Now is the time



Dear Student, Parent(s), Guardian(s),

The purpose of this AP Psychology class is to prepare students to take the AP Psychology Exam on Monday, May 6, 2013, and to pass the exam with a qualifying score for college credit.

AP Psychology Student Expectations:

All students enrolled in the AP Psychology course are expected to take the AP exam on Monday, May 7 of 2012. Students who do not take the exam will not receive “AP” credit for the course, nor will they receive an “AP” notation on their transcript. The AP psychology student will attend class regularly.  Absences from class will seriously undermine class performance, and class will continue on schedule in order to prepare students for the AP Exam.  All assignments are due on the dates scheduled, and all tests will be administered and taken on the date announced, regardless of attendance in class.  Students will complete the assigned readings as homework, taking notes as they read, and any questions on the reading or class notes should be brought up in the beginning of class the next day.  Students should be ready at all times for announced and unannounced quizzes given on a frequent basis. Students are responsible for studying the material and coming into class with questions about the content and prepared to participate in the class activities.

AP Course Outline: There are fourteen units of study related to AP Psychology that will be covered this school year. The units of study are:

1) Approaches and History 2) Methods of Research

3) Biological Basis of Behavior 4) Sensation and Perception

5) States of Consciousness 6) Learning

7) Memory 8) IQ

9) Motivation and Emotion 10) Personality

11) Developmental Psychology 12) Abnormal Psychology

13)Treatment of Psychological Disorders 14) Social Psychology

AP Course Grading: The majority of grades in this class will consist of pop quizzes, unit tests and cumulative tests. Students need to be prepared to complete homework assignments as non graded enrichment.

AP Test Format: The AP Psychology Exam consists of two separate, timed sections.

▪ Section I: The first section contains 100 multiple-choice questions, and students are given 70 minutes to complete this section. The questions increase in difficulty as students progress from question #1 to question #100. This section accounts for 2/3 of the student’s overall score.

▪ Section II: The second section of the exam contains two free-response questions. Students have 50 minutes to complete this section of the exam. The questions both weighted equally and students must answer both. This section accounts for approximately 1/3 of the student’s overall score.

▪ Scoring: When successfully obtaining a score of  3, students are designated as “qualified”, a score of  4, “well qualified”, and  5, “extremely well qualified”.  Colleges are responsible for setting their own policies regarding how much credit, if any, they grant for AP grades.  This course is generally accepted as a 3-credit introductory psychology course. Students should contact their university to determine what score is needed for course credits.

AP Test Fees: The cost of the AP Psychology Exam is $87.00, though students will be responsible for only a portion of the total fee. That amount will be determined in the spring semester, and made payable by check to AHS at that time.

AP Resources: In addition to our classroom textbook, notes, assignments, etc., students may wish to purchase additional Psychology reference guides, exam reviews, or other materials for their own personal use. More information regarding the AP Psychology Exam can be found at .

If you would like to contact me at any time, please do so at david.thomas@appo.k12.de.us or (302) 449-3840 ext. 2214 (learning is in progress throughout the day so email is preferred). I have a webpage dedicated to this class located at on the school website. PowerPoint presentations, homework, important links, and major assignments will be located there.

No late work is accepted. No extra credit is permitted. Occasionally, bonus points will be awarded for specific assignments. When a student has an excused absence it is their responsibility to make up all in and out of class assignments (see code of conduct). When a student has an unexcused absence, they will be given the assignments missed, but credit will not be issued. If a student is over 10 minutes late to class, it will count as an unexcused absence (a class cut).

Rules: All Appoquinimink High School rules are enforced. Attendance in class is vital; students are expected to be in class and on time, with all needed materials, especially their notebook. Please refer to the attendance policy- this is a semester class- a student with more than 5 unexcused absences may not receive credit for this class.

Parental consent: I would like your permission to possibly videotape the class for teacher training purposes, and take photographs of students in class and possibly post them on the class webpage. There may also be times that clips of “R” rated movies be shown for educational purpose only. If there is any problem or questions about any of this, please contact me directly or note it in the space provided below. Your signature on the attached sheet will indicate consent.

Thank you, I’m sure we will have a great year!

Student Name_____________________________ Signature_______________________

Parent/Guardian Name________________________ Signature____________________

***I prefer to use email for parent communication- please provide an email address that would be preferred for teacher/parent contact:

Parent home phone: __________________________ Work phone: ___________________ for (name)_________________________

If there is any information that you would like me to know about your student, please feel free to comment below or on the back. Thank you.

Mr. David Thomas

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