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Which textbook do you use for Psych?


Caitlin

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There has always seemed to me to be a startling lack of resources when it comes to IB Psychology.

Up until now my class has been using an A-Levels textbook, which was quite inconvenient, as you can imagine - different course and all. We looked online for ages for an actual IB one, but alas, none could be found. :lol: But today, for the first time, I held in my hands a textbook which actually contained within it the IB Psychology course... and let me tell you, friends - it was a damn good feeling. B)

It's an Australian one that's only just been published. I don't know if other countries have published textbooks for IB Psych, but up until now I've never been able to find one.

So anyway, which book does your class use?

Edited by Caitlin
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There isn't really a IB psych book but most of the psych text books contain the same thing with more or less of one thing.

We use this book --> Psychology: The Science of Mind and Behavior by Michael W. Passer and Ronald E. Smith. It's really good but more intended for higher education. However it contains most things that you need to know minus the humanistic perspective.

Also, everything else that is missing, we get LOADS of paper handouts from our teacher who gets them somewhere else. We also use AS and A Level Psychology through diagrams (Oxford Revision Guides) for revision which is also very good.

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Guest xmarketax

We actually have three books: Approaches To Psychology, A Level Psychology, Psychology The Science of Mind and Behavior. So if I am looking for something I'll definitely find it in one of them...but yeah it would be great to have one book that's really focused on IB psychology...

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Guest ambr0sia

We use a three years old Understanding Psychology book.

You know, the one that came with the "free" CD that nobody used.

Half of our books have {used bookstore} stickers on 'em.

Hah. ha. Why does this matter?

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Guest glittery_butterfly

we have that elephant book too!!

i just dont think its very well suited to the IB syllabus but its good for a general understanding.

im an "oxford revision guide" girl through and through.

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we have that elephant book too!!

i just dont think its very well suited to the IB syllabus but its good for a general understanding.

im an "oxford revision guide" girl through and through.

Let me warn you now. If you use that book to revise for your exam, you will not get more than a 5 (and that's if you know 100% of it perfectly). The book provides enough information to get a 4. The psychology oxford revision guide is easily the worst psychology book I have ever read. I strongly suggest you use alternative sources. STRONGLY suggest.

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Let me warn you now. If you use that book to revise for your exam, you will not get more than a 5 (and that's if you know 100% of it perfectly). The book provides enough information to get a 4. The psychology oxford revision guide is easily the worst psychology book I have ever read. I strongly suggest you use alternative sources. STRONGLY suggest.

Aww, that's pity. Any chances you could give more information about it? I was thinking of buying it but now maybe not...That is, are we talking about the same book? (the ones from osc-ib.co.uk?)

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Aww, that's pity. Any chances you could give more information about it? I was thinking of buying it but now maybe not...That is, are we talking about the same book? (the ones from osc-ib.co.uk?)

Yes. It's by far the worst revision guide on there. It's almost as if the person writing it forgot to hire an editor, and just did whatever was in her head. Anyway, any valuble bit of information in that book can be found in my notes. I used many sources but I made sure that I took anything of value from the revision guide. DO NOT waste your money on it.

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Yes. It's by far the worst revision guide on there. It's almost as if the person writing it forgot to hire an editor, and just did whatever was in her head. Anyway, any valuble bit of information in that book can be found in my notes. I used many sources but I made sure that I took anything of value from the revision guide. DO NOT waste your money on it.

Alright. Thank you so much for the advice. That will certainly save me some money since my wallet is quiet thin. You don't happen to know if the rest of those guides for the other subjects are like that?

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Yes. It's by far the worst revision guide on there. It's almost as if the person writing it forgot to hire an editor, and just did whatever was in her head. Anyway, any valuble bit of information in that book can be found in my notes. I used many sources but I made sure that I took anything of value from the revision guide. DO NOT waste your money on it.

I bought it last year, and don't find it very helpful at all. :lol: Some of the books in that series are quite useful, but some are really dodgy. I think it's difficult in general to create revision guides for humanities subjects, though.

Edited by Caitlin
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I'd say one copy of the "Purple Book" - the Oxford Revision Guide - between a class. I've found it useful as the skeleton of my notes.

We also use the "AS and A Level Psychology through diagrams (Oxford Revision Guides)" by Hill, which is brief but targeted.

"Psychology : a new introduction : for A Level" by Gross et al. Second Edition" - absolutely HUGE (~850 'real' pages), but very good for studies.

"Approaches to Psychology" by Glassman and Hadad - I've found this to be the least useful text of the four, however it must be credited for it's gender studies and Humanistic Perspective theories.

Caitlin, what is the name, and author, of the Australian text?

(I'm from Oz, and hope to get my hands on a copy too)

Edited by winter
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Guest Sirop de Violette

We have three textbooks:

Psychology Frontiers and Applications, by Michael W. Passer & Ronald E. Smith

Approaches to Psychology, by William E. Glassman

and Angles on Applied Psychology, by Matt Jarvis and Julia Russel

We also recieve handouts for every topic from a book, which the teacher haven't told us the name of, but refers to as "Hill" (the structure of it resembles the Oxford guide to IB Biology), and sometimes from "Eysenck". And whenever we discuss a study of some kind, we get handouts frome yet another book wich seems to be a collection of all kinds of psychological studies. All these handouts we collect in a binder, and by the end of IB1 the smaller model was completely crammed. For IB two I've gotten a model bigger, but I'm not completely sure that it will suffice...

Psychology is by far the class where I have most materials. It must look hilarous when we Psych students stumble down the corridor dragging three heavy books and a binder. :huh:

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We have three textbooks:

Psychology Frontiers and Applications, by Michael W. Passer & Ronald E. Smith

Approaches to Psychology, by William E. Glassman

and Angles on Applied Psychology, by Matt Jarvis and Julia Russel

We also recieve handouts for every topic from a book, which the teacher haven't told us the name of, but refers to as "Hill" (the structure of it resembles the Oxford guide to IB Biology), and sometimes from "Eysenck". And whenever we discuss a study of some kind, we get handouts frome yet another book wich seems to be a collection of all kinds of psychological studies. All these handouts we collect in a binder, and by the end of IB1 the smaller model was completely crammed. For IB two I've gotten a model bigger, but I'm not completely sure that it will suffice...

Psychology is by far the class where I have most materials. It must look hilarous when we Psych students stumble down the corridor dragging three heavy books and a binder. :P

YAY Hill!

(It's a favorite of mine)

And yes, it is an Oxford Revision - for AS and... A2? A? levels. "Psychology Through Diagrams"

Poor thing - carrying all that! We've got class sets of Gross, Glassman, and of the OSC 'purple book of doom'.... and we carry our bags with us - against the rules - to every class.

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I'd say one copy of the "Purple Book" - the Oxford Revision Guide - between a class. I've found it useful as the skeleton of my notes.

We also use the "AS and A Level Psychology through diagrams (Oxford Revision Guides)" by Hill, which is brief but targeted.

"Psychology : a new introduction : for A Level" by Gross et al. Second Edition" - absolutely HUGE (~850 'real' pages), but very good for studies.

"Approaches to Psychology" by Glassman and Hadad - I've found this to be the least useful text of the four, however it must be credited for it's gender studies and Humanistic Perspective theories.

Caitlin, what is the name, and author, of the Australian text?

(I'm from Oz, and hope to get my hands on a copy too)

It's called Psychology (for use with the IB Diploma Programme). By Paul Whetham, Andrew Day, Libby Whetham, Di Codrington (used to be deputy chief examiner for IB Psych) and Elaine Shone. From IBID Press. :P

I love it.

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