Published
I think that depends on your learning style and studying methods. I usually buy my books new because I like highlighting in my textbooks and am very type A about the condition of my books. If you don't care much about that, I would buy used. I've bought a lot of used books in my pre-reqs and have never had a problem with them. Amazon has an especially strict policy on used textbooks, in my opinion. I tried to sell back a paperback text through Amazon (not individual Amazon sellers) but they wouldn't take it because the corner of the cover was slightly folded over, so I would suggest buying there. Plus, it's usually cheaper.
You should consider the publication date of the used books. My NSG instructors required our class to cite all materials we turned in and our books had to be 5 yrs or less old unless they specifically allowed a certain book or material to be used. That means if we bought used books and the publication date was greater than 5 years old we could not cite the material in that book.
You should also consider you projected graduation date, you may not want to buy any used books that will be more than 5 yrs old upon graduation.
Good luck and congratulations
Cortney2013
98 Posts
I was very fortunate and received my letter of acceptance to my local community college. I haven't been to orientation yet so I am still very unsure of what all I am going to need but I was looking up classes and books and I was wondering if you guys suggest buying used books or should I just go ahead and spend the extra money for new books? I usually get used books but was wondering with all the use the program books are going to get should I buy new ones??