A&P book question

[ibucki]

I am just starting my pre-reqs for what will become a major career change into nursing.

I will be attending Hillsborough Community College in Tampa, FL and am taking my A&P I course this semester. I am wondering if anyone could please tell me how important it is to have the EXACT lab manual for classes. I have found the previous edition (less than a year old) for about $90 cheaper than the "NEW" version.

Obviously, I don't want to drop $120 on a book when a $30 book will suffice.

Any help would be a appreciated.

Thanks,

Matt

[BellasMommyOBRN]

hopefully someone from that specific school can help but, i knew some classmates of mine that had gotten an older version of their lab manuals. it worked just fine for them. we used the marieb book.

good luck

[ibucki]

Thanks for the reply.

I'll go ahead and pick up the book then...Hope it works.

[SFChef]

Be careful...sometimes an older version of a lab manual will work, but often times it will not. It will mostly depend on whether or not your instructor will let you use it. When they change the edition, they often change a couple of lab experiments (so you might have to photocopy someone else's book for a few experiments). I have had teachers who would not accept photocopied lab pages.

I know it will save you a lot of money (and often this is fine to do regarding the basic textbooks), but it will really depend on the teacher--isn't there any way you can email them and ask if the old version will work?

[AtomicWoman]

Email the prof. I was in this situation in microbiology (regarding the text, not the lab manual.) I emailed my prof and he wrote back, "Save your money! The old one will do just fine." My guess is that you'll be fine, but you never know, maybe they made a lot of changes in the new edition. So contact your professor.

[polka-dot, RN]

I was very disappointed to find out AFTER I'd bought the lab manual that I really didn't need it. Most of our lab time was spent learning stuff (bones, msucles, histology slides, etc...) and we didn't "do" the labs. The only time we did a few of the labs they were available online as part of the support resources that automatically come with the book. I spent $100 on the lab manual and NEVER used it.

I do agree with the AtomicWoman, though...check with the proff. If she wants you to turn in specific labs, then you may need the manual...but then also check to see if they are online as well.

Good luck!

[medgirlRN]

I used to buy the older version of the book for most all my classes to save money. But, also ask the instructor. It's really up to the instructor whether you can or can't use the new edition or previous because there may be huge or little differences. Many time the differences are minimal and you can always ask a classmate with the new version to copy information missing from your older version.

[baldee]

Our CC had a A&P I lab manual specifically made up. So that was the ONLY book I bought from campus bookstore last semester for about $55. Thank goodness for A&P II lab manual being on line. Guess how many books I got from campus bookstore this semester?

[benegesserit]

If you tell us the title of the manual, we may be able to provide better feedback.

I used older editions of the lab manual for Anatomy and Microbiology with no problem. For the most part, there was very minimal change between the editions. With the Anatomy manual, most of the changes were organizational, meaning that I had to pay attention and make sure I was using the correct section when page numbers didn't correspond. And, as others have said, it does depend on the teacher.

My view on buying used books: If I buy most/all of my books used at a much lower price, and end up having to buy the current edition of a book or two because the older version won't suffice, it's still an overall savings, even if I end up spending a little more on that particular book.