Essentials vs Key Concepts - The Great Debate

[SunnyB]

So i have had a skim of both books and have come to the conclusion that the questions in essential book is more 'applying your knowledge' and on the other hand, the key concept one is more 'theory' based.

Personally my school is using Essentials, but from the looks of things i like key concepts more. Basically the questions in essentials are, go online do find this companies mission and vision statement etc etc. whereas in key concepts, it would ask, differentiate from a vision and mission statement and why they need to be aligned.

Can anyone provide their own opinions in which one they used and how they found it?

[Jason12]

I used Cambridge essentials and I think the textbook is fine and the review questions are okay but I generally use Cambridge checkpoints for sac practice. The definitions are easy to find but sometimes the book will say something different to the definition on the side

[Only Cheating Yourself]

So i have had a skim of both books and have come to the conclusion that the questions in essential book is more 'applying your knowledge' and on the other hand, the key concept one is more 'theory' based.

Personally my school is using Essentials, but from the looks of things i like key concepts more. Basically the questions in essentials are, go online do find this companies mission and vision statement etc etc. whereas in key concepts, it would ask, differentiate from a vision and mission statement and why they need to be aligned.

Can anyone provide their own opinions in which one they used and how they found it?

the books use different names as well, concepts has a lot of research type questions as well.

[Rod]

'Why can't we have them both?'

I see that you are doing HHD as a year 11. I did biology as a year 11, and I ended up purchasing two text books; Jacaranda and Nelson. I used them both throughout the year, as the our school recommended was fairly shit to be honest (nelson), but we still had to go over it and do questions for homework.

Key concepts isn't that bad, I like it. Since you are in year 11 it wouldn't hurt to get them both.

[Anchy]

'Why can't we have them both?'

I see that you are doing HHD as a year 11. I did biology as a year 11, and I ended up purchasing two text books; Jacaranda and Nelson. I used them both throughout the year, as the our school recommended was fairly shit to be honest (nelson), but we still had to go over it and do questions for homework.

Key concepts isn't that bad, I like it. Since you are in year 11 it wouldn't hurt to get them both.

Porque no los dos?!

[SunnyB]

'Why can't we have them both?'

I see that you are doing HHD as a year 11. I did biology as a year 11, and I ended up purchasing two text books; Jacaranda and Nelson. I used them both throughout the year, as the our school recommended was fairly shit to be honest (nelson), but we still had to go over it and do questions for homework.

Key concepts isn't that bad, I like it. Since you are in year 11 it wouldn't hurt to get them both.

im not doing HHD but ill keep that advice in mind

[Rod]

im not doing HHD but ill keep that advice in mind

Further and Business, yeah same advice, try and get two textbooks for each subject IF the textbook you are using is not that good. Otherwise it isn't that necessary if you have the best textbook in the course, if you are not sure get them both. Also, resouces such as Neap, A+ notes, checkpoints, tsfx notes also helped me throughout the year so in my opinion it is more important that you get those smaller resources and also more important that you spend time on those resources before getting a second textbook (IF the textbook you are using is bad).

Rod

[Only Cheating Yourself]

'Why can't we have them both?'

I see that you are doing HHD as a year 11. I did biology as a year 11, and I ended up purchasing two text books; Jacaranda and Nelson. I used them both throughout the year, as the our school recommended was fairly shit to be honest (nelson), but we still had to go over it and do questions for homework.

Key concepts isn't that bad, I like it. Since you are in year 11 it wouldn't hurt to get them both.

The thing is i had a look at the textbooks and i feel as though the concept one fits my wording best!  If that makes sense in terms of the vocabulary and the way it explains the content i get it, but i feel like if i use two textbooks I'm going to get confused etc like essentials uses special interests groups as one of the operating environments but concepts uses suppliers and creditors things like that i think can be confusing.  Also i'm thinking of buying the A+ notes as like a back up resources, thoughts?  Or do you recommend buying two books?

[Rod]

The thing is i had a look at the textbooks and i feel as though the concept one fits my wording best!  If that makes sense in terms of the vocabulary and the way it explains the content i get it, but i feel like if i use two textbooks I'm going to get confused etc like essentials uses special interests groups as one of the operating environments but concepts uses suppliers and creditors things like that i think can be confusing.  Also i'm thinking of buying the A+ notes as like a back up resources, thoughts?  Or do you recommend buying two books?

Since you are only doing a couple of 3/4s, it wouldn't hurt to get the A+ notes AND two text books. Although, if you feel you will be comfortable with just one text book and the extra smaller resources, then do that. It's up to you!

[SunnyB]

Since you are only doing a couple of 3/4s, it wouldn't hurt to get the A+ notes AND two text books. Although, if you feel you will be comfortable with just one text book and the extra smaller resources, then do that. It's up to you!

thank god i have relations haha, i can get both copys of books for further and business, and other subjects as well. I love dropbox

[Only Cheating Yourself]

thank god i have relations haha, i can get both copys of books for further and business, and other subjects as well. I love dropbox

Do you recommend the essentials book for business?

[anna.xo]

I used Cambridge Essentials. Never bothered with another textbook - didn't think it was necessary.
The exam style questions in Essentials are really good to practice..and enhance structure and language. The chapter questions are good revision too.
The activities are pretty useless I found, they didn't help me to consolidate or understand anything at a deeper level than I already did. But the research activities can be helpful in finding organisations to use as examples for exam questions.