CUSTOM PACKAGE OF WORLDS TOGETHERS, WORLDS APART
If you have taken the course, did you use the books? Which books should I buy?</p>
<p>Lavelle’s Chem 14A requires the textbook and model kit. I heard from a lot of people that they didn’t use the textbook at all because of his course reader, but the course reader isn’t appearing on the UCLA book store…so I’m not sure what to think. I’m not sure if it’s just a glitch or if he dropped the course reader and if I should buy the textbook and model kit. If I don’t buy the textbook, would you recommend buying the model kit? My chem knowledge is really limited because I didn’t take the AP class and I haven’t taken chem since sophomore year in high school…</p>
<p>Thanks ahead! And sorry for that big long block of text; I just wanted to be clear.</p>
<p>Regarding course readers, chemistry instructors very often have their readers printed off-campus in a store in Westwood. As a result, it doesn’t show up as a textbook, but the instructor usually instructs students to walk down to the store to purchase it. It should also be in the syllabus if there is a course reader to get.</p>
<p>As a fourth-year in chemistry, I have very very rarely used my model kits (or textbooks, actually). If you have good spatial function in your brain, you don’t need a model kit. Some professors allow you to bring a model to exams, but again I never did, and rarely did people bring them… except for the uptight premeds I guess.</p>
<p>I’ve wasted so much money buying textbooks (just to be safe) and then never touching them afterwards (I have a lot of reselling to do). Ask around, go on BruinWalk, check the syllabus, see if the textbook is needed at all. From my experience typically the emphasis is on lecture and the textbook is a supplement that you can read for additional information (more detailed than you might need) or is used for quizzes (i.e. in LS1 that you take online), but this varies from class to class so this is something you’ll have to determine.</p>
<p>A lot of times textbooks will be at Powell for you to check out on course reserve as well, so even if you do have homework assigned from them (like for LS4) you can just do it at Powell without buying the books. I would check that (and check with the prof if the book will be used for homework problems) before actually buying the book. </p>
<p>For GE’s, I would either see if they’re in the library, see if they’re in the public library off Wilshire/Glendon, get them used on Amazon, or try to find someone in your class who is willing to share. Most of the time you’ll only be reading sections of these books. Sometimes profs will have a specific translation in mind, otherwise you’re probably fine. For something like the Odyssey that’s in the public domain you could probably even get away with finding the text online, as long as you don’t mind having a different translation.</p>