ASU PSY 101: Introduction to Psychology
PSY 101 is ASU's survey of psychology, covering research methods, the brain, learning, memory, development, social psychology, and disorders. It's one of the university's biggest-enrollment courses both on campus and through ASU Online, where it also serves Universal Learner students.
Fennie is independent and not affiliated with Arizona State University. This is an unofficial study guide.
What makes it hard
The volume is the difficulty: a chapter-per-week pace with hundreds of terms, theories, and researcher names, tested in multiple-choice exams full of application questions ('which concept does this scenario illustrate?'). Recognition-level studying fails those questions; the 7.5-week online version compounds everything by doubling the pace.
What you'll cover
- • Research methods in psychology
- • Biological bases of behavior
- • Learning and conditioning
- • Memory and cognition
- • Developmental psychology
- • Social psychology
- • Psychological disorders and therapy
The PSY 101 study guide
How to study for ASU PSY 101, step by step.
- 1
Split each chapter across the week
PSY 101 runs a chapter a week, double pace in 7.5-week online sessions, and a single-sitting read doesn't survive to the exam. Three shorter sessions with recall between them does.
- 2
Build flashcards per chapter as you read
Terms, theorists, and named studies go on cards immediately. With hundreds of items across the term, the deck only stays manageable if it grows chapter by chapter.
- 3
Practice with scenarios, not definitions
The exams favor 'which concept does this example illustrate?' questions. For every major concept, generate or find an example and practice classifying it, since reciting a definition isn't the same skill.
- 4
Keep old chapters in rotation
Review a slice of previous chapters every week so week-two material is still alive at the midterm. Spaced review is the only strategy that scales to this course's volume.
- 5
Do a full practice run before each exam
Mixed questions across all covered chapters, timed. The exam's difficulty is breadth under time pressure, and only a full-breadth rehearsal reveals which units are actually weak.
Today
Today's PSY 101 plan
What a Fennie Daily Plan looks like for PSY 101. Yours is built from your own syllabus and adapts every day to your deadlines and progress.
First plan free, no card required. Fennie is independent and unaffiliated with your school.
FAQ
Is PSY 101 at ASU hard?
It's not conceptually hard, but the volume catches people: hundreds of terms across a chapter a week, with exams that apply concepts to scenarios rather than just asking definitions. Spaced review and practice questions beat rereading the textbook.
How should I study for PSY 101 exams?
Flashcards for terms plus practice questions for application. The exams favor 'which concept does this example show?' questions, so test yourself with scenarios, since being able to recite a definition isn't the same as recognizing it in action.
Is PSY 101 online at ASU harder than in person?
Same material, double pace: online sessions run 7.5 weeks instead of 15. Self-discipline replaces lecture attendance as the forcing function, so students who set a fixed weekly study schedule tend to fare better than those who rely on momentum.
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