$400 to spend on educational books.. what to buy ?

[Hielly]

Hey all,
i have $400 to spend on vce books due to ETR.
Which ones would you advise to buy? Also mention books that you have bought, that was very helpful to your vce studies.

my subjects are in my sig.

Thanks!

[Ken]

don't buy checkpoints for english unless u have like $28 bux left to use for the lulz

[Flaming_Arrow]

A+ Pub
NEAP smartstudy

[TrueTears]

I found checkpoints for chemistry 3/4 very useful. Good questions in there. Might want to consider buying it if you are doing chemistry 3/4 next year.

[Edmund]

Get NEAP

[Hielly]

I'm thinking english vce textbooks for sure. I don't know any books that explains how to use the TI-nspire CAS calculator.. but i know they're out there! anyone know?

[TonyHem]

You're in year 11 ATM right?
I'd just get resources for your BIO 3/4 and English IMO.
Bio - Not 100% sure on actual books relevant to the subject, but brands I think are good are A+ notes/NEAP. Generally any books with a large variety of questions are good so you experience the same concepts expressed in different ways. So whatever you can find.
English - Now is a good time to work on your essay skills, I did nothing in english from like year 1-11, so yeah I think improving your essay writing skills will be handy.
Checkpoints are generally good for every subject but to be honest, I haven't really seen ppl buy 1/2 checkpoints.

[NE2000]

For Bio: checkpoints (for Unit 3 it is useful, bio review questions were pretty good I found), NEAP is good, A+ BiolNotes is good, the A+ practice exam booklets give you 9 practice exams of varying length but generally I found them to be pretty good. If anything has practice exams it helps because year 11 is the time when you have the time to do 20+ practice exams if you want.

[kat148]

I'm thinking english vce textbooks for sure. I don't know any books that explains how to use the TI-nspire CAS calculator.. but i know they're out there! anyone know?

If you buy the TI-nspire calculator then 2 manuals are included  or you can
download it here:

http://www.education.ti.com/educationportal/downloadcenter/SoftwareList.do?website=US&tabId=2&paneId=6002#27

hope that helps

[Hielly]

wow thanks, but i know there are companies that produce TI-nspire CAs books, showing us some tips, tricks and shortcuts for the calc.

[NE2000]

wow thanks, but i know there are companies that produce TI-nspire CAs books, showing us some tips, tricks and shortcuts for the calc.

I thought Essentials Math Methods CAS and Essential Spesh shows all you really need and the manual is good enough for the rest....if you want to get a book go ahead but it's also rather boring and tedious learning how to use your calculator without the context of a maths exercise you want to get through as fast as possible.

[EvangelionZeta]

I see no subjects in your sig!

Regardless, I'd recommend Checkpoints (and any further questions-based books if required) for any Science/Maths subjects.  TheMethods 3/4 Checkpoints book is quite useful - it covers most SAC-type questions you're likely to get, and lets you see the thought processes required to answer them.

Don't spend too much money on anything English.  If your teacher is good, just ask them for guidance with regards to your writing.  If your teacher is crap, maybe get one reference book (the essay skills one that was recommended earlier?) or something if you're really desperate and invest in a tutor whilst you're at it.  If you're really itching to do something, find out what your 3/4 texts are and read them ahead of time. 

No matter what you do though, remember that the key to success is work.  It's all and well to buy VCE-help books, but unless you actually use them properly, you're just wasting money.  Especially with English, again as mentioned earlier, you should be writing as much as possible whilst you still can.  ^_^ 

[Hielly]

I see no subjects in your sig!

Regardless, I'd recommend Checkpoints (and any further questions-based books if required) for any Science/Maths subjects.  TheMethods 3/4 Checkpoints book is quite useful - it covers most SAC-type questions you're likely to get, and lets you see the thought processes required to answer them.

Don't spend too much money on anything English.  If your teacher is good, just ask them for guidance with regards to your writing.  If your teacher is crap, maybe get one reference book (the essay skills one that was recommended earlier?) or something if you're really desperate and invest in a tutor whilst you're at it.  If you're really itching to do something, find out what your 3/4 texts are and read them ahead of time. 

No matter what you do though, remember that the key to success is work.  It's all and well to buy VCE-help books, but unless you actually use them properly, you're just wasting money.  Especially with English, again as mentioned earlier, you should be writing as much as possible whilst you still can.  ^_^ 

yeh thanks for the advice ( i deleted my subs off my sig, lol)
any novels you recommend buying?

[EvangelionZeta]

Sure.

Not exactly a novel per se, but The Iliad is probably my favourite literary text of all time, and you can pretend to be cultured if you've read it (:p).  I'd say read the Fagles translation, since that seems to be the one which everybody uses...

Apart from that, if you haven't read any Jane Austen yet, get Pride and Prejudice.  Kafka's The Metamorphosis is always good, and it usually comes packaged with other works.  Dan Simmons' Hyperion and its sequels are brilliant semi-intellectual sci-fi romps.  George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series is often dubbed the "modern Lord of the Rings", and it's probably one of the most addictive series this side of society, despite the fact that the author takes forever to release new books in the series...

Hope that helps?

[wombifat]

I'm thinking english vce textbooks for sure. I don't know any books that explains how to use the TI-nspire CAS calculator.. but i know they're out there! anyone know?

its called the TI-nspire CAS toolkit or something
i actually have a spare if you wanna buy one?