IB Psychology students often face challenges when studying for Paper 2, but with strategic planning, they can achieve top marks. This involves selecting one specific topic to focus on, ensuring preparedness for one guaranteed question from that topic. Higher-level students should address two options, whereas standard-level students focus on one.

Organizing study content effectively is a game-changer. Listing potential exam topics, understanding different approaches (biological, cognitive, sociocultural), and knowing relevant research methods and ethics are vital elements of preparation. While clunky, this structure ensures comprehensive coverage of essential content areas.

The crux of excelling in Paper 2 lies in formulating clear central arguments and engaging in critical thinking. By identifying key questions and developing structured arguments, students can showcase deep understanding. It's not just about memorizing studies but about demonstrating comprehension of broader concepts.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction and Choosing Options The chapter titled 'Introduction and Choosing Options' is focused on the strategy for studying IB psychology, specifically for paper 2. It is suggested that students first select the option they intend to write about, with high-level students required to write on two options and standard level on one. Each option comprises three topics, and it is recommended to choose one particular topic to prepare for. The rationale is that for each option's three topics, there are three essay questions in paper two, with at least one being assured.
• 00:30 - 01:00: Understanding the Exam Structure The chapter titled 'Understanding the Exam Structure' discusses the certainty of exam questions being based on each topic covered in the study guide. For instance, within abnormal psychology, questions will cover diagnosis, disorders, etiologies, and treatments. Each section will have a guaranteed question on the exam. The chapter emphasizes focusing on one topic for essay writing since you will only need to write one essay, and it suggests considering a second topic as a backup. Further insights into this strategy are promised to be elaborated upon later in the content.
• 01:00 - 02:00: Listing and Understanding Topics The chapter focuses on guiding students on how to effectively prepare for exams by choosing the right topics and understanding the scope of each topic. Students are advised to choose between options like developmental health, human relationships, or abnormal psychology. Once an option is selected, the next step is to list all possible topics within that option that could appear as exam questions, treating each sub-topic with equal importance. By using an example, say 'etiologies' is chosen as a broad topic, students are encouraged to drill down into the specific content points under that broad category as they could each be potential exam questions.
• 02:00 - 03:00: Understanding Approaches and Methods This chapter focuses on understanding different approaches and methods, particularly in psychological studies. It discusses two primary content points: prevalence and explanations. In the context of these discussions, the importance of identifying and listing possible topics within three main approaches—biological, cognitive, and sociocultural—is emphasized. The chapter illustrates this by referencing broad topics such as etiologies and human relationships, implying that these can be understood from biological, cognitive, or sociocultural perspectives. In essence, the chapter aims to equip readers with the ability to relate various psychological topics to these key approaches.
• 03:00 - 04:00: Importance of Specific Examples The chapter 'Importance of Specific Examples' focuses on the significance of utilizing specific examples to understand complex topics within psychology, particularly in relation to personal relationships. It highlights the necessity for a clear understanding of different approaches such as the biological, social, and cultural perspectives. Moreover, it stresses the importance of research methods and ethical considerations when discussing topics like etiologies. The chapter also points out the challenges posed by structured guides, which can sometimes be confusing, hence the recommendation to focus on one approach at a time for clarity.
• 04:00 - 05:00: Key Studies and Their Role This chapter discusses the complexity of integrating various academic approaches, methods, and ethics into the study of different topics. The speaker reflects on the increased difficulty associated with having to apply these rigorous intellectual frameworks to more than one topic, expressing a wish for the simpler, previous system where such comprehensive analyses were applied broadly across subjects rather than individualized.
• 05:00 - 07:00: Key Terms and Questions Chapter discusses key terms and questions related to etiology of disorders, including the prevalence and explanations of different etiologies.
• 07:00 - 08:00: Building a Central Argument The chapter discusses the concept of 'bystanderism' and how it is best approached in a central argument. Instead of anecdotal evidence like the case of Kitty Genovese, which is not empirical, the chapter suggests focusing on specific explanations such as the 'diffusion of responsibility.' It also advises on when to use examples versus explanations and encourages asking for guidance if unsure. Additionally, it mentions the importance of having a key study in the argument.
• 08:00 - 09:00: Critical Thinking and Application The chapter focuses on critical thinking and the application of research studies to support various topics. It emphasizes the importance of studying at least one, preferably two key studies per topic, to understand different aspects such as biological etiologies or prevalence differences across groups for a given disorder. The chapter highlights using research methods and having two examples for every topic to provide deeper insights and evidence.
• 09:00 - 10:00: Conclusion and Study Tips The chapter titled 'Conclusion and Study Tips' emphasizes the importance of using research methods to demonstrate understanding and knowledge, particularly in relation to criterion c in a rubric. It is suggested to initially use one study per example and possibly add a second study later to see if some studies can be applied to multiple examples, enhancing the demonstration of knowledge. The chapter prioritizes using studies over key terms as there is a higher potential for scoring better marks.

How to study for Paper 2 - IB Psychology Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 all right g'day ib psychologist in this video we're going to look at how to study for paper 2 so you can get top marks [Music] right your first step is dead easy choose the option that you're going to write about now high level students write about two options standard level right about one now within each option there are three topics i recommend choosing one specific topic to prepare for why is that well for each option three topics there are three essay questions in paper two now there's going to be guaranteed one
• 00:30 - 01:00 question this is in the guide guaranteed no doubt one question based on each topic for example abnormal psychology you've got diagnosis disorders etiologies treatment you're going to get one question in the exam about diagnosis one about etiology and one about treatment you only have to write one essay therefore ergo you choose one topic you're guaranteed an essay question on that topic right so i would forget about the other two topics you might want to have a second one as a backup but in a moment we're going to look about look at why i think
• 01:00 - 01:30 one is more than enough now again remember high level students you'll do two options the options are developmental health human relationships or abnormal psychology if you're not sure what options you're doing ask your teacher now the second step is you need to list all the possible topics that could be an exam question so you've got your option you've got your broad topic and then under each broad topic are specific content points just list those all because in the exam they're they're just as important as each other right so for example uh i might choose etiologies that's my broad topic and
• 01:30 - 02:00 under that there are two content points prevalence and explanations so now right i need to make a list of those now here's where it gets a little bit tricky you also have to list the possible topics could be one of the three approaches biological cognitive sociocultural so for the broad topic eg etiologies i might also be asked about those different approaches in relation to that topic biological ideologies cognitive etiologies social cultural ideologies or let's say human relationships about personal relationships is the broad topic
• 02:00 - 02:30 i might be asked about the biological approach to understanding personal relationships the current approach to social cultural approach so therefore i also need to make sure i've got those individual three approaches listed as my topics in relation to the broad the broader topic um also research methods and ethics so for etiologies i also have to know what research methods are used to understand etiologies and what ethical considerations now this is really clunky and i'm sorry if that was confusing but yeah don't blame me right it's the way the guide is structured now this is also why i would recommend choosing only one
• 02:30 - 03:00 topic once you add those three approaches and the methods and the ethics that's a lot right just for one particular topic are you going to do that twice for two different topics i think that's too much i wish i wish i wish that we would go back to the old system where those approaches and the methods and the ethics were just asked in general about the whole option but c'est la vie uh no sailor v alas whatever it's not anyway you need to come up with a list of the topics all right the third step is for each of these topics you have to come up with
• 03:00 - 03:30 one specific example or explanation for example etiologies one specific etiology explanation one explanation i'm talking about etiology of disorders if that was my option topic prevalence one example of prevalence differences and then biological etiology an example cognitive social cultural one research method one ethical consideration right so come up with one example for each now why have i got the slash here explanation in paper two for the options sometimes it's not really clear what it is you have to know about the topic there are examples like bystanderism that's all it says that's all the information we've
• 03:30 - 04:00 got just by standardism we don't know what we have to know about bystanderism now if you come up with an example of bystanderism well you might come up with say kitty genovese now i wouldn't recommend doing that that's more anecdotal not really empirical so with bystanderism for that topic you're better off to come up with an explanation one specific explanation of bystanderism for example diffusion of responsibility so for some topics it makes sense to have an example for others an explanation if you're not sure which to choose ask your teacher first or pop a question in the comments below and i can help you out the next thing you want to have is the key study now you need to have a
• 04:00 - 04:30 study at least one study for each example and in fact you might even have i would recommend having two key studies per topic so if you're looking at say a biological etiology of a disorder i would have two studies that demonstrate that prevalence differences across groups of a disorder two differences um explanation for bystanderism two studies sorry two studies right so two studies per topic that's going to support um we're going to help explain uh yeah each particular topic you're going to use research methods two examples of a study that uses the
• 04:30 - 05:00 research method why well criterion c in the rubric is about showing your user showing your knowledge and understanding of the research so i think two studies is helpful now what you might want to do is go through and have one study per uh per example and then after you've got one for each then go back through and add a second one because what you might find in adding that second one is there are some studies that can be used for multiple examples all right coming up next is the key term now i put the studies above the key terms because it's easier to show knowledge and score higher marks for using a study because
• 05:00 - 05:30 there's simply more to write about but the key terms are equally important so for each topic you want to come up with one maybe you're going to come up with you know two key terms i wouldn't go for too many more than that because otherwise your essay is just going to read like a glossary of key terms and that's not a great way to go about writing essays i would also avoid using the same term for multiple different topics for example if you're writing about a specific disorder like depression or ptsd don't write it down every single time you know that that's just in the list of things you have to know about so you want to have one specific key term or maybe two
• 05:30 - 06:00 for each potential topic now in terms of which key term to choose this might be a little bit clearer after you do the next step all right so the next step to do is to come up with a key question for each topic what is it that you think is the key question you have to answer about that topic now sometimes it's really obvious it's really easy like etiologies biological etiologies of a disorder right um how and why does the biological approach explain one disorder simple right bystanderism that becomes a little bit more tricky
• 06:00 - 06:30 uh and some other topics it becomes a little bit difficult so do your best again if you need help your first protocol should be your teacher if not you can post a comment here on this video so key question for each topic now why is this important well the key question isn't so important you're not actually going to write that in your in your essay but what's why it's important is it's going to help you come up with a central argument so the next step is you have to answer your key question right how does a biological approach explain one disorder
• 06:30 - 07:00 that answer to that question becomes my central argument that's going to be my central thesis in an essay that i write notice how i haven't mentioned command terms yet and that's because i think there's been almost focus on command terms and let's focus on studies in ib psychology that we've forgotten about the concepts and the understanding that the key concepts behind all of these topics what is it that we want students to go away with at the end of the course i don't care if you remember the studies or not for my own students i don't i don't necessarily want them to remember the studies but what i want them to remember are the concepts that we're looking at and this is why writing a key question here is really important it's going to help you develop a really good
• 07:00 - 07:30 central argument and the central argument is key if you want to get a six or a seven now again if you're aiming for a four or five you don't need to uh you don't need to worry about these steps these are for the for those of you who are aiming for a six or a seven now if you've stuck with this video this long i reckon that's probably you all right the final step now here if we think about what are the key the key aspects of a uh of an essay well you need knowledge and understanding we've got that in our key terms in our central argument we need our use of research we've got that in our key studies what's missing is our critical thinking and that's the eighth step
• 07:30 - 08:00 right you have to add your butts got tangled up in my microphone called there um you have to add your butt what i mean by that i'm going to make another video and i've got a different blog post where i explain critical thinking in this one word but but essentially you have to show that you can argue against you can point the holes out and find the holes and the limitations in the answer that you've given and the evidence that you've used to support it for example the question might be to what extent does the biological approach explain one disorder my central argument is the biological approach can
• 08:00 - 08:30 explain the disorder of ptsd and it looks at abdominals in the brain we can do that there and here's my evidence but then my critical thinking is saying right sure the biological approach is important but but what causes the biological differences in the first place what causes brain abnormalities and brain differences that make some people more risk to getting ptsd right it could be our socio-economic status but is it just the brain in isolation but why does the brain link to ptsd well possibly it's because of how the brain relates to how we think now there's multiple possible factors there or i could say but the study i just used to support that was a correlational study
• 08:30 - 09:00 but how do i know that it was the brain that caused the ptsd but couldn't it be the ptsd that caused the the change in the brains and that's why people with ptsd have different brain structures to healthy people right so the butt is your critical thinking and this is really important um as you go through each topic coming out with i would aim for three uh three butts per per topic right that you're ready to write about so what this might look like in your notes i would i would take because i like pen and paper i'm old school but i would take one piece of lined paper uh for each topic i'd put the
• 09:00 - 09:30 topic at the top i'd put my key question the key term the uh my answer to the key question the study the second study and then my butts at the end right now i've got a nice page of notes now if you were to do that for um for all the possible topics for the options you're going to write about in paper two you've got a fantastic set of notes there now i can't help but make a plug here i know that's a lot of work and your best to do it by yourself but uh it is all done uh for you in the revision book uh or you can use revision book um just to uh to help you out to help
• 09:30 - 10:00 with your notes if you're looking for the information so there we have it studying for paper to an ib psych right make the list of your topics that could be in the exam you have to know what the possible exam questions might be then come up the examples the studies that go with the examples the key terms and then here you're getting into your central argument aspect the key questions and the answer and then finally your critical thinking there you have it i hope that was helpful if it was um leave a like post a comment if you've got requests for other videos um you know i don't want this blackboard to go to waste so just write them down below
• 10:00 - 10:30 cheers you