How did you save on textbooks? Ebooks or not?

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kristin6727

43 Posts

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.

CHESCCRP

71 Posts

Specializes in Cardiac intermediate care.

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.

IndyElmer

282 Posts

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.

kristin6727

43 Posts

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.

CinDRnyc

227 Posts

thanks to all for replying! :hug:

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

Stephalump

2,723 Posts

Specializes in Forensic Psych.

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.

Specializes in ICU.

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.

Specializes in Nursing Assistant.

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!

IndyElmer

282 Posts

I just realized that the OP doesn't have textbooks.com in the list of vendor options. I was able to get a current edition, good condition, used text for *one dollar* from one of their "marketplace" vendors (an Indianapolis Goodwill operation). The total cost, with shipping, was $5! When you do a search, it will offer you up textbook.com's offerings for both new and used but then there are also "marketplace vendor" options (similar to how Amazon has their new & used options that include 3rd party sellers).

Granted, most priced on textbooks.com are similar to any other vendor, but I've gotten a few really good deals there so it's worth a look too.

Specializes in Geriatrics, Home Health.

I bought, and sold, 90% of my schoolbooks used on amazon.com. As soon as the books were avilable at the school bookstore, I took down titles and ISBN numbers, then bought them on amazon.com.

I would recommend waiting until you get the syllabus before buying the books. A few books on my program's book list were used rarely, and 1 or 2 weren't used at all.

moabgirlie

9 Posts

So I am about to start an LPN program that goes from Fall 2012 - Spring 2013, then immediately bridges to RN Summer 2013 - Fall 2013. The following info is what I did for the LPN portion.

I waited for the school to email our booklist (it even included the new/used prices from their bookstore), then started searching Amazon. I am too OCD to use an old book, I need to know that the chapter I am told to read matches the information intended (although most books don't change THAT much, our Patho book changed drastically!)

On Amazon I was able to qualify for their in store 0% interest for 12 months... I got books for my 1st and 2nd semesters for ~$500; 12 books total, all have the access codes and cd's in them. On Amazon most of my books qualified for free shipping, and the new books were only $10ish more than a used book (nothing worse than buying a book from someone who thought EVERY word needed highlighting!)

I also occasionally sift through books at local 'thrift stores' and was able to find a Nursing Care Plan and Documentation book that is only one edition older for $1. With something that I will want for my own reference for writing care plans (and maybe want more than 1 book) I figured I can combine this with any others I may purchase or borrow!

KMtoRN

28 Posts

I always recommend bigwords.com. Its kind of like Google for textbooks. It will search all of the sites mentioned and more for the best price on your books. I've always had really good results with it. I actually just got my Med/Surg book brand new for less than what I would have paid for a used one thanks to bigwords.

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