Are Excel Books any good? (1 Viewer)

[Schniz]

i bought all the study in a month books for my subjects and my tutor then told me that they are pretty useless as they dont fully cover the syllabus with the correct amount of detail for certain areas. i also have a few of the study guides. am wondering if i should attempt to take the SIAM books bak or jus get others and use them both. i was thinkiing maybe the maquarie revision guides and the success one books. any suggestions?
thanks.


btw the subjects i got em 4 r: phys, chem, maths, 3u maths, information processing technology

 

[shinji]

umm, the maths excel books are good, but that's basically it. excel books are pretty vague and they don't provide enough detail at times (except for the maths ones)

i got the SIAM one for maths ... doesn't look tooo great. onli great for cramming.

sooo, i would probably have took the SIAM book back and then got a macquarie, jacaranda (if possible) or any other ones.
and it also depends on what subject you got it for.

 

[pLuvia]

Macquarie is good for the science subjects, excel I guess for maths. Those revise in a month book aren't very good

 

[hopeles5ly]

i bought all the study in a month books for my subjects and my tutor then told me that they are pretty useless as they dont fully cover the syllabus with the correct amount of detail for certain areas. i also have a few of the study guides. am wondering if i should attempt to take the SIAM books bak or jus get others and use them both. i was thinkiing maybe the maquarie revision guides and the success one books. any suggestions?
thanks.

Those revise in a month books are only good if you want to cram.

 

[jeffreylah]

Try and get the Edassist study packs, or the Top Notes books. Some are pretty good.
Excel is good for maths, Macmillan (Maquarie) is good for Science or subjects that are more essay type, like Legal.

 

["Chubby"]

I thought that both excel and macquarie were good until my friend's eco teacher told her that unless u want to get 60% in ur hsc then use excel. That's when i had a more in depth look into it. I think that excel is based on the whole syllabus and macquarie is only revision(obviously in the name). I use both (i tend to borrow from the library). I also agree that the top book notes are better books for ur core text in english then the excel. Success one are excellent to use for exam prep. I think the excel books are attractive to people because it has those study cards.

 

[shoxgeneration]

the english study guides are real good - spesh the Emma/Clueless one - OMG! But yeah, maths - not so indepth. It depends what it's for really. Teachers love Cambridge for Maths - but i feel its so indepth it kinda scares me cos half the stuff i've never learnt? =/ so i get confused.

 

[xtol]

Try and get the Edassist study packs, or the Top Notes books. Some are pretty good.
Excel is good for maths, Macmillan (Maquarie) is good for Science or subjects that are more essay type, like Legal.

i agree with this guy. i bought the excel range for all my subjects, but i knew they were only brief notes sort of thing. i use them mainly for like cramming cos they do an alright kind of summary of topics.

i wouldnt advise getting a particular text book for english however. you're better off getting individual study guides such as "top notes" or "get smart" brands for different modules. those study guides save lives. seriously. ahah.

also, i bought the macquarie range for legal studies and business studies. they have proven to be rather handy, esp for legal. ahaha like jeffreylah said the "essay" type subjects.

if you do economics, i would also advise the "leading edge 2006 edition" textbooks. its rather expensive but its very very good. like easy to follow, the setting is great and if ur not worried about cash, the workbook is also very handy for self revision.

well goodluck.

OH BTW. if anyone is interested in MACQUARIE TEXTBOOKS. check out the UTS study guide day thing on this website somewhere. apparently at UTS on saturday (thats tomorrow, the 22nd of April) theres a study guide/textbook sale, where the prices are slightly cheaper. ahah

rock on.

 

[hopeles5ly]

the english study guides are real good - spesh the Emma/Clueless one - OMG! But yeah, maths - not so indepth. It depends what it's for really. Teachers love Cambridge for Maths - but i feel its so indepth it kinda scares me cos half the stuff i've never learnt? =/ so i get confused.

The excel study guides for english are good, but i suggest you just use them for reference or to expand on your ideas, because a lot of students would be regurgitating the same thing.

OH BTW. if anyone is interested in MACQUARIE TEXTBOOKS. check out the UTS study guide day thing on this website somewhere. apparently at UTS on saturday (thats tomorrow, the 22nd of April) theres a study guide/textbook sale, where the prices are slightly cheaper. ahah

It's not the 22nd April, it's the 29th which is next saturday

 

[xtol]

It's not the 22nd April, it's the 29th which is next saturday

LOL. my bad. my friend told me. ahaha. sorry folks.

 

[Riviet]

The SIAM books are for the purpose of what the title implies. Therefore, they are incredibly brief and are less than sufficient in terms of content. It is definitely worth getting a refund from those books, and spend the money on genuine study guides that are designed to aid you over the year, not over the last month before the HSC.

 

[aetvl]

i would steer well clear from excel english guides ... they just scream *below average! below average!* ... confidently assume the desperate many in your grade seek comfort in those books ... you may think you're taking initiative by perusing through them but rest assure you wont be differentiated from those who do the very same the night before. rely on your own intiative for eng ... get critical responses and work from there.

 

[passion89]

^ I agree. Excel guides are definately not what top students would rely on. Get yourself a comprehensive and detailed textbook/revision book. This would help with your understanding in the long run.