Extra books for HSC study (1 Viewer)

[c397]

Hi!

I have been seeing many HSC textbooks and the like being sold and I have no idea which ones are worth buying for extra study (HSC 2018). These include ATAR Notes topic tests and notes, Excel books, Cambridge Checkpoints etc.

These are my assigned books and subjects:
- Maths ext 1: Maths in Focus
- Business studies: Business Studies in Action
- Legal Studies: Cambridge Legal studies
- English adv: The Tempest, The Great Gatsby
- Biology: Biology in Focus and Dot Point Investigations

So, I was wondering:
1.What books did you get that were not required by your school?
2.Which would you recommend/buy again if you went back?
3.Are there any other books that may compliment my assigned list above?
4.Would it be worth buying the Cambridge Maths ext 1 textbook? (As I have seen many people write that it is superior to the Maths in Focus textbook)

Thank you and have a great Christmas!!!!

 

[ichila101]

Hi!

I have been seeing many HSC textbooks and the like being sold and I have no idea which ones are worth buying for extra study (HSC 2018). These include ATAR Notes topic tests and notes, Excel books, Cambridge Checkpoints etc.

These are my assigned books and subjects:
- Maths ext 1: Maths in Focus
- Business studies: Business Studies in Action
- Legal Studies: Cambridge Legal studies
- English adv: The Tempest, The Great Gatsby
- Biology: Biology in Focus and Dot Point Investigations

So, I was wondering:
1.What books did you get that were not required by your school?

The only book I got that wasn't at school were fitzpatrick books for math apart from that our school had a decent selection of books.

2.Which would you recommend/buy again if you went back?

I would have probably gone and gotten the cambridge math book if I had the chance apart from that nothing else

3.Are there any other books that may compliment my assigned list above?
4.Would it be worth buying the Cambridge Maths ext 1 textbook? (As I have seen many people write that it is superior to the Maths in Focus textbook)

For math ext a good idea would be to either pick up a fitzpatrick or cambridge book (preferrably cambridge) because math in focus will not prepare you for the HSC.Business in action is a great book there is no need for change in that, not too sure about cambridge legal studies since I havent done that. English adv is really dependent on whatever your prescribed texts are so if tempest and great gatsby are your prescribed texts then use those and of course those would just be complimented by simple online research of the books in terms of context, themes, etc. Biology in focus is a good book as well not too sure about dot point investigations but pearson biology was pretty decent as well.

For math ext, the reason why cambridge is often viewed as the more superior book is because of its range and level of questions (many with a level of difficulty higher than the HSC), and this would be really beneficial. Math in focus also just gives a pretty basic understanding of the concepts you need to learn compared to say cambridge and fritzpatrick. So in terms of difficulty of questions it would be cambridge>fritzpatrick>MiF and in terms of easiness to learn or understand it would be Mif=fritzpatrick>cambridge.

Might I add to not overload yourself with just books and not make full use of them. Also picking up an updated book of excel success one for each of your subjects will be a great idea (and I think odlum & garner solutions were just as good but I am not sure if that was the right book ill have to check again)

 

[confusedandamused]

1. For biology, I got Heinemann. It was pretty good but... go down to point 2
2. Doing past papers is definitely more worth than buying textbooks (depending on the subject). As long as you have sufficient notes, you don't need many textbooks other than the ones provided by the school.
3. Instead of textbooks, look for notes made by students that have achieved good marks. These are often much more helpful and concise.
4. Cambridge is definitely better than MIF.

 

[horse9996]

Cambridge maths is superior, it combines concepts in one auestion and really extends your knowledge and challenges you through harder application questions (recommend for 3 and 4u students). I like the atar notes books as well, particularly chemistry (assuming bio is similar)

 

[supR]

Maths -
Maths in Focus is a textbook that is not recommended by a lot of people as the questions are too segregated and do not prepare you well for exams. Additionally the explanations are quite lacklustre.
I Would recommend Cambridge and Fitzpatrick as these are more detailed and combine concepts well!

I do not have any recommendations for your other subjects, and Adv Eng doesn't really have a textbook per say

Best of luck