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jasmineerrose :
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rodero:
If you do any humanities subjects like the ones listed below in my signature, then I can help you out.

I used Cambridge textbooks for Legal Studies and Studies of Religion 2. What is especially true in Legal Studies is that the textbook tends to waffle about unnecessary detail. I remember vividly how the 'Meaning of crime' dot point was covered in two whole pages, when it reality all you need a sentence to define 'crime'. That's just one example, but it really shows throughout the entire text. I honestly didn't touch my Cambridge textbook once when studying my options because I'd read through and think "Okay, the information here is never going to help me substantiate an entire essay on this one dot point". Overall, Cambridge was only used by me because it was the prescribed textbook that my school uses to teach in class. If you're looking for an additional resource then I'd stay away from Cambridge, as it would literally be the same content that you'd find in any other textbook. That advice is something that I believe applies to all subjects. If, by chance you meant the Checkpoint Cambridge books then again I wouldn't recommend it. If you have the chance check in with your library and see if they have any of the books you're interested in so that you can have an idea before buying it. I personally found that again, the Cambridge Checkpoints were far too vague and didn't give enough evidence that could help me in an essay.

The Excel books aren't too cool either. I tried giving them a go because I thought, why the heck not, extra resources! But yeah, it turned out that it really didn't contribute to much of my learning anyway, as most of it was content that was already taught in other texts, so Excel didn't offer much. Also, Excel tries really hard to be as marketable as possible, so they literally cover every single option that is available for your subject. For Modern History, there's like 15+ Personalities that are studied, and the text tries to cover every syllabus point for them all. Imagine how much detail they had to sacrifice to get that. Obviously, since you only study one of those personalities, you're left with 2 pages worth of relevant information. However, if you mean the SUCCESSONE Excel books, then I'd recommend them. I didn't actually buy them, but I've seen my friends being reliant on the texts for study in General Mathematics, and I used them a few times in the library to study Business Studies. It's a bunch of past papers, followed by sample answers to them all. It's good if you're looking for an explanation as to why the answer is what it is.

The only true godsend would be the ATARNotes books. Now you can be assured that I'm not being bias or anything because I don't actually work for ATARNotes. I bought one for Modern History, Legal Studies, Business Studies and Studies of Religion 2. For all of these subjects, my trials and HSC preparation was predominantly based off me centering my own notes around these books. I like to have my notes really condensed, while simultaneously packing enough detail that's relevant for the dot point. For that reason, I tend to sit there thinking of the perfect sentence that captures the essence of what I need to know. Basically, ATARNotes did that for me; Once reading a sentence, I couldn't think of a better way to summarise the content than the way the authors put it already. It only gets to cover the core units, but in doing so it doesn't sacrifice detail in an attempt to be marketable, like what Excel is doing. I also found that the author's delve beyond what is already offered in the textbooks, and they give you additional evidence that they have found as a result of their own research during their HSC year. For instance, in Modern History I never knew that the Germans kept 50,000 or so troops on the Eastern Front once signing the Treaty of Brest Litovsk. Such detail is crucial as it really shows reasons as to why the Germans lost WW1 - but that detail is something that I only found in the ATARNotes texts. Overall, for ATARNotes, I'd highly recommend them. However, use it as an additional resource - don't study the course using the text alone.

tl;dr Excel: No, but get 'SuccessOne' if you need explanations for past papers. Cambridge: Textbook, too much waffle, don't get it as an additional text. Cambridge Checkpoints, way too vague, no additional info given. ATARNotes, highly recommended

This is assuming that you already have your HSC Textbook, and are looking for extra resources to aid in your study

elysepopplewell:
Rodero you're a legend <3

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