Across all majors, you’ll find students that have gripes about their own course and psychology is no exception. This is a function of mismatches between expectations and realities, and happens due to gaps in knowing how things are prior to enrolling. This blogpost is a response to this post on the NTU Confession’s Facebook page, which lamented some common grievances shared by psychology students at NTU. Having graduated from NTU as well, this is my own perspective on these common gripes – and how if you have the right set of expectations and mindsets, they may be opportunities that you can leverage for personal growth instead.
“Of the 128 academic units in NTU, only 61 are related to psychology” was one gripe that was listed, and one many psychology students relate to when they first experience the seemingly non-relevant modules they’re required to take. For someone that insists on studying psychology and only psychology, that’s a huge disappointment. But it’s easy to forget that when we study psychology, there’s much more disparate pools of knowledge that we draw from – organizations (businesses), sports, physiology, biology, research methodologies and tools. What we take to be psychology actually draws from other subject knowledge as well – it’s not a subject like math when you can clearly delineate it from other subjects.
This being said, this may then be plus – you may cross-pollinate knowledge from other domains to your research papers in psychology, and vice-versa. This makes electives powerful: you are adding range that is complementary to your skillset and knowledge base. If you follow this line of thinking, then these “free” academic units are now an asset rather than something to frown upon, as you can design your own pathway to either deepen one knowledge area (UX? Statistics? It’s up to you!) or broaden yourself further. One aspect that might help is to think about possible clusters of electives that you can group together into Specializations and Concentrations that augment your skillset. While minors are the schools’ official way to legitimize this, it’s not actually necessary – you can group related modules and brand yourself to have that expertise, even if it doesn’t come with the official title (What’s more important is about the substance: what are you able to do?).
A common trapping to avoid is short-termism of simply taking a module just because it’s “easy to score an A”, or that it is “pass-fail”. Take something that adds value, and you’ll see that it’s very much possible to see these electives as a plus rather than a minus. Personally, I took modules related to business and health, which have been complementary to other psychology electives. Construed this way, the elective system adds to you rather than hinders you. So have a think about this: how can you make this system serve you?
I’ve covered in a previous post on how you can explore and develop better career prospects, but here I’d like to add that if we mindfully apply what we know about human psychology at work such as persuasion, active listening, conflict resolution and group dynamics, these skills portend us to do well at the workplace. It’s been in mainstream business consciousness now that EQ, social skills and critical thinking are important skills to have as we move towards a digital age. And these are the very skills that we already have basal knowledge for! The nature of an arts and social science degree is that we start slow, but it doesn’t mean that our ceiling is limited as well. These skills, if put to practice, will reap long term career prospects that will demonstrate to be fruitful. Here’s a challenge to you: how can you apply what you learnt in your classes to build habits that serve you in real life?
It’s a common experience in NTU to hear complaints about lecturers. The lived experience isn’t that far from the complaint – we often receive instruction from a pedagogy that emphasises one-sided lecturing, which is dull and does not facilitate learning as it is not active. However in considering quality, we have to take a step backwards and think about what is good – a good learning format is one where students are engaged, actively learn and contribute to discussion as that is how learning is optimized. But as a self-reflection and critique, we can observe that a lot of us don’t speak up in class and bother to engage, even if lecturers bother to ask questions. One of the pre-requisites is thus missing by default. It’s a dynamic that goes both ways: if students don’t engage and bother when prompted, lecturers will give up over time too. The surprising panacea might be to improve lecturer quality by improving the quality of our engagement in class – asking questions, providing feedback, daring to discuss and share experiences. In my own experience, the lecturers most definitely reciprocate in kind by offering insights that otherwise would not be shared with the class. The truth is that many lecturers do care, but the effort has to come from students as well. The next time you think that a lecturer is terrible, try this: think about the concept, how it may apply, ask a question to clarify. The interaction that ensues may surprise you and improve your learning experience.
While it may not necessarily be the case, a lot of students do go into psychology thinking that they don’t have to touch anything math-related again, or that the level of proficiency needed is not to the level of literature or philosophy. That’s a misconception. You do have to learn statistics and read research papers that are rigorous in thinking.
On the plus side, the statistics required mostly relies on your ability to understand concepts (variance, distributions, and relationships), and the English required while not exactly simple, is typically not “cheem” either. There is a learning curve associated, but to be really frank, the difficulty is middle-of-the-road compared to other majors (mathematical rigor is less than business, and English proficiency required probably on par with other social sciences and humanities). Taken into perspective, it’s not something that’s insurmountable. Personally, I have failed math at secondary and JC levels, suffering from math anxiety. Taking stats exams are always a terrifying affair. Yet, it’s something that can be overcome. If you face this kind of difficulties with math and english, I hear you – and you have the tenacity to get better to overcome these challenges in the course too. It comes with some time and a little bit of persistence.
It’s very true that to score well in psychology, there’s a lot of knowledge involved. From what function a duodenum serves, how neurons fire, the systems implicated in thirst regulation and the brain structures implicated in certain disorders, there’s just so much knowledge to absorb and retain. Rote-learning is our immediate response to cope with these demands, but it’s not really the only way. It just is because us students are used to cramming in the last minute instead of building it incrementally. In our course of studies in psychology, we pick up many other techniques and principles – spaced learning, interleaving, the Feynman technique (leveraging the testing effect), chunking (mindmapping), and even most sophisticated techniques like memory palaces. How many students actually use this as opposed to falling back on rote learning? Knowledge built in a deliberate, incremental way over time using those methods are more effective as opposed to mere memorization, and are retained for far longer too.
Here, it’s important to disentangle process from desired ends. The desired ends is knowledge and understanding. Exams and scores are a proxy measure to assess that. And while memorization is a typically employed process to each those ends, it is not the only way. Fortunately, our course of studies equips us with the very tools to learn better too – which lamentably is under-utilized. Concerning this gripe, instead consider it another way: can you avoid memorization but at the same time, acquire the necessary knowledge?
–
With this post, my wish is that prospective students can go into the course with eyes wide open and approach it with adaptive responses, rather than lament about dissatisfactions at the end of four years. For current students, my hope is that this post will help them make the most of their remaining time in school with a mindset that inspires ownership and growth.
Here’s a mindset shift for you. If you think of something as worth complaining about, instead reframe it this way:
Most of the academic units are made up of electives.
“Of the 128 academic units in NTU, only 61 are related to psychology” was one gripe that was listed, and one many psychology students relate to when they first experience the seemingly non-relevant modules they’re required to take. For someone that insists on studying psychology and only psychology, that’s a huge disappointment. But it’s easy to forget that when we study psychology, there’s much more disparate pools of knowledge that we draw from – organizations (businesses), sports, physiology, biology, research methodologies and tools. What we take to be psychology actually draws from other subject knowledge as well – it’s not a subject like math when you can clearly delineate it from other subjects.
This being said, this may then be plus – you may cross-pollinate knowledge from other domains to your research papers in psychology, and vice-versa. This makes electives powerful: you are adding range that is complementary to your skillset and knowledge base. If you follow this line of thinking, then these “free” academic units are now an asset rather than something to frown upon, as you can design your own pathway to either deepen one knowledge area (UX? Statistics? It’s up to you!) or broaden yourself further. One aspect that might help is to think about possible clusters of electives that you can group together into Specializations and Concentrations that augment your skillset. While minors are the schools’ official way to legitimize this, it’s not actually necessary – you can group related modules and brand yourself to have that expertise, even if it doesn’t come with the official title (What’s more important is about the substance: what are you able to do?).
A common trapping to avoid is short-termism of simply taking a module just because it’s “easy to score an A”, or that it is “pass-fail”. Take something that adds value, and you’ll see that it’s very much possible to see these electives as a plus rather than a minus. Personally, I took modules related to business and health, which have been complementary to other psychology electives. Construed this way, the elective system adds to you rather than hinders you. So have a think about this: how can you make this system serve you?
Dismal Career Prospects.
I’ve covered in a previous post on how you can explore and develop better career prospects, but here I’d like to add that if we mindfully apply what we know about human psychology at work such as persuasion, active listening, conflict resolution and group dynamics, these skills portend us to do well at the workplace. It’s been in mainstream business consciousness now that EQ, social skills and critical thinking are important skills to have as we move towards a digital age. And these are the very skills that we already have basal knowledge for! The nature of an arts and social science degree is that we start slow, but it doesn’t mean that our ceiling is limited as well. These skills, if put to practice, will reap long term career prospects that will demonstrate to be fruitful. Here’s a challenge to you: how can you apply what you learnt in your classes to build habits that serve you in real life?
Poor Lecturer Quality
It’s a common experience in NTU to hear complaints about lecturers. The lived experience isn’t that far from the complaint – we often receive instruction from a pedagogy that emphasises one-sided lecturing, which is dull and does not facilitate learning as it is not active. However in considering quality, we have to take a step backwards and think about what is good – a good learning format is one where students are engaged, actively learn and contribute to discussion as that is how learning is optimized. But as a self-reflection and critique, we can observe that a lot of us don’t speak up in class and bother to engage, even if lecturers bother to ask questions. One of the pre-requisites is thus missing by default. It’s a dynamic that goes both ways: if students don’t engage and bother when prompted, lecturers will give up over time too. The surprising panacea might be to improve lecturer quality by improving the quality of our engagement in class – asking questions, providing feedback, daring to discuss and share experiences. In my own experience, the lecturers most definitely reciprocate in kind by offering insights that otherwise would not be shared with the class. The truth is that many lecturers do care, but the effort has to come from students as well. The next time you think that a lecturer is terrible, try this: think about the concept, how it may apply, ask a question to clarify. The interaction that ensues may surprise you and improve your learning experience.
Math and English Demands
While it may not necessarily be the case, a lot of students do go into psychology thinking that they don’t have to touch anything math-related again, or that the level of proficiency needed is not to the level of literature or philosophy. That’s a misconception. You do have to learn statistics and read research papers that are rigorous in thinking.
On the plus side, the statistics required mostly relies on your ability to understand concepts (variance, distributions, and relationships), and the English required while not exactly simple, is typically not “cheem” either. There is a learning curve associated, but to be really frank, the difficulty is middle-of-the-road compared to other majors (mathematical rigor is less than business, and English proficiency required probably on par with other social sciences and humanities). Taken into perspective, it’s not something that’s insurmountable. Personally, I have failed math at secondary and JC levels, suffering from math anxiety. Taking stats exams are always a terrifying affair. Yet, it’s something that can be overcome. If you face this kind of difficulties with math and english, I hear you – and you have the tenacity to get better to overcome these challenges in the course too. It comes with some time and a little bit of persistence.
Very Memorization-oriented
It’s very true that to score well in psychology, there’s a lot of knowledge involved. From what function a duodenum serves, how neurons fire, the systems implicated in thirst regulation and the brain structures implicated in certain disorders, there’s just so much knowledge to absorb and retain. Rote-learning is our immediate response to cope with these demands, but it’s not really the only way. It just is because us students are used to cramming in the last minute instead of building it incrementally. In our course of studies in psychology, we pick up many other techniques and principles – spaced learning, interleaving, the Feynman technique (leveraging the testing effect), chunking (mindmapping), and even most sophisticated techniques like memory palaces. How many students actually use this as opposed to falling back on rote learning? Knowledge built in a deliberate, incremental way over time using those methods are more effective as opposed to mere memorization, and are retained for far longer too.
Here, it’s important to disentangle process from desired ends. The desired ends is knowledge and understanding. Exams and scores are a proxy measure to assess that. And while memorization is a typically employed process to each those ends, it is not the only way. Fortunately, our course of studies equips us with the very tools to learn better too – which lamentably is under-utilized. Concerning this gripe, instead consider it another way: can you avoid memorization but at the same time, acquire the necessary knowledge?
–
With this post, my wish is that prospective students can go into the course with eyes wide open and approach it with adaptive responses, rather than lament about dissatisfactions at the end of four years. For current students, my hope is that this post will help them make the most of their remaining time in school with a mindset that inspires ownership and growth.
Here’s a mindset shift for you. If you think of something as worth complaining about, instead reframe it this way:
Given this constraint, how can I instead turn it into a strength?
How may I make it work for me?
You’ll definitely find your time in the course more fruitful and satisfying.
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