going into life sci, anyone know if the chem and bio textbooks from last year will be the same this year?

Originally Posted by Eric Wong

going into life sci, anyone know if the chem and bio textbooks from last year will be the same this year?

No one knows for sure until the professor sends the book list to titles.

okay, so i wouldnt be wise if i decided to grab my textbooks now eh? do you by any chance know when the prof sends this list?

Originally Posted by Eric Wong

okay, so i wouldnt be wise if i decided to grab my textbooks now eh? do you by any chance know when the prof sends this list?

There's a good chance that the textbooks will be the same, but there's also a chance that it could change. It's up to you. You could also just use older textbooks. It depends on how you learn and study. Some students don't even buy textbooks.

No, I don't know when they do. But the book list should be ready by like August.

The textbook list comes out sometime in the middle of August, there's no way to know what editions will be used for sure before then.
Edit: Since the editions were just changed this past year, they will probably be the same next year, but you can't know for sure till later. Also, consider buying older editions, they're much cheaper and there's usually little change from the edition before then! Don't get me wrong, I always thought i don't want to be at a disadvantage and I should get the latest one just to be "safe," however a lot of the times, the profs provide you with pages from the last 2 editions depending on the course. So you'll be able to decide on what edition after the first couple of days of school.

I doubt the chem one will be changed because the 10th edition just came out last year.

However, like everyone said, you can't be certain until August or whenever the prof decides.

it most likely will be the same because the textbooks we had for chem and bio for fall/winter 2010-2011 were brand new as in they came out last year so there wouldn't be any major chances in the ones that come this year. so im certain u can use the last year textbooks. some people used even older books to pass the courses!! on a side note, u can purchase the same books from upper year students (look on macinsiders) not necessarily titles.

You can email the profs, they'd let you know. I've done this twice and i've gotten responses.

Introductory textbooks' content doesn't change significantly enough for it to matter what version of a textbook you get.. very rarely does the way the book is arranged to cover specific topics for a course actually impact you if you go with some random university (i.e chem) book on a subject.

Also, books are usually your second biggest purchase category after tuition if you get everything