Can anyone whose recently taken the course shed some light on how important is it to buy the textbook and courseware?

Originally Posted by ShockValue

Can anyone whose recently taken the course shed some light on how important is it to buy the textbook and courseware?

Textbook: It was very important, at least to me. I used it to create my own notes because I found the skeleton notes the professor provided, even after filling those out, I was still missing a lot of information.

Courseware: I believe this isn't optional as you need it for the labs.

I believe you need the courseweare for assignments. Depending on how easy you get geography, I wouldn't get the textbook unless you struggle through it. I bought it and didn't use it

Did you guys have Peace as your prof?

He's been ok so far. His lectures do seem pretty thorough and informative although I'm just basing this on a couple of lectures I've attended so far. That's why I'm a bit skeptical on buying the textbook.

I had Mercier so not sure if that is too much different since I have never had Peace...

you need the courseware for the tutorial. textbook is optional, could be useful for some of the assignments, but it pretty much contains info a google search can provide

Pretty sure courseware is required.

I had Mercier so I can't comment on Peace but I know for a fact that part of the midterm and final questions were from the book and not lecture.

There are some written questions on the midterm and exam that are strictly based on the textbook.

Peace even gives you the page numbers of the stuff which is testable but not covered in lecture.