Modern History Textbooks (1 Viewer)

[kate86]

Hey every1, just wondering what the mod his excel book is like? cos some people r saying its good n ive herd its crap...? does anyone have the maquarie guide? is dat goood?

EDIT: I've merged some old threads and mixed them in with some recent threads. This thread on Modern History textbooks entails the standard textbooks that cover everything, the specific books that are used for a particular type of module eg - National Studies and those study guides such as Excel and Macquarie.

Cheers,
Kujah.

 

[Aussiechick]

The Mod Hist Excel book is really good IMO. I'd buy it if I were you, its heaps helpful

 

[Loz#1]

If you don't like Excel, there are plenty of other books out there that are just as good. Last year I used "Get Smart: Modern History" and without that I would have failed, no doubt.

 

[Sarah168]

i don't like the excel one personally, but i did have a look just in case there might be something useful...there isnt really. maybe use it to organise ur notes? they even have factual information wrong sometimes...MQ is the same as excel, if not worse. maybe it just doesnt suit my studying style but if u like it then by all means use it of course.modern hist doesnt seem to be the subject to study from "hsc study guides"...but maybe as last minute quick revision would be ok

 

[sigh]

Bug your teachers to order the 'HTA Modern History Study Guide' if you're doing any of the following topics:

Germany, 1918 - 1945
Russia-USSR, 1917-1945
China, 1911-1949
USA, 1898-1941
Cold War
Arab-Israel conflict
Conflict in Indochina
Conflict in the Pacific

It also does a chapter on World War one.

This study guide is put together by the History Teacher's Association, and I think we were told that the people who write our exam, write this book. I've got a copy and it's great. Everything you need is there. It only cost $20, but from what I know, it's only available through your history teacher.

I also have the Excel book, and I found that it's good to put an order to everything. I was a bit confused about world war one, and excel is a narrative history so it clears everything up. The revise modern history core in a month, is extremely helpful if you suck at source analysis (I do!!)

 

[Acid]

I reckon the excel book is crap - most are. The macquarie book is fairly decent but you really won't find much better than your class textbook... way more comprehensive.

 

[braindrainedAsh]

Excel was not very good. It actually contains too much irrelevant information in my opinion. The HTA Study Guide is excellent for WW1 and Indochina plus some of the other electives. It's Germany section is lacking however.

 

[ladypenelope85]

i used the excel 'modern history in a month' just before hsc and it was gold... aaah, multiple choice revision. it's easily digestible (once you've done the hard note-making stuff, of course) and i highly recommend it, just as a general all-in-one overview. it can also raise diff points to those in your normal texts (hta/textbooks) that may seem insignificant (like dates of small battles and stuff) that suddenly turn out to be important. and yeah, the source evalulation sections in there were great.

 

[Sarah168]

multiple choice? there are no multiple choice q's in the hsc.

 

[ladypenelope85]

hehe i know there's none, but for revision purposes, multiple choice is really nice to have - cos sometimes u think u know evvverything, and then they go and word something a little strangely, and ur thinking 'ah! it could be either a OR b!" and sometimes that can be really useful in finetuning what u've learnt.

 

[Sarah168]

excel is so crap, as braindrainedash said, heaps of the stuff is irrelevant and pointless....they cover the national studies horribly...even the popular ones like germany and russia

Edit:

 

[Ziff]

I don't like you very much, Sarah.

 

[Sarah168]

 

[enter~space~cap]

ur right, excel is crap, but if you ever get stuck on buying it dont purchase the one that comes with a cd, its just a waste of money.

I have it at home and stuff there aint too detailed; absence of quotes and the info's everywhere.

 

[TRUZ]

i dunnoo, i thought it was pretty good for revision and stuff
it's pretty good layout so its easy to follow
i use to help for revisions for exams..cos its got some stuff dat other texts book dun have....and some sources even.....but yeeeh, depends...

 

[craz]

nah i reckon excel is crap with a capital C. Get smart was what
I used and that was so much better and concise. the other books are not bad either...i forget all of them cos I used so many different books and excerpts i forgot all the names of the book.

 

[Jennibeans]

Originally posted by Loz#1
If you don't like Excel, there are plenty of other books out there that are just as good. Last year I used "Get Smart: Modern History" and without that I would have failed, no doubt.

i have the get smart book too and its excellent it helps me pass too im coming first in the course atm and that book is half the reason

 

[~dEjA vOuX~]

Originally posted by Jennibeans
i have the get smart book too and its excellent it helps me pass too im coming first in the course atm and that book is half the reason

Does it cover all the topics?

 

[craz]

the get smart covers most of what the schools do in particular like WWI, germany, russia, vietnam, arab-israeli conflict and so on...it covers most of the HSC modern history syllabus.

 

[Sarah168]

there are better books around but they just arent that popular as excel and get smart...im using focuspoint for germany and indochina