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Recommended Texbooks/Study Guides for Preliminary HSC? (1 Viewer)

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The Kaiser

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Re: Recommended Texbooks/Study Guides?

JeffreyVongmany said:
Any suggestion on text books for Biology ?
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Jacaranda is your best bet, but if you have the money get "Biology in Context" as well.

Why is everyone dissing Excel, they are Revision Guides not actual textbooks and in my opinion when combined with Dot Point are very effective in last minute preparation.

As for Excel Maths, the questions are about as good as Maths in Focus, but it does have worked solutions unlike many of the other well known text books. So I would recommend it only if you're struggling with the basics.
 
lyounamu

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Re: Recommended Texbooks/Study Guides?

The Kaiser said:
Jacaranda is your best bet, but if you have the money get "Biology in Context" as well.

Why is everyone dissing Excel, they are Revision Guides not actual textbooks and in my opinion when combined with Dot Point are very effective in last minute preparation.

As for Excel Maths, the questions are about as good as Maths in Focus, but it does have worked solutions unlike many of the other well known text books. So I would recommend it only if you're struggling with the basics.
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Yeah, both Jacaranda and Biology in Context are extremely good but too detailed. My primary textbook is Heinemann Biology.

I don't even look at excel. It's waste of money, I reckon. (unless you borrow it)
 
Aplus

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Re: Recommended Texbooks/Study Guides?

lyounamu said:
My primary textbook is Heinemann Biology.
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Same for me. I also agree that Excel sucks. They are, too commercial and aimed for, shall we say, the average student.
 
the-derivative

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Re: Recommended Texbooks/Study Guides?

Aplus said:
Same for me. I also agree that Excel sucks. They are, too commercial and aimed for, shall we say, the average student.
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Guess I won't waste my time buying it - I didn't buy any study guides this year - so I won't rush and buy study guides until other people have used them and give me their opinion - don't want to waste my money buying something that's crap.

Can't believe a school would use Excel as a core textbook then - I mean if it's so crap.
 
lyounamu

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Re: Recommended Texbooks/Study Guides?

the-derivative said:
Guess I won't waste my time buying it - I didn't buy any study guides this year - so I won't rush and buy study guides until other people have used them and give me their opinion - don't want to waste my money buying something that's crap.

Can't believe a school would use Excel as a core textbook then - I mean if it's so crap.
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The quality of the excel book depends really on the author like in other textbooks. Excel is just the name of the publisher and all the work is done by authors. But the authors usually try to conform with the core purpose of excel study guide - helping students revise, not learn from them. And for revision purpose, it's quite great. But for good marks, having only a revision guide to learn usually does not yield good marks as it does not teach you the matierals in depth.

Some excels are not really revision guides now. If you look at legal excel and engineering excel, they are pretty awesome. They are like textbooks.
 
Aerath

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Re: Recommended Texbooks/Study Guides?

Yeah, Legal Excel has probably rocketed to the top of all Legal Studies' textbooks.
 
Aerath

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Re: Recommended Texbooks/Study Guides?

the-derivative said:
Damn... wonder if they have any this for any other subjects... I'd save money buying books :p
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They pretty much have it for all Excel books. But Excel is shit for most other subjects. :p
 
Doctor Jolly

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Re: Recommended Texbooks/Study Guides?

the-derivative said:
Well I'll still give Excel a try - I mean they can't be ALL bad.
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Student A: Omg, this book sucks!
Me: It's an excel right?
Student A: Yes.

This occurs 98% of the time :)
 
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Re: Recommended Texbooks/Study Guides?

the-derivative said:
Student A must be a nerd. :p
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'Me' may also be a nerd, knowing that it was an Excel that sucked :p. Is there a HSC recommended textbooks/study guides thread? 1k posts and I haven't seen any thus far.
 
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Re: Recommended Texbooks/Study Guides?

Excel Chemistry is Ok, do not get the Excel for Economics, it's useless.

Maths 2U and Ext1 you should look at the cambridge textbooks which you can get from most good bookstores. Pretty expensive but the questions are great and the explanations are helpful so it will all help in the end.
 
Doctor Jolly

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Re: Recommended Texbooks/Study Guides?

x.Exhaust.x said:
'Me' may also be a nerd, knowing that it was an Excel that sucked :p.
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Who doesn't know that an Excel sucks though. It's intuitive.
 
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Re: Recommended Texbooks/Study Guides?

Because the AOS for the HSC has been revamped, I wonder if Excel or the like will churn out something.
 
Aplus

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Re: Recommended Texbooks/Study Guides?

5233andy said:
Because the AOS for the HSC has been revamped, I wonder if Excel or the like will churn out something.
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The new AoS is pretty simple.
 
Doctor Jolly

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Re: Recommended Texbooks/Study Guides?

the-derivative said:
LOL, but I heard Excel's good for n00bs who have difficulty understanding - I imagine that will be me in 4U maths - so I might get excel for 4U.
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LOL! I already have that sitting in my sister's room. But I'm also getting 4U Fitz - the 3u one was good, so I'm hoping it will live up to the expectations I have for it :)

Aplus said:
The new AoS is pretty simple.
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I still don't get what it is :uhoh:
 
the-derivative

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Re: Recommended Texbooks/Study Guides?

Doctor Jolly said:
LOL! I already have that sitting in my sister's room. But I'm also getting 4U Fitz - the 3u one was good, so I'm hoping it will live up to the expectations I have for it :)


I still don't get what it is :uhoh:
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LOL according to my teacher - we have four class serts of 4U maths text books, and we can use them all - I think it's Terry Lee, Fitzy, Cambridge and something else.

Area of Study for next Year - Belonging.
 
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