Of all the courses offered at Queen’s, PSYC 100 is infamous for being among the most daunting and stressful for first-year students.
PSYC 100, Principles of Psychology, is an introductory psychology course that aims to provide students with an overview of topics ranging from childhood development to psychopathology. It’s a required course for several majors and programs, including Concurrent Education (ConEd), Nursing, Health Studies, and Kinesiology.
Elleni Kypriotakis, ArtSci ’27, is one of many students who took PSYC 100 to fulfill a degree requirement. When she started the course last fall, the then first-year student knew it would be no easy feat to the course, let alone ace it.
“It’s common knowledge that Queen’s psychology is one of the harder psychology courses at some of the major universities in Ontario, so that was something I had in the back of my mind,” Kypriotakis said in an interview with The Journal.
The comparable course at the University of Toronto (UofT), PSY100H1, Introductory Psychology, covers similar topics to those covered in PSYC 100 at Queen’s. However, there are stark differences in the expectations of students. UofT’s course is a semester long and has 15 chapters of optional readings, whereas PSYC 100 is a full-year course with 71 chapters of required readings.
“From talking to some of my friends who go to [the University of] Western [Ontario] or UofT, something I’ve noticed is that Queen’s psychology is more science-based compared to other [university psychology] classes, which take a more arts-based approach,” Kypriotakis said.
Kypriotakis noted as a course required for a number of programs and majors—including Arts majors—the depth of scientific content presented was overwhelming at times. She also noted the significant time commitment required of students taking PSYC 100.
“A lot of my friends who had taken the class [at other universities] had gotten better marks,” Kypriotakis said. “There was quite a vast difference between the amount of time I had spent and my outcome and the amount of time they spent and their outcomes.”
PSYC 100 is structured such that every week, students have an hour-long lecture, an hour-long lab, and a recommended eight hours of independent study. Since the lecture is only an hour long, it doesn’t cover the entirety of content students are expected to learn in a week.
“I do feel there could have been more intention in having students participate in lectures,” Kypriotakis said. “It was almost frowned upon to participate.”
Given the large class sizes and limited lecture time, Kypriotakis recognized the blame can’t be put on the professors teaching PSYC 100. Rather, it’s the structure of the course hindering student engagement.
“The labs were also often not related heavily to the lecture,” Kypriotakis said.
Kypriotakis recalled a lab in which students placed shapes in different arrangements and had to memorize their placements. Although the lab, which took place before her lecture, did connect to the weekly topic of memory, she didn’t find it helpful in understanding the lecture content or her readings—the main content on which assessments are based on.
“Our lab was very abstract, and then I went to a very, very structured lecture that didn’t really touch on the lab content at all,” Kypriotakis said. “It was like a different class almost entirely.”
Kypriotakis suggested labs could instead, or additionally, be used as opportunities for students to gain clarification on textbook and lecture content from their teaching assistants. Teaching assistants could begin labs by taking questions from students and providing summaries of weekly content before proceeding with other activities.
“Whether you have your lab before or after [the lecture], it would still be helpful to have a summary of the lecture content,” Kypriotakis said.
This is how labs were structured at Bader College, where Kypriotakis spent her first semester. Considering the significant damage to Herstmonceux Castle at Bader College, students like Kypriotakis were sent home prematurely and forced to integrate into PSYC 100 at Queen’s main campus in the winter semester.
READ MORE: Bader College lacked structural inspection for 25 years, staff allege
“I know of people from Bader who ended up dropping the class. I also know people from Bader who either got a very poor mark and are retaking the class currently, or just went a whole different route entirely.”
Kypriotakis felt very little from the teaching team at Queen’s main campus and believes there’s a large disconnect between instructors and their students. It’s difficult for instructors to gauge students’ levels of understanding without interacting with them, Kypriotakis said.
PSYC 100 doesn’t have open office hours, which is where students would typically think to go when they need clarification or for a course. The course does have other s available, but Kypriotakis felt these were not always accessible.
Kypriotakis explained many of the s promoted by the PSYC 100 teaching team, such as group tutoring and trivia nights, are offered only at specific times that may conflict with students’ schedules. Other s fail to consider the individual learning styles of students by advising them to follow generic reading and note-taking strategies.
The teaching team encourages students to seek one-on-one from Student Academic Success Services (SASS), but Kypriotakis feels like this advice misses the mark. It’s not just about how students study, she argues—it’s the material itself in which some are really struggling to wrap their heads around.
“I felt like a lost puppy, and I can tell you that all of my friends felt the same way,” Kypriotakis said.
Before her final exam on Queen’s campus in the winter term, Kypriotakis felt very concerned and reached out to the PSYC 100 teaching team, hoping to meet with a teaching assistant or professor one-on-one. She was informed this wasn’t an option, but she could participate in a group tutoring session that was held once a week.
“If you’re a student who doesn’t like to speak aloud or ask questions in front of people, that’s not an accessible way to get help,” Kypriotakis said. “I feel like having office hours, or even online office hours, would have been really helpful.”
Kypriotakis mentioned other accessibility concerns in PSYC 100, as well as in many courses at Queen’s. She suggested professors use subtitles when giving lectures, ensure the screen is visible to all students, and use microphones so all students can hear well.
Ultimately, Kypriotakis decided to use a private tutor to help her prepare for the final exam. This was her last resort, as she found communication with the PSYC 100 teaching team to be fruitless and frustrating.
“I felt that asking for help wasn’t really an option,” Kypriotakis said.
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Tyrone Smith, ArtSci ’27, took PSYC 100 last year and is now retaking the course. Smith, who’s currently majoring in economics, hopes to switch his major to psychology before ultimately pursuing a career in social work.
When he first took the course, Smith was expecting PSYC 100 to provide a broad overview of various topics in psychology without going into much depth for each topic.
“My preconception of the course was that it would be a lot of general information without going too deep into any specific topics so that we could determine what specific area of psychology we wanted to study,” Smith said in an interview with The Journal.
Once he experienced the first few weeks of the course, Smith realized the scope of PSYC 100 was much vaster than he initially thought. He believes that making the course more general would benefit students considering a career in psychology without overwhelming them with swathes of new information.
Adjusting to the “Weekly Workflow,” which includes readings, labs, and pre- and post-lab activities, of PSYC 100 was challenging at first and set Smith just slightly too far back to qualify for a psychology major. Psychology majors must earn a letter grade of at least A- in PSYC 100. Smith is currently taking PSYC 100 for the second time and is confident he’ll succeed with a better understanding of the course’s expectations.
Reflecting on PSYC 100 as a whole, Smith felt students would benefit from an additional lab session per week. Smith enjoyed the smaller class sizes of labs and the similarity of these labs to high school courses. He made the most of his labs by actively participating and talking to his teaching assistant as much as possible.
“The labs didn’t help my understanding of the lecture content, but the labs taught me more than the lectures,” Smith said.
Smith found the labs very helpful to prepare for assessments. Since his teaching assistant was a former PSYC 100 student, they were able to provide the class with general tips and guidance on how to prepare for quizzes and exams.
In contrast, Smith found the lectures ineffective for his learning.
“In my personal opinion, the lectures are kind of the same as reading the textbook,” Smith said. “I went to all the lectures, but I didn’t feel like I had to because I felt like I wouldn’t be missing anything.”
While Smith believes there is room for improvement to PSYC 100, he also recognizes this would be no easy feat for the Department of Psychology at Queen’s.
“I don’t think there’s much they can do in ways of making the course better, simply because of how big the course is and how many students want to take it,” Smith said.
“I think [PSYC 100] does what it needs to do. It’s basically just an introductory course into psychology while also rooting out people who don’t want to intensely pursue psychology,” Smith said.
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Maria Oprea, ConEd ’28, has been ionate about psychology since high school and is pursuing a t Honours in psychology and French.
Oprea took PSYC 100 last year, and like many students, she found the course workload to be somewhat of an unpleasant surprise at first.
“Lots of content was covered every week through lectures, labs, and readings, and I wasn’t expecting to dive right in from the very beginning,” Oprea said in a statement to The Journal. “But once I got the hang of what was expected of me, I felt more comfortable and prepared,”
Oprea encourages all students taking PSYC 100 for the first time to advocate for themselves, or form a study group, and stay organized.
“PSYC 100 is super well structured, and the format lends itself well to student organization, so I definitely made use of that when planning my studying and assignments,” said Oprea. “By attending all lectures, using all posted materials, and doing, annotating, and reviewing the readings, I gained a good understanding of the content and felt prepared.”
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The University’s Department of Psychology is aware of the challenges that many students experience with PSYC 100.
“Psychology is a science, and this is new for a lot of students,” said Undergraduate Chair in Psychology Meghan Norris in a statement to The Journal.
Norris recognizes the challenges of transitioning from high school courses to a large course, such as PSYC100.
“There is a big shift from how courses typically work in high school,” said Norris. “Unlike in high school, students spend less time in-person working on the course in classes and labs, and more time on independent study.”
PSYC 100’s recommended 10 hours of learning per week is based on learning hour requirements in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS). Unlike other courses in FAS, however, PSYC 100 involves a substantial amount of independent study.
Considering the sheer volume of content covered in the course, Norris explained the Department of Psychology regularly conducts analyses of student performance to adjust the level of difficulty accordingly.
Although some students drop PSYC 100 mid-year, the final course average of those who have completed the full course is a B-.
“Not only do the majority of students , they do a great job,” Norris said.
Norris shared several resources for students: a guide by SASS explaining how to decipher PSYC 100 readings, SASS appointments, and an online course called Academics 101.
Norris also emphasized attendance in lectures and labs as a significant predictor of success in PSYC 100.
“We want to work with students as early as possible to build the foundations for success,” Norris said.
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Both personal and structural barriers can create challenges for students, and while personal barriers are out of the Department of Psychology’s control, structural barriers are not.
Queen’s students have a wide range of experiences with PSYC 100, but most can agree that it’s by no means a bird course. To make PSYC 100 truly accessible, students like Kypriotakis and Smith believe student concerns must not be overshadowed by the convenience of maintaining the status quo.
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