Psychology 131: Academic Learning Skills

Course Overview

The Psychology 131 course is designed to facilitate students' development of academic skills, behaviors, and attitudes. Content in this course helps students immediately, but also prepares students for academic success throughout their college career.

Psych 131 is one credit, graded satisfactory/fail. For an overview of the course content, please see our Learning Outcomes.

Registering for Psych 131

There are numerous sections of the course, listed on the Registrar's Schedule of Classes. The core topics of the course are the same for each section, but the course activities will vary based on the course format and time of year. We encourage each student to discuss with an Academic Adviser which format of the course is best fit for his/her needs.

Psych 131 has a required attendance policy that states a student cannot miss more than four hours of classtime, amd make-up options are very limited. Hence, a student must add the course and begin attending class during the first week. Late adds to Psych 131 are very unlikely due to the attendance policy.

Key dates related to registration for Psych 131 include:

  Fall 2013 Spring 2014
Format of the Course If the First Day of Class is Then the last Day* to Add is If the First Day of Class is Then the last Day* to Add is
Full Sem Sections

8/26-30/2013

 8/30/2013 1/13-17/2014 1/17/2014
First-Half Sem Sections 8/26/2013 Before class on
8/28/2013		 1/13/2014 Before class on
1/15/2014
8/27/2013 Before class on
8/29/2013		 1/14/2014 Before class on
1/16/2014
Second-Half Sem Sections 10/21/2013 Before class on
10/23/2013		 3/10/2014 Before class on
3/12/2014
10/22/2013 Before class on
10/24/2013		 3/11/2014 Before class on
3/13/2014

*The last day to add is based on the attendance policy for Psych 131. Adding Psych 131 and attending class by the date listed means the student has missed no more than two hours of class time. We do not advocate that students add the course if they have already missed two or more hours of classtime.

If an instructor's signature is required to add the course, a student should obtain an add/drop slip from his/her Academic Adviser and go to the instructor to get a signature. Faculty/staff in the Psychology department and Academic Success Center will not sign add/drop slips on behalf of the instructor.

For More Information

Psych 131 is coordinated by the Academic Success Center. For more information, please contact the ASC or refer to:

Academic Success Center
1060 Hixson-Lied
515-294-6624
success@iastate.edu

 

Why Should Students Take Psych 131?

There are many reasons to take Psych 131 (better grades, confidence, improved study skills, etc) but listen to your peers. This is a sampling of what students said about Psych 131:

"I have learned a lot throughout this course and am so glad I have taken it. I am going to keep my book as a reference for the rest of my college career."

"Psychology 131 holds all the tools that a student may need during college to help them be successful. Personally, I have already found most of the material covered in this class to be useful in my studies during my second semester at Iowa State."

"I loved going to class. The small class size and the atmosphere was always something I looked forward to. This is why I didn't miss a single class this entire semester!"

"To be honest, when I signed up for Psychology 131, I wasn't really sure as to what it would entail. I figured that I would be learning about stuff I basically already knew. I was completely thrown for a loop--I learned a lot of valuable information from this course that I would have never known otherwise."

I really wish I would have known this class existed during the first semester. It really would have helped me excel in all my other classes. All students coming to ISU who are freshman should really consider taking this class as soon as possible."