Excel Guides (2 Viewers)

[Claudeski]

Hey everyone, I've heard about how excel guides aren't very good, but I was wondering why that is. I've got some of them but am wondering if its a good idea to keep using them if the books method isn't great or switch to better ones if I'm missing out or getting too much information on something.
Thanks

 

[chltmddus112]

Excel guides arent that good compared to other ones (lyk Macquarie) cuz its to much similar to the actual text book. However, i find the new version of Excel books quite useful

 

[Sarah182]

My new Excel guide for chemistry is very useful I've found.
I have the old Biology one and that is very poor compared to the new ones.

 

[clearnote]

How do you differentiate between the new and old ones? My mom bought me one for ext 2 math, have yet to open it =X

looks daunting and I've already got a whole heap of math books.

 

[ajdlinux]

The new ones aren't yet available for 3U/4U Maths, I believe.

The way to differentiate: well, the new ones look very modern, and they probably have 'New Edition' printed on the front somewhere...

 

[Claudeski]

Hmm ok thanks... think they'll bring out the newer editions for other subjects any time soon?

 

[ajdlinux]

Well, I'd expect books for 3/4U Maths and the other smaller subjects to come out probably next year or something like that, which might be a bit late for us So far I've seen new books for the sciences, 2U/General Maths, and a few others, but not much else has been done yet.

What I'm really waiting for is English books for Belonging, which I'd hope they release either this year or early next year.

 

[Sarah182]

The new ones look very different from the old ones, they are a kinda sparkly light blue colour and yellow, they say like "new format" and stuff on the front.

My Chem one is bigger than my chem textbook :S

 

[ajdlinux]

With Excel, the reason why I believe it's crap in comparison to other books is the depth of which they deal the subject in. Excel is essentially a study guide for students who like to cram and is therefore not considered a very good 'core' textbook to be using. Their explanations are very brief and do not go into great detail. You are better off in cases like Science and Social Science to stick with books which specialise in that are than using Excel and in the case of English, don't even touch their study guides. Teachers ftw.

Well, I thought the point was to use them as a supplement to your main textbook, right?

 

[Claudeski]

Well, I'd expect books for 3/4U Maths and the other smaller subjects to come out probably next year or something like that, which might be a bit late for us So far I've seen new books for the sciences, 2U/General Maths, and a few others, but not much else has been done yet.

What I'm really waiting for is English books for Belonging, which I'd hope they release either this year or early next year.

Yeah same for the belonging books... they're the ones i'm definitely looking out for.

Hmm so if I use them as a supplement to my core textbook they should work pretty well i guess.

 

[benn07]

I find them pretty good, but only for revision. Oh, except for maths, it was very very very very useful throughout because it explained the things in terms i could understand!

 

[foram]

Excel Physics is the only good one. The chemistry one is bad.
The math ones are only useful to have because of their worked solutions.

 

[the-derivative]

Excel - good if you supplement it with your main text book.
Maths and Physics Excel is ok, Business Studies is rubbish. That's all I know so far.

 

[Aerath]

Legal Studies Excel, believe it or not, is the best textbook for Legal Studies, in my opinion.

 

[ajdlinux]

Prelim or HSC? Your sig seems to indicate you don't do Legal, at least not now.

(OT: Legal is the only subject I've had so far where the HSC textbook is thinner than the Prelim textbook.)

 

[Nebuchanezzar]

My new Excel guide for chemistry is very useful I've found.
I have the old Biology one and that is very poor compared to the new ones.

Old Chemistry Excel book is an absolute dog, I've found. Terrible. I use my own notes instead of Excel for the most part when tutoring.

 

[Claudeski]

I've heard the economics one is really bad? Unfortunately thats the one I've got

 

[lucyG]

I really really want the new Excel Guides for Extension Maths! I've got the new Biology, Physics and Mathematics (Adv.) Excel Guides and the format makes it really easy to read- like a novel. For me, it doesn't make study as much of a drag as it used to be. However, they're only study guides and I found that it doesn't go into alot of detail. Which is fine, I just use them as an addition to my core textbooks.

Oh, btw the new English Area of Study Excel Guides are coming out soon- between January and April next year.

Titles in the series:

As You Like It (end Jan. 2009)Rainbow's End (end Feb. 2009)Immigrant Chronicle (end Jan. 2009)Great Expectations (Mar. 2009)The Crucible (end Jan. 2009)Heat and Dust (Mar. 2009)The Joy Luck Club (end Jan. 2009)Selected Poems of Emily Dickinson (Mar. 2009)Romulus, My Father (end Jan. 2009)Swallow the Air (Mar. 2009)Strictly Ballroom (end Jan. 2009)The Simple Gift (Apr. 2009)Ten Canoes (end Feb. 2009)The Namesake (Apr. 2009)

Each title has:
- All sections of Paper 1 covered
- A detailed analysis of Belonging for an HSC Prescribed text and 2 Related texts.

 

[Satiric]

Excel is really good for quick reference and revision.
Cant use it for core study though.
the new excels are extremely useful except i liked the study cards in the older ones..even though i never used them much :S

 

[Dan2008]

Hey! Hope you haven't gone and bought excel guides yet because Macquarie eat them for breakfast! I wouldn't even use them to "quickly revise" because they're way too brief, and as an additional book to make notes, you'd be better picking up another proper textbook!

For 2unit maths, the questions and egs are really simple, but it does work good as a base. For economics, excel is really poor while the Macquarie guide is gold!!

My tip, 2-3 real textbooks per subject, plus Macquarie

If you need any more advice just pm me!