The textbook thread (special edition) (1 Viewer)

[Slidey]

In this thread, feel free to list the textbook(s) you are using, why you use it, and any good or bad things about it. If you (dis)agree with another member, state this and explain why you (dis)agree.

Nobody is right or wrong; everybody learns differently, so be sure to state what type of learner you are and how you best learn from textbooks/teachers/etc.

Hopefully with your responses I can compile a clear and concise textbook compendium which can replace the Important'd textbook thread, as well as link to the various textbook threads instead.

Thanks!

Oh, and make sure you list the edition number if it has one, as well as if it is prelim or HSC.

 

[klaw]

Kinda half text book half revision guide
Understanding Yr 12 Maths and understanding Yr 11 Maths
Type of learner: Crammer
Pros: Good explanations, easy to understand. Variety of examples, allowing very efficient cramming
Cons: No worked solutions for exercises, but doing the examples is adequate to grasp the knowledge usually.

 

[icycloud]

Cambridge 3U Preliminary and HSC
Pros: great textbook, great set of questions, love the extension problems
Cons: no worked solutions! (this is a very annoying con), sometimes too long-winded in explanations - which can be a Pro I guess =D

Excel 3U and 4U Study Guide
Pros: great summaries, some challenging questions, worked solutions
Cons: one too many mistakes (this applies to most of Excel series of study guides hehe)

Understanding Year 11 Maths 3U, Understanding Year 12 Maths 3U
Pros: simple explanations, bare minimum, has everything you need
Cons: questions are very easy - which again can be a Pro?

Past Paper Collection by the Mathematical Association of NSW for 2U, 3U and 4U
Pros: great for practise, has fully worked solutions
Cons: not really any cons, other than you have to pay to buy them

For 4U, I think our school is using Patel's book supplemented with Fitzpatrick, but I'm not sure, our school isn't starting 4U until next term...

 

[MarsBarz]

Maths in focus 1 & 2
Pros: Clear layout, ok proofs.
Cons: Not challenging enough, mistakes here and there, not enough examples, no summaries, boring questions, the examples don't show you how to solve the harder questions.

Not a big fan of these books, even if I've been using them for the past 2 years.

 

[chinkyeye]

dunno what their called, jsut knoe red book is yr12 and blue book is yr 11....good questions, answers are wrong

 

[Captain Gh3y]

dunno what their called, jsut knoe red book is yr12 and blue book is yr 11....good questions, answers are wrong

Couchman and Jones?

Man, that textbook is awesome, apart from the fact that it was published shortly after Newton invented calculus. That probably explains the errors, calculus was still pretty new so they weren't quite sure.

 

[Slidey]

Thanks for the responses so far!

Is Understanding X a new book? I've never heard of it before.

 

[icycloud]

Thanks for the responses so far!

Is Understanding X a new book? I've never heard of it before.

It's not technically a textbook, rather it is a study guide. The Year 11 3U one is brown/orange in colour and the Year 12 3U one is pink in colour. They have guides for Year 1 maths through to Year 12!

 

[DeanM]

1Fitzy for 2u
2Exel 'revise mathematics in a month'
3success 1 HSC exam questions
4Excel 2u

Pros and cons
all are pretty good... fitzy is good, but sometimes they jump into the more difficult questions alittle too early... revise in a month is very good for specifically learning where your weeknesses are... the excel book is to basic, with not enough example..the past papers are really good.. you can find commonalities will all the papers, if only 2005 would magically appear in it
i think all maths books should have some COLOUR !!!! instead of white paper with black ink... i mean, general get colour.. why cant we ?

 

[Makematics]

3U: Cambridge.
+ Harder problems to test thinking
+ Very nice layout, easy to read and stimulating (the new colour edition)
+ Questions bunched into 2U, 3U and 4U
+ A lot of written explanation in comparison to other textbooks.
- No worked solutions.
- Questions can become very abstract/off-topic. This would be helpful if not for the lack of worked solutions.

How did u dig up an 8 year old thread