Is there any point in buying the textbooks?

[j-awad11]

Okay, so I've heard how you can buy the CDs or download the e-book, but will lecturers, etc actually accept that? Or will they expect to see a book in front of you?

And also, do you always have to buy the latest edition or the lecturers not mind that yours is a bit older?

[Thu Thu Train]

Lecturers don't give a shit. They don't actually walk into the lecture and go "LOL OKAY WHO HAS THEIR TEXTBOOK?" you rarely, if ever, need your textbook in a lecture. Of course, that being said, you will occasionally need your textbook for tutorials and if the lecturer is feeling dickish put something on an assignment like "Describe Figure 29.15 from Carrol & Ostley" but then you can just borrow them from the library.

[j-awad11]

Oh okay so I could get by if for some reason I couldn't afford them?

[grevenchorf]

Depends entirely on the unit you're doing. I had an Arts unit last semester where it would have been simply impossible to have passed the exam without the textbook, because the questions were based entirely off it. Similarly, I had units last year where the books acted as expensive paperweights - I opened them once or twice but that was it.

My advice is wait until closer to the start of semester. Every unit has a "unit guide", which lists information about the unit. This is generally released the week before O-Week. For all of my units last year, this included the set readings for each week. You can get a very good idea of how important the textbook will be by seeing how many weeks you need to read from it. If it's just a few, I wouldn't bother - you can always borrow the library copy for those. If you see it being referenced week after week after week, I'd try and get it if possible.

[ninwa]

What subject?

[lynt.br]

depends on the subject as the others have said, some are more for additional reading whereas others will set question from the book. If cost is an issue remember you can buy second hand and then sell the book at the end of semester (check monash marketplace)

[darkphoenix]

Pretty much wait till after first week or two, and see what your lecturers/tutors say about the textbooks. And also like people have said it really depends on the subject.

[kiraxxx]

Depends - In lecturers (from my exp) you don't need books. However,
sometimes in tutorials, the teachers may ask you to bring them for class reading/exercises.
But it all depends on what subjects you are doing

[slothpomba]

Depends on the subject. For some the book is more to help you out if you really need it, otherwise you dont touch it. In a lot of arts units, you do weekly readings out of the book and its probably a good idea to bring it to class. Textbooks have a time limit on borrowing them (most anyway) which is around 3 hours. Every minute you're late you get fined i believe.

Science - More so for your own general reference, examples, ect. Some units need you to use the code in the textbook to sign up for online things, the textbook must be new in that case. This is true for chemistry and biology i believe. END1080 requires a code but if you ask the people running it, youll get one for free. So, it varies.

If you do buy books, i recommend using http://www.booko.com.au or google "textbooks exchange".