Best/Most Useful Textbook (3 Viewers)

[counterman]

Depends on which area you live in. If you live in the city you could probably purchase it from anywhere with Dymocks but if you live in a cheap place like Western Sydney then you can purchase it from a shop called Five Senses.

Oh, I've checked most of the Dymocks at the City and they say they haven't got it, which is a bummer.

Five Senses Education? Are you 100 % sure I can get it there ? 'Cause it's a pretty far travel. Also, which location ? Seven Hills or North Rocks ?

Thanks

 

[Dragonmaster262]

Oh, I've checked most of the Dymocks at the City and they say they haven't got it, which is a bummer.

Five Senses Education? Are you 100 % sure I can get it there ? 'Cause it's a pretty far travel. Also, which location ? Seven Hills or North Rocks ?

Thanks

It's at Seven Hills. If its not in the shelves than you can order it. Try to see if you can order it from Dymocks first. If Five Senses is really that far away than it would be best to check if you could order the books from Dymocks first.

 

[Dragonmaster262]

Oh, I've checked most of the Dymocks at the City and they say they haven't got it, which is a bummer.

Five Senses Education? Are you 100 % sure I can get it there ? 'Cause it's a pretty far travel. Also, which location ? Seven Hills or North Rocks ?

Thanks

Why do you want the Terry Lee book now anyway? You've already done your HSC.

 

[Pain]

I 'LOL' at Maths in Focus. That book is a joke. We make fun of it, it's a neverending joke : "That test was like Maths in Focus!" "Dude, your Hilarious! I was vsing this noob on Dota, who bought SnY for Luna!! haha I called him you Maths in Focus nubasaur!". Yeah I know....We're comedians. And so we all laugh and hi-5 each other, then get straight back to pounding Cammy and Fitzy simultaneously. Wattup?

 

[Air Jordan]

^lol! Ok just finished reading the full thread. I think I'm going to go get Cambridge and Fitzpatrick

 

[counterman]

Why do you want the Terry Lee book now anyway? You've already done your HSC.

Thanks, got it at Seven Hills. It was for a person who's special to me .

 

[Dragonmaster262]

Ummz, personally, I own and have used quite alot. And they includes Margaret Grove's Maths in Focus, Pender's Cambridge, Fitzpatrick, the Phoenix ones, Terry Lee's Essentials, Couchman's 'orange stripey' book, Coroneos.
I find MiFocus is shit and useless, but good for those who like to learn the basics, but useless after that, since questions in that book doesnt test your understanding.
Cambridge is good for topics that requires 'partings' in the exam. What I mean as partings, are those questions which will be asked in parts of i, ii, iii, iv, v ,... . THats because other text books usually just type up the whole question and requires you to know what to do first and what todo last. BUT, thats not what happens in HSC. Topics include: Binomal, PROB'Y, SHM, PrJtile, Parametrics.
Fitzpatrick... TRUE.. they have mistakes in the back. However, the text has question that TEST YOUR UNDERSTANDING. Fitz is good for Induction, geometry, Calculus, Applications of Calc.
Phoenix is A MUST-HAVE. It has full solutions, so that explains it all !!! Good to read and observe the method and technique.
Terry Lee's ... not many pplz have that book...Bcos its only available at the Dymocks at George Street, Sydney City, or online. His book's level is between that of Fitz and Cambridge. I highly recommend that book. Overall, the questions are set really appropriate. However, it doesnt have solutions, not in BOB (back of book) nor has anyone written them yet (unlike Cambridge, and Fitz of which Sam El Hosri has written and I have access to).
Couchman's... Ummmz... His book is one of the oldest so it doesnt really follow the trend , but as a reference for explaination, its alright..
Coroneos... His text is really good in both the explanation and questions. But some of the questions are impossible..not because they are hard, but they dont have partings.

Summing up, you SHOULD buy the PHEONIX, FITZ and TERRY LEE.

In addition, those who are getting past papers. DO NOT BUY SUCCESS ONE. Their solutions are poor. They are full, but it doesnt provide well-explanation, nor does it provide alternatives + notes. CORONEOS' HSC Exam Papers are the BEST BY FAR in Australia. It costs a little expensive than Success One, but you learn MUCH MORE from CORONEOS.

Thats all.. Hopes there hasnt been too much to read.. Pyrodude1031

Does the Terry Lee 3 unit book have worked solutions?

 

[Dragonmaster262]

Ummz, personally, I own and have used quite alot. And they includes Margaret Grove's Maths in Focus, Pender's Cambridge, Fitzpatrick, the Phoenix ones, Terry Lee's Essentials, Couchman's 'orange stripey' book, Coroneos.
I find MiFocus is shit and useless, but good for those who like to learn the basics, but useless after that, since questions in that book doesnt test your understanding.
Cambridge is good for topics that requires 'partings' in the exam. What I mean as partings, are those questions which will be asked in parts of i, ii, iii, iv, v ,... . THats because other text books usually just type up the whole question and requires you to know what to do first and what todo last. BUT, thats not what happens in HSC. Topics include: Binomal, PROB'Y, SHM, PrJtile, Parametrics.
Fitzpatrick... TRUE.. they have mistakes in the back. However, the text has question that TEST YOUR UNDERSTANDING. Fitz is good for Induction, geometry, Calculus, Applications of Calc.
Phoenix is A MUST-HAVE. It has full solutions, so that explains it all !!! Good to read and observe the method and technique.
Terry Lee's ... not many pplz have that book...Bcos its only available at the Dymocks at George Street, Sydney City, or online. His book's level is between that of Fitz and Cambridge. I highly recommend that book. Overall, the questions are set really appropriate. However, it doesnt have solutions, not in BOB (back of book) nor has anyone written them yet (unlike Cambridge, and Fitz of which Sam El Hosri has written and I have access to).
Couchman's... Ummmz... His book is one of the oldest so it doesnt really follow the trend , but as a reference for explaination, its alright..
Coroneos... His text is really good in both the explanation and questions. But some of the questions are impossible..not because they are hard, but they dont have partings.

Summing up, you SHOULD buy the PHEONIX, FITZ and TERRY LEE.

In addition, those who are getting past papers. DO NOT BUY SUCCESS ONE. Their solutions are poor. They are full, but it doesnt provide well-explanation, nor does it provide alternatives + notes. CORONEOS' HSC Exam Papers are the BEST BY FAR in Australia. It costs a little expensive than Success One, but you learn MUCH MORE from CORONEOS.

Thats all.. Hopes there hasnt been too much to read.. Pyrodude1031

So is Phoenix just a book full of Past Papers?

 

[kwabon]

seriously whoever made Maths in focus, should be punched ..... i agree its an alright book for 2 unit .... but for 3 unit ...... my grandmother can make better maths textbooks than that !!

 

[Herremann]

Thought I'd chip in here.

Maths in Focus
I notice a lot of hate on this thread for Maths in Focus which I find surprising. As an accessible introductory text, it provides a greater range of standard questions than the similar but lesser Jones and Couchman. Perhaps its greatest strength over Jones and Couchman is that it has a good standard chapter summary as well as challenge exercises for each chapter that are actually challenging - I would not trust some of the peanuts on here saying otherwise.

Fitzpatrick
Some fantastic questions in this series (2 Unit/3 Unit/4 Unit) that will challenge even the best students. For general classwork I prefer this over Maths in Focus, however there are some holes in terms of depth of coverage that need to be made up using other textbooks. Excellent in most respects.

Cambridge (2 Unit/3Unit - not 4Unit which was the old Arnold and Arnold textbook)
This is the grandaddy of them all. Many, many decades of distilled wisdom and mathematical genius have gone into this book. While it does not fully treat some basic topics (assuming that such work has been mastered prior to Y11), it is without a doubt the most complete and thorough textbook available for the HSC calculus courses. In particular for those students looking to extend themselves into Extension 2, the extension questions in each section provide fertile ground for the "harder 3 Unit topics" of the Ext 2 syllabus. I cannot imagine a textbook providing a more thorough preparation for not only the HSC mathematics exams, but also for the further study of Mathematics at University. If you are a serious Extension 1 student, you should purchase this textbook (you will need both the Y11 and Y12 books to cover the full range of HSC material).

Past Papers
And this is the key. About 16 weeks out from the HSC, if you can start doing past papers each weekend as practise, you will be well on the way to achieving your potential in the final exam. While not all topics will have been covered at this point, you will get a feel for how you need to navigate your way through the different papers. In particular, for Extension 1 students, start doing those Mathematics papers (2 Unit in old speak) as soon as you can. The extension 1 paper is different in feel in comparison (being more a test of speed than the mathematics one). Nothing substitutes for the format and feel of genuine HSC questions - Cambridge most likely comes closest out of all the textbooks.

Best Regards
Herremann

 

[khorne]

Hmm, I thought I'd add to this, from a self teaching perspective.

Fitzpatrick: The explanations are sometimes lacking, as are the example questions in some parts (not enough depth), however, the questions are generally good, although there are a few notable mistakes throughout the 3U book. Overall, I think it's pretty easy to pick up and read from, easy to carry around, and the questions are relatively good, and often, some can be quite challenging. They also offer summaries at the back, which can be useful for a "knowledge check list". Overall, learning from fitzy isn't the best at times, but I'm sure it's fine with a teacher.

Terry Lee: Nothing much to add which hasn't been said already. It's an ok book, explanations are fine, problems are generally good etc.

Cambridge: One of the best books made for the HSC course.

Disadvantages:
*Some topics in year 11/12 are in the other book (i.e it's divided into two books, so buying both is generally a good approach).
*It does "over" cover some areas (which can be bad/good)
*Big, but not very heavy

Advantages:
*No shortage of problems...practically has 20 multipart questions on every topic in both books.
*Good problems, the development problems are pretty good, and are ample for exam preperation.
*Extension questions: I can not say how much I loooove these. Probably the best questions in the book, can take minutes, can take hours or some even days, but the knowledge, understanding and problem solving capabilities you gain from these makes everything well worth it. Does require some "out there" thinking and new concepts, but I love the feeling after solving one of them.
*Formatting is awesome...easy to read and follow. Lots of graphs too.

Note: I would not recommend Cambridge to anyone, I do believe it is a more advanced book, which requires a lot of knowledge, (especially to fully understand the explanations), but I also think it is one of the best introductions to calculus, and is very good during the calculus topics.

Calculus for Analytical Geometry:
Not a HSC book, or indeed a book published in Australia (might be sold here, idk), but I would say it is the best calculus book I have ever seen/used. The problems are very challenging at times, and plentiful. It covers all (US syllabus) pre calc and then covers calculus indepth all the way to first year uni work. A great book if you plan to continue maths in uni.

 

[babyblade91]

1. Coroneos << BEST BOOK OUTT... R.I.P Jim Coroneos
2. Success HSC
3. Maths In Focus
4. Fitzpatrick

 

[kurt.physics]

1. Coroneos << BEST BOOK OUTT... R.I.P Jim Coroneos
2. Success HSC
3. Maths In Focus
4. Fitzpatrick

OMG! I cannot believe you would even consider Maths in Focus to be a better text than Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick >>>> Maths In Focus

Also, Success HSC isnt really a text, more a study guide. Furthermore, Cambridge HAS to be somewhere on your list as it provides a wide range of questions both to develop a solid understanding of mathematics as well as questions to extend ones understanding of more difficult concepts in the text.

 

[Randomist]

Excel 4 Unit Step-By-Step.

Good book.

Also, Coroneos - everything.

 

[d3st1nyLiang]

which yr 11 maths book has chapter review tests?

 

[ninetypercent]

Jones and Couchman textbook has it.

 

[rawrawr]

IMO, Cambridge is the best textbook for higher tier students. Some of the 3 Unit questions in the exercises of Cambridge test the knowledge of students, and it make sures you understand the concepts of the exercise. If you can do it all, no exam can stump you.

 

[ninetypercent]

I like Fitzpatrick as well. The questions in there are really good and once you know how to do all the questions on a particular topic, you're guaranteed 85% + on an exam. I hate Understanding Year 12 Maths. I have it and I'm self teaching myself from it. It's so bad! Heaps of answers and explanations are wrong!

 

[iSplicer]

Cambridge and Fittzzzyyyy!

Also, Terry Lee is nice

 

[ninetypercent]

is it just me or does fitzpatrick has heaps of incorrect answers?