College people enter pls!

[virus]

Rounding up or down depending on the cash amount, how much do you spend each semester (roughly) on textbooks?


Just curious to the few that are lucky and the few that arent

[howardalex]

I voted 400-600, depends on your course though, mine's got a 3 pages of books to read before the course starts

[CraigC]

Depends if they're new or used. I spent $600, then found a good deal on used books, took 3 of the new ones back and saved $250. Books are cheaper for second semester for me because a few of the books last me the full year.

You thinking of going back to school?

[howardalex]

used is definitely better, you're buggered if you're going somewhere equivalent of oxford or cambridge where you need really rare ones - my mate paid equivalent of about $2000 on his books oxford just for a languages course...

[Rickster]

WWW.RATEMYPROFESSOR.COM=

YOUR VERY BEST friend

really i didn't buy some of the books for my classes cuz people said they didn't use em so ^___^

[warri0r87]

this semester i only spent $150 AUD or so. and thats only because i decided to do a medical science subject which is out of my area of study (philosophy). most of my books r cheap cause there literature type stuff, or popular writers which in this case makes them cheaper (most times). if u were doing something medical/science, business, basicly anything outside the arts, your gonna be paying big .

most ive ever had to spend on all of my books is $240 AUD

[man_i_dono]

0 so far.. 2 of my classes the books are on reserved in the library, i just go there and read.. 2 i got for free from friends.. and one more i'm thinking if i should buy or not, since i took another class from the teacher before, and didn't need the book at all

[virus]

Originally Posted by man_i_dono

0 so far.. 2 of my classes the books are on reserved in the library, i just go there and read.. 2 i got for free from friends.. and one more i'm thinking if i should buy or not, since i took another class from the teacher before, and didn't need the book at all

you are so lucky...

I feel you people's pain tho those who are spending above 300 greenbacks! Mine this semester was the lowest at 578.12 lol, two of them were USED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Merk0135]

amazon.com and half.com usually have good prices on books. I've been taking psychology courses and I usually find used books for about 50 bucks online.

[JustAddWater]

Try to look for notes in the department or student newspapers for people selling used books...bonus is that many will include exams/assignments or other useful stuff. In zoology I spent 800$ one semester. Didn't even need the books for some courses, the lectures covered it all and repeated the book, just in less detail in lecture. Arts is much better. But don't forget that you often have to buy a million little books that add up. Best part about school is that as a TA, I get free books. After I give them all my money, they repay me with a couple 30 buck books. Raw deal really...library reserves are the way to go if you can deal with a few hour time slots and are cheap! Hell, photocopy the bastards

[warri0r87]

Originally Posted by man_i_dono

0 so far.. 2 of my classes the books are on reserved in the library, i just go there and read.. 2 i got for free from friends.. and one more i'm thinking if i should buy or not, since i took another class from the teacher before, and didn't need the book at all

i like to buy my books new, but thats cause i write in them. so reserved books wouldn't be to good for me. if i go to the library for research etc, i usually just photo-copy chapters that i'm going to read and then i can write on them . but that gets a bit expensive sometimes, but i choose carefully .

Originally Posted by Merk0135

I've been taking psychology courses and I usually find used books for about 50 bucks online.

psyschology...nice . i wish i had time to do another degree to do psychology, i luv it, but i'm lucky enough to have my subjects cross-over to this half the time ne ways, lol. and a friend of mine doing psych spends a bit on his books as well .

Originally Posted by JustAddWater

Didn't even need the books for some courses, the lectures covered it all and repeated the book, just in less detail in lecture. Arts is much better. But don't forget that you often have to buy a million little books that add up.

yea, a lot of the time lectures just cover the book and repeat a lot. but generally you should be reading the book and using the lectures to just re-affirm what you've already read.

and yes, lots of little books (well cheap books but not little) and it can add up. but even then we usually have penguin books or something and they aint exactly expensive. although, my lecturer didn't make a book by Hegel mandatory because it now costs something stupid like $90 plus the other 2 books we have to get. it used to b $30 apparently, but since every1 has jumped on a 'Hegel bandwagon' they raised it, so i just photocopied the relevant chapters from the reserved book in the lib.

[JustAddWater]

Originally Posted by warri0r87

yea, a lot of the time lectures just cover the book and repeat a lot. but generally you should be reading the book and using the lectures to just re-affirm what you've already read.

I agree entirely. In an ideal world, with ideal students. But sadly, university is not like this, and I think a majority of students are looking to take the easy way out...they seek not knowledge, but a degree and the better opportunities that this offers, all the while doing as little work as possible to achieve this. Maybe I'm wrong here, but I think far too few students actually read their books with a genuine interest in knowledge/learning, and so the rest are more than happy to ignore readings if they are not necessary to do okay in a class...sad really. Even worse...is that schools/professors often don't really make an effort to encourage students to go beyond what is necessary to pass.

Once you figure out how the system works, an undergraduate degree is really very easy and the less of knowledge/understanding to achieve it are unfortunately sub-par.

Sorry for the rant ...but the education system, at least here in Canada, annoys me to no end.

[dog20]

2 books = $360 (cause they came with software and i couldn't get the ISBN # cause it was a packet ) the other 4 books i bought online and saved ALOT. unfortunately one ****er never sent me a book and i got charged for it! so i sent a complaint against him. so half.com is dealing with it. i needed the book too .

[Merk0135]

Originally Posted by JustAddWater

I agree entirely. In an ideal world, with ideal students. But sadly, university is not like this, and I think a majority of students are looking to take the easy way out...they seek not knowledge, but a degree and the better opportunities that this offers, all the while doing as little work as possible to achieve this. Maybe I'm wrong here, but I think far too few students actually read their books with a genuine interest in knowledge/learning, and so the rest are more than happy to ignore readings if they are not necessary to do okay in a class...sad really. Even worse...is that schools/professors often don't really make an effort to encourage students to go beyond what is necessary to pass.

Once you figure out how the system works, an undergraduate degree is really very easy and the less of knowledge/understanding to achieve it are unfortunately sub-par.

Sorry for the rant ...but the education system, at least here in Canada, annoys me to no end.

It's the same here in the states, dude.

[warri0r87]

Originally Posted by JustAddWater

I agree entirely. In an ideal world, with ideal students. But sadly, university is not like this, and I think a majority of students are looking to take the easy way out...they seek not knowledge, but a degree and the better opportunities that this offers, all the while doing as little work as possible to achieve this. Maybe I'm wrong here, but I think far too few students actually read their books with a genuine interest in knowledge/learning, and so the rest are more than happy to ignore readings if they are not necessary to do okay in a class...sad really. Even worse...is that schools/professors often don't really make an effort to encourage students to go beyond what is necessary to pass.

Once you figure out how the system works, an undergraduate degree is really very easy and the less of knowledge/understanding to achieve it are unfortunately sub-par.

Sorry for the rant ...but the education system, at least here in Canada, annoys me to no end.

i don't know how my fellow students don't read what is set for them! just reading what is set for them would get them close to a distinction! me personally, i read all of my readings for my classes a week ahead at least. this semester i went a little crazy and was up to week 10's readings in week 4, and had finished reading 2 out of the 3 books needed to b read for the whole class by week 5. but thats cause i lose all drive to do anything around week6-8 (which is now btw, lol) so i get as much done as possible. so i obviously have an urge to learn, and luv my degree, which is y i have been planning to do post-graduate studies (honours and PhD etc) since i was 16.

but i figured out a lot about the undergraduate system in my first year of uni. although i cant say i know everything about it lol, but i know enough to get around and maintain my GPA .

[dog20]

Originally Posted by Merk0135

It's the same here in the states, dude.

http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/index.jsp

[RRAdam]

I always spent under $200... bought them at half.com... then i sold my books back to the school bookstore for a profit

[JustAddWater]

Originally Posted by warri0r87

so i obviously have an urge to learn, and luv my degree, which is y i have been planning to do post-graduate studies (honours and PhD etc) since i was 16.

but i figured out a lot about the undergraduate system in my first year of uni. although i cant say i know everything about it lol, but i know enough to get around and maintain my GPA .

Yeah. From an arts perspective, good writing skills and the ability to regurgitate information will solve everything at the undergrad level. Hopefully you will progress and continue to love learning, and if so, you should find grad-school far more rewarding in terms of critical thinking, seminar discussions, and your relationships with professors/supervisors. Granted I did more drinking in the first year of my MA than in my last 2.5 years of undergrad, but it was a much better intellectual experience. I might even read some of those books they assigned me one of these decades when I finally come to terms with the fact that I spend too much time working out!