How did you save on textbooks? Ebooks or not? - Page 2

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  1. Jun 24, '12 by
    Honestly?

    I didn't even buy most of them. I found that I wouldn't even need to use the majority of them. I got just the core books (like the fundamentals, med surge texts, etc.) and any "workbooks" that had actual assignments in them that we had to complete and that's it.
  2. Jun 24, '12 by
    Whiles taking my per-req's I got my books from allibris.com and Craigslist. Craigslist was my fav, no shipping, I can just meet up and
    get my book. Supper cheap too. I start ADN this fall, I am buying from the school for the first semester, next year I would be well adjusted
    then I can find my books online...
  3. Jun 24, '12 by
    I bought all my books (about 10) on Amazon. I went with the one edition older except for the drug book and RNotes. I spent about $100 for all of them.
  4. Jun 24, '12 by
    CinDRnyc, I am at the Tucson campus, and the advisor here said to beware of used books because the codes may have already been used to access ebook or online content. You may not need all of your books everyday, so don't stress about taking 10 books until you know what you will need. Your program may be structured in a different way than mine (I'm doing trad. BSN), but mine has previous "course packs" that are old syllabi for prior cohorts at different campuses. Check the nursing website to see if you can get course packs from previous semesters to see if you can determine what you will need. I'm biting the bullet first semester and going all new, though possibly not all new from the school bookstore.
  5. Jun 24, '12 by
    As you can see from the varied answers, I really does depend on how your specific program/instructors work as well as your personal preferences. Thus far, I haven't needed to do any online assignments for my instructors and I've not found the online publisher material useful enough to be worth paying 70-90% more to get the access code. However, other programs, like CHESCCRP's you need it. Best to find out how things work at your school, but I'd check with both advisers AND current students. I got very different answers from instructors vs. students who have had those same instructors.
  6. Jun 24, '12 by
    I agree with the above poster, check your school. My books also did not have any online access codes. Some came with disks, so I just made sure that I purchased a book with the disk.
  7. Jun 24, '12 by
    thanks to all for replying!

    so there is chegg.com, amazon.com, ebay.com, barnes and noble , half.com , allibris.com, craigslist.com

    @indyelmer yes that makes me nervous because it really depends on the instructor, i've taken courses where the instructor required a certain edition and if you used any previous you were sol

    @rubato i'll keep that scheme in the back of my mind, great way to get back some $$$

    @triquee yeah that is my issue b/c i see 11 books and i'm like what the?? i know that some of them i either won't use or seldom use and that is frustrating to me. i am going to reach out to the block 1 faculty to find out exactly which books i must buy as a new edition and which ones can be bought as an old edition for reference.

    @chesccrp what school do you go to in tucson??? yes i have been told similar things and sometimes the instructor requires you to have the access code
    Last edit by CinDRnyc on Jun 24, '12 : Reason: i don't like typos
  8. Jun 24, '12 by
    I do like chegg, but our program is an integrated program, meaning we use most of our books for year one and year two - renting doesn't work for that. I've heard good things about international versions and, of course, buying used. Especially from students ahead of you!

    As far as expired access codes go, I've never encountered a problem with that. When I have needed a new code, the publisher has always offered the option to buy one separately for ~ $40.
    IndyElmer likes this.
  9. Jun 24, '12 by
    That is a lot of books. Similar to what they had listed for us for the first semester.

    The books that we had assigned that I never really used were a medical dictionary, lab values book, and a few others specifically for reference. Most of that information is easily obtainable online and is usually updated more frequently online. I checked out care plan books from the library until I had a solid foundation of what interventions to expect to perform for the most common diagnoses. By second year, most of us could write a detailed care plan without a lot of reference material. Additionally, Pearson and other publishers have older versions of care plan books online that you can reference if you need to - some of them even include care plan builders, where you can search nursing diagnoses and it will give you a listing of associated nursing outcomes and interventions.
    CinDRnyc likes this.
  10. Jun 24, '12 by
    i have never used ebooks, but i do use half.com.

    a couple of years ago when i was doing pre-reqs, i bought a chem book on half.com brand new for 25$, that included shipping.
    the bookstore wanted 129$ for it!