How to prepare for starting your Psychology course

Starting a Psychology course soon? To help you get a head start, we have put together a list of things you can do from home to get prepared and clued up.

Read

If you have not studied psychology before, we would recommend reading a general psychology textbook before you start. Some good options include:

Some more advanced and specific options include:

You can access many scientific journals for free online, such as Frontiers in Psychology, but with so many, it can be overwhelming. We recommend you start by reading the BPS Research Digest, which is a blog summarising new research in psychology. Find some that interest you, read the digest and then see if you can access the full article. 

If you are interested in Health Psychology, the following articles will be useful:

If you are interested in Forensic Psychology, the following articles will be useful:

Courses

There are also free online courses you can do to learn about Psychology.

A good example is Psych Boost which creates free, engaging, and interactive content for A-Level Psychology students.

You may also want to look at Coursera for free online programmes. We recommend the free Psychological First Aid course. 

Watch

You can also check out some links to a series of short video courses on YouTube that are great for learning 'the basics' of Psychology and preparing for university:

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