What are your thoughts on Excel HSC Study Guides (1 Viewer)

[wannabesurgeon]

My school is currently selling Excel HSC Study Guides and I am thinking of buying the HSC Biology and Chemistry ones. If anyone knows how good or bad they are please share your comments here! Thanks

 

[brent012]

They are pretty good for last minute revision and relatively comprehensive for a study guide but if you are dedicated and have time you are better off making your own study notes from a proper textbook. They probably shouldn't be used in place of a textbook as despite their size they are essentially just notes.

I personally liked them (physics and chem) but the majority of the users on here aren't fans. The good part of them was that they are organised exactly as the syllabus is and as opposed to textbooks they don't have a lot of contextual information and extra stuff - that can be a bad thing but is good for a study guide. If you are interested i'd probably reccomend you try and buy a used copy off the buy/sell section on here as you will get a much better deal.

 

[wannabesurgeon]

They are pretty good for last minute revision and relatively comprehensive for a study guide but if you are dedicated and have time you are better off making your own study notes from a proper textbook. They probably shouldn't be used in place of a textbook as despite their size they are essentially just notes.

I personally liked them (physics and chem) but the majority of the users on here aren't fans. The good part of them was that they are organised exactly as the syllabus is and as opposed to textbooks they don't have a lot of contextual information and extra stuff - that can be a bad thing but is good for a study guide. If you are interested i'd probably reccomend you try and buy a used copy off the buy/sell section on here as you will get a much better deal.

Thanks for the reply brent. Hopefully I can get a better deal off the buy/sell section since $40 a book is quite expensive!

 

[brent012]

You'll probably be looking at around $20 for a used copy if you can find one. Just try and make sure it's the latest one (2008+ i believe?). There were ones released in 2001 with the new syllabus, editions revised in 2004 and one with the new cover which i think are a fair bit different to the older ones.

 

[wannabesurgeon]

You'll probably be looking at around $20 for a used copy if you can find one. Just try and make sure it's the latest one (2008+ i believe?). There were ones released in 2001 with the new syllabus, editions revised in 2004 and one with the new cover which i think are a fair bit different to the older ones.

Ohh, ok. Thanks for the tip

 

[enoilgam]

It really depends on the book (some subjects are better than others), but generally speaking they are just for revision and shouldnt be used as a primary text. Overall, I had a few but I didnt find them too useful. In saying that, I used Excel for Modern because we had three seperate textbooks which were far too detailed and the excel book actually had a decent amount of content. I also used the newer book for english because it had some really good points.

 

[brent012]

I also used the newer book for english because it had some really good points.

Adding to this be very careful with the Excel english books. I've never read them so can't vouch for or against them, BUT you have to keep in mind that every English teacher has directly or indirectly read most of the stuff from them and if you base a lot of your points off the content the markers will spot it from a mile away.

 

[enoilgam]

Adding to this be very careful with the Excel english books. I've never read them so can't vouch for or against them, BUT you have to keep in mind that every English teacher has directly or indirectly read most of the stuff from them and if you base a lot of your points off the content the markers will spot it from a mile away.

True, you just have to be careful with it though and adapt stuff and use it as a guide so that you arent plagiarising (a senior marker once told me that every year they get a tonne of people who pretty much plagarise chunks of the excel book).

 

[funstudy]

They're good as revision/extra practice/summary stuff. It shouldn't be the main textbook you rely on though, as often it may not be detailed or go into enough depth for complete knowledge of a subject area

 

[RivalryofTroll]

I like the 4U Excel Book.

(Though, 4U graphs could have been covered better)

 

[wannabesurgeon]

Thanks for the replys. Decided I will try to find the Chem and Bio Excel HSC ones off the buy and sell section.

 

[elissajean]

They're not bad at all, particularly for subjects like maths and the sciences, where it's mainly repetitive practice and addressing weak points. For English I would be inclined to say it would be better to get tutoring or create a study/discussion group etc. to come up with some more original arguments. Like brent102 said, all English teachers would be aware of the general 'study guide response' - we can tell when a student has picked up an idea from a study guide, and usually the arguments are similar across all English study guides. They're quite good to get a decent understanding of the subject at first, though.

 

[LLouise]

I think they are Excellent!
Extremely good content

 

[Sunners]

I only have them for a couple of subjects - English and SOR II - and I find them useful. Particularly SOR, because the excel guide for the subject goes into more depth than the textbook our school uses. Same with English, except we have no textbook and an English department that apparently aren't allowed to help us, so its critical for me to have one. I find Excel guides useful but I use textbooks first then Excel to read the same content but in another perspective.