Hi, im entering Mcmaster for life sci this year... I want to ask if its better to buy used textbooks or new textbooks?... If i wanna buy new textbooks, is it better to buy it after the first class or before that?

I would always wait until the first class before buying a textbook just because you'll get an idea of how much the teacher wants you to buy it.

New/Used depends on you. Most of the time there won't be a new edition but sometimes there is and people prefer to get the newest editions.

However, the old editions still work fine and there are usually minimal changes. Most profs are also pretty accommodating in terms of providing page numbers from both new and old editions.

You're in Life Sci so I can give you some advice.
PSYCH 1X03/1XX3:There is an e-book but you will never need it. No questions were from the text.
CHEM 1A03/1AA3: Buy the book because that's where 90% of your practice questions will come from for tests/exam.
BIO 1M03/1A03: If you pay attention 100% in lectures, there is no need but you'll likely miss something or need to read it again so the textbooks are a good buy.
ECON 1B03/1BB3: (if you take them as electives) You don't need the textbooks at all because there are enough practice problems on assignments.
PHYSICS 1B03: DEFINITELY BUY. I learned everything from this book, nothing from the lectures.
MATH 1LS3: Good for practice questions, horrible for learning from. Up to you if you buy this one.

Buy used when you can. Go to the first couple classes before buying ANY textbooks. A lot of classes didn't really need texts even though they were listed as required.

Buy used, and if at all possible buy from an upper year. The marketplace here on Macinsiders is a great resource. Titles will gouge you even for used books (my used physics textbook in first year was still $120)..

That said, if you're resourceful enough, many textbooks float around on the internet in .pdf form.

And as others have said, sometimes you really don't need the textbook at all. I find many of my professors test from material almost exclusively from the lecture notes shown in class. While sometimes professors may pull questions from the textbooks to use on midterms, from my general experience textbooks don't seem important to *me*, but it might be different for you depending on your learning style.

I recommend buying used! Sometimes, you don't even end up using the textbook at ALL, and it's a terrible waste if you don't. Like, I never used my Chemistry one (when I probably should have. Scratch that, I should have. USE YOUR TEXTBOOKS. But anyway), and Psych, I just read half of it...

Originally Posted by UlteriorMtve

MATH 1LS3: Good for practice questions, horrible for learning from. Up to you if you buy this one.

Dr. Lovric re-wrote this textbook (I think it can be used for LS3 and LT3 now) and apparently he made it more of a "math" textbook (and it's hard cover!). So I'd definitely recommend buying it. The textbook we had last year for LS3 was awful.

EDIT: and I agree with the psych ebook...DO NOT BUY IT. I bought it first semester and never used it...not once. Biggest waste of money.