Save money on textbooks by shopping online

finding cheap textbooks is often more of an art rather than a science, there are many tricks to do this, you can buy books directly from students who took the course during the last semester, or you can agree to share a textbook with a friend who will be taking the course with you. (University libraries will often allow you to borrow any textbook from the library of another university, and this is a great way to get free textbooks!) But the best way to get cheap textbooks still remains shopping online, doing your research and buying your books early (often before the start of the semester if you are looking to get the best deals).

When it comes to going online to buy your books, there are many online bookstores that sell new and used books, and often they compete with each other to have the lowest price, additionally many of these stores allow individuals to sell their used books for any price, so you are likely to see a large price difference on almost every book when looking at different sites. In order to find the best prices you have a few options, you can go to each online bookstore manually, and compare prices by hand, or you can use a textbook price comparison service that will compare prices at the largest bookstores on the web and will give you the best price on any book.

When it comes to timing and buying your books early, there are a few reasons for this, the first is b/c shipping takes time, and you want to have your books as early as possible to do the work. But the bigger reason (at least when it comes to the price question) is b/c you are not the only student looking for cheap textbooks and the cheapest books are typically gone very early in the semester.

Anyway, these are just a few thoughts I had about finding cheap textbooks, if you know of any other tricks to getting a deal on books that I did not discuss please mention it as a comment below.

In an effort to escape from the ever present bad news that seems to be the cornerstone of our current civilization I have spent much time recently watching old movies, and reading good books.

The desire that I feel to escape to a “happier time” is understandable, after all, we are living in an unstable world, where no one knows what the next shoe that will drop will be. Oddly enough, instead of turning to fantasy or other such genres I find greater comfort in books that mimic reality, reading about the extremes of what could be possible, but thankfully what has not yet occurred.

One such book is “Death Wave” by Stephen Kahn. This book provides an excellent analysis into much of what is currently happening in our world – in terms of the financial crisis.

From the book cover:

“In the midst of a financial crisis one man must save the world with the aid of a maniacal serial killer, his dead hamster, and a homeless bum named “Troll”.

Stewart is a young man trying to keep it together during the worst financial crisis since the great depression. The corrupt politics and corporate scandals…”

If you want to read more about this book, or listen to free excerpts from the audio book, please go to http://www.kafilmworks.com/deathwave/contents

Our society is one that has elevated literacy as a human good, and has, as a consequence of this elevated books.  We all have bookshelves filled with volumes of hard cover books, some of these we have read, but many (either given to us as a gift, or bought by us in a fit of passion and desire to change ourselves) will stand there for years collecting dust without having a broken spine; indeed, we often collect books as a sign of our intellectual prowess.  What amazes me is that in our world- where abbreviations are steadily replacing many words, we still value the spoken word as an “end in itself”, so much so that we judge developing countries on the literacy rate of their population.  The HDI (human development index), an annual report that rates countries from most, to least developed, looking at nations’ standards of living, mentions the issue of literacy as a key indicator of a States’ development.

Talking about the cost of books, this too has changed, from the days where all books were affordable, to today, where the cost of some books (almost anything printed 50 years ago or more) has shrunk virtually to $0, with e-books being freely available online, to the costs of others skyrocketing to a point where one is almost required to take out a second mortgage to afford a few textbooks (this may sound funny, but I kid you not, the cost of many accounting or business textbooks is upwards of $200, and students are required to purchase 4-5 of these books a semester!)

It is my hope that with the increased use of technology, e-books and other media, such as We Compare Books, book prices will again shrink as publishers realize the un-sustainability of such increases and figure out other ways to profit from our addiction to books (perhaps using product placement in examples, If Jimmy buys a bottle of Coke for $… and a bottle of Pepsi costs…, but here I am of course joking).

Paths to a Green World: The Political Economy of the Global Environment by Jennifer Clapp and Peter Dauvergne is a book written, to shed light on the ongoing debate about the relationship between environmental issues and political economy.  Too many times, say authors Jennifer Clapp and Peter Dauvergne, is the big picture completely bypassed in order to delve into the details surrounding and permeating environmentalism.  By putting things into perspective using political and economic theories, one can illuminate the socioeconomic causes and consequences of environmental change.  This also helps to avoid any emotional or moral entanglements which many times accompany analyses of environmental issues.

In order to look at the socioeconomic factors behind environmental policy, Clapp and Dauvergne address four main camps involved in environmental change: market liberals, institutionalists, bioenvironmentalists and social greens.  These categories are intentionally multi-disciplinary so as to not be too focused on one portion of the issue.  By taking a wide swath of the areas which environmental issues touch, one can see the big picture instead of getting caught up in the details of one discipline.  It also lets one focus on the international and government levels, especially how globalization and the type of political economic system employed in a state affect environmental issues, challenges and outcomes.

Using these four groups, the authors take a critical look at various elements within today’s political economy, including globalization, trade, international and domestic markets, distribution of wealth, poverty, health issues, and so forth.  Each view takes a different stance on the issues.  For example, market liberals view globalization, trade agreements and free markets as good things which will eventually work to stabilize economies and give incentive to businesses and consumers to switch to sustainable practices and products.  Bioenvironmentalists, on the other hand, have a negative view of today’s free market economies, globalization and trade agreements which lead to over-consumption and over-population beyond the capacity of the planet.

I agree with many of the sentiments contained within the above reviews.  It is a very balanced book; it does not give priority to one viewpoint over another, giving each equal representation on all topics discussed.  The four viewpoints in themselves were also very helpful in making sense of the environmental debate.  The book did exactly what it promised to do: it took a “big-picture” look at the debate and issues without getting impeded by details or moral sentiment.  By taking an objective view on the different stances I was able to more fully understand the various groups involved in the debate, what they actually believe and why they believe it.  It is also very thorough, discussing the multitude of issues involved, including everything from the WTO and NAFTA to different industries (mining, oil, timber, etc.) to environmental NGOs such as Greenpeace and the World Wildlife Fund as they relate to the issues at hand and the four viewpoints at work.

The lessons taken from the book can be applied to the huge number of different issues, problems and cases in the environmental world, and in that it is an invaluable resource for anyone studying environmentalism, sustainable development or political economy.  It is also helpful in bringing light to different arguments concerning sustainable development and creating a dialogue which will hopefully aid in developing actual policy prescriptions to the various problems we face.

Get the best deal on, “Paths to a Green World: The Political Economy of the Global Environment” and save money by clicking Here

William is a foreign affairs professional, specializing in foreign policy analysis, U.S. politics, writing, client relations, and communications. His research background and interests include Chinese foreign & security policy, U.S. national security policy, U.S.-Chinese Relations, defense issues, governance, and South Asia.
If you wish to contact William, please leave a comment and we will forward your thoughts to him.

Max Brooks’s book, World War Z is an excellent read for all of you zombie lovers out there. The book portrays (is about) humanity’s struggle against a zombie plague ( -virus) that brings mankind to the brink of annihilation and back again. Max Brooks does an extraordinary job of framing humanity’s fragility, limitations, resourcefulness and greatness in his oral history of civilizations fight for survival against overwhelming odds. His unique narrative style provides a wonderful individualistic perspective on how the Zombie War impacted different parts of the world culturally and in a religious sense.

The chronicle of the Zombie War in World War Z takes you from New Dachang in the United Federation of China, where the epidemiological trail began with the twelve year old patient zero, to floating cities of refugees that dotted the world’s oceans, to the initial feeble attempts by the major world powers to combat the rising and walking dead, to the development of the Redeker Plan that offered humanities best hope for survival, to the west-of-the-Rockies redoubt that helped turned the tide in North America and paved way for plausible recovery.

Max Brooks’s portrayal of what happens to the different governments and societies around the world as they struggle to overcome the zombie plague outbreak highlights the strengths and weaknesses of nation’s global health systems across the globe.

In addition to being an excellent story about zombies, the book World War Z has been taken a step further by Brooks and can be utilized by global health policy planners as an excellent scenario of how a pandemic might impact the different nations of the world and the types of policy solutions/actions that would be needed to contain such a pandemic. From a global health standpoint the book also highlights the current strengths and weaknesses in emergency response faced by many governments across the globe in handling health emergency such as a global pandemic. The incorporation of workable policy solutions (e.g. Redeker Plan and U.S Reconstruction Plan) that could be realistically used today to contain a pandemic makes the story that more practical and connects the reader to the plausibility of the events that take place.
Have you read this book? What did you think about it? Please submit your thoughts as a comment.

Political cartoon

This is a guest post written by, Daniel Nanavati

Daniel Nanavati is a writer living in Cornwall UK. His non-fiction work ‘A Brief History Of Lies’, published by Footsteps Press, is available on We Compare Books for the lowest possible price. ISBN 1449963277. A UK and European edition will be available at the end of May.

The skill of lying starts in most people by the time they are four, in a few of us by the time we are three, years old. The lies, and sometimes our ability in telling them, develops over childhood. Along with putting on ‘the face’ and their complexity. Psychologists call this ‘Machiavellian Intelligence’ and describe it as the ability in us to hold a world view, alter it to suit our agenda, hold in our minds the world view of others and skilfully sell them the altered world view. That takes a good deal of brain power.
The pre frontal cortex where all this carries on according to the rudimentary but interesting findings of a 2005 study, is also known to be the area of the brain that deals with ethical behaviour. So nature has given us an inbuilt bridle, if we choose to use it. The study was fascinating in showing that this area of the brain in psychological liars and autistic children were almost mirror images of each other. They chose autistic children because it is well known that they find it very hard to tell a lie even when told what to say.
The fact that we all ‘learn’ to lie but may all have different expertise in the area because of our brain tissue is a very new idea. It doesn’t do away with the ancient ideas of there being some acceptable lies (to help other people) but it does open up new areas for considerable human rights discussion. How far does this brain tissue matrix in the pre frontal cortex ‘help’ us lie? This has implications for the legal system, employment law and security agencies to name a few. I am sure right now if someone told you they wanted you to have an MRI scan to gauge your ‘likely ability to lie’ before they would employ you, you would hit the roof. But that day may be coming.
And when you think we use lies in every walk of life; that we live in a society where we expect to be lied to by politicians and lovers, business interests and journalists (in fact the very places we should demand only the truth) you may also to some extent welcome new advances and new knowledge.
But just to have a heightened ability to lie doesn’t mean we use it. 4% of us are practised liars according to the studies. The rest of us are habituated to the occasional lie, the social nicety, the self-deceit that gets us through the day. The truth isn’t so much out there, but in there somewhere!

Conversations by Joseph Twelves

A Problem Far Too Common
Conversations by Joseph Twelves

In middle school, you’re asked what do you want “to be when you grow up”. In high school, you meet with guidance counselors and take aptitude tests to try to figure out the “right fit” for you. In college, you are switching majors left and right trying to figure out what to get your degree in. And too often, you will find yourself stuck in a job that you hate just to pay the bills… purely a means to an end.
These are the scenarios that are far too common when, believe it or not, it IS possible to decide on a career and have it be the right match. The odds of ever working in your dream job are truly slim if you simply drift into whatever comes along. On the other hand, the odds of winding up doing exactly what you want approaches 100% if you combine a proven career decision method with the simple steps needed to find your passion.
Here are the three key tools found in Conversations: Find Your Niche! that can help:
1) A demonstrated research and decision-making procedure called the Find Your Niche Roadmap
2) Focused, in-depth interviews with 150 working professionals from the full spectrum of career fields about the nature of their jobs all in a fun, conversational format
3) Six special appendices offering you an invaluable collection of critical career information and hard to find resources that will save you months of research
This is the key information you need to understand the career landscape and make an informed decision. The vicious cycle of being unhappy in your job, not knowing what to do, but having to provide for yourself and your family is not a pleasant one. The key is to either prevent this from happening, or if you are already in this position, stop it now!
Join the conversation, find even more resources to help you on your journey, and make this problem far less common.

How can an ISBN be of use to someone searching for books? Well since it uniquely identifies a book (or an edition of a book), it makes searching for one a lot easier. A vast majority of libraries reference books by their ISBN so if you are searching locally for a book, you can, for example, call all used books bookstores of your area and ask if they have that ISBN in stock. Using online search engines, entering the ISBN instead of the title or author really speeds up the search.

For reference:

• ISBN at wikipedia
• Searching for a particular ISBN at the ISBN database
• Official ISBN website

In regards to cheap textbooks many of the tricks have already been covered in previous blog posts, that is: used textbooks, older editions, etc. The trick I want to discuss with you today is how to find ways to avoid buying books altogether, while still having access to the contents of the books. The classic solution to this problem is simple: find a friend in the same class and share the textbook. Unfortunately this is not always possible, and when it is the friend may want you to help pay for part of the book, something completely understandable and a much better deal than having to pay the full price.

Another idea to keep in mind is that school libraries, or department libraries, typically keep copies of every textbook in reserve (this means that you cannot take them out of the building). This means that if you do not mind doing all of your studying at the library, than you do not need to buy the textbook. The downside to this is that you cannot take notes in the book, but you can always make copies of pages, and depending on the subject that may be good enough.

Another much less known trick is that most university libraries in the United States participate in some type of EZ borrow program. This means that they share books with other university libraries and are able to request books from other schools. This is great because you can request your textbooks from another university library, sign them out and bring them home. Depending on your library’s load duration, you will probably have to renew them mid semester, but that is not a problem. You will still not be able to take notes in the book (and out of respect for other students, please abstain from doing so), but at least this way you can read the book in the comfort of your home. This is a little known scheme, but trust me it works great! I had a good friend who went all through graduate school never having to purchase a single textbook.

This last trick applies to all of you out there who took humanities majors, or who are being forced to take litterature, philosophy or history classes. Many of your books, particularly novels are available in the public domain online: all you have to do is search for the name of the book and add “ull text” and if you are lucky it will be right there.

Well I hope that this blog post has given you some ideas as to how to avoid buying books, stay tuned for other postings where I will give you even more ideas on this and other book related issues. If you have tricks or ideas you would like to share, please leave a comment.

The best site for free e-books on the web is the Gutenberg Project; this site is dedicated to scanning literature and currently has thousands of books in its database. The other cool thing about this site is that many of the books are available in multiple formats, including audio for some books. This means that if you already know what you are looking for in the book, you can hit “ctrl+F” in your browser and find the right section of the book right away. This is a great study tool, and I recommend using it to prepare for exams after you have read required sections/chapters.

Another great place to find free books is Google Books. This is great because Google Books has tons of books on file and people working there are scanning more books constantly. However the problem with this is that you are unable to search for keywords, since the pages are displayed as images, and you are unable to copy or manipulate the images in any way.

More locally, some public libraries, especially state libraries and presidential libraries, offer electronic data and sometimes access to private electronic book catalogs. One such catalog, if you are studying in the IT sector, is Safari Tech Books Online. It is by far the most complete computer books online catalog; books are readily available. To access books requires a membership, but, as stated before, this might be included in your membership with your local public library.

If you do not find what you are looking in freely available electronic format, do not despair! More books are published in electronic format every day and many more are being converted to electronic format so even though the book you are currently looking for may not be available, the next one might very well be.

As the used textbooks market developed with the rise of the Internet, and students were finally able to take control of the used book market by being able to sell their books online, publishers realized that fewer people were buying new textbooks. The solution that publishers devised was to put out a greater number of new editions or to put out new editions more often. It is important to note that many changing or rapidly evolving subjects such as computer science or biology require a new edition to be released yearly because the field changes constantly, but many other subjects such as literature, philosophy, and even business, in other words subjects that are not in a state of great flux and do not change rapidly do not require frequent edition updates. I can recall an ancient history class I took as a sophomore where the textbook that was available at the bookstore was the latest edition, and cost $80. Since I was fairly confident that ancient Greek history had not seen any major changes in the past few years I purchased an older edition online, saving $60 in the process, and had no problem keeping up the pace with other students of the class.

What many publishers do these days is that they put out a new edition regardless of whether or not any changes were actually made to the content of the book. If no changes were made than what they do is they will move around chapters, or maybe change a few chapter titles. The other strategy that publishers have developed is to include a CD or DVD with the textbook. This is seen as increasing the value of the book; however what they fail to tell you is that most, if not all, of the information on the CD/DVD is available on the publisher’s website for free, plus I have yet to meet a teacher who puts these CDs to good use.

The advice that I would offer students is to buy used and buy old editions whenever possible, and if you want to shop online I recommend you use a book price comparison website, in order to make sure that the price you are getting is the best one. In general, you should not stray further than 2 editions prior to the current one. If you are unsure as to an older edition of a textbook, I would advise that you consult with your professor, many are starting to come to the realization that books are putting a real economic strain on students and are starting to care, so they may be able to help.

If you are forced to buy books at the bookstore, buy used. In fact, given the option, you should always choose used instead of new when it comes to textbooks. This has multiple advantages, for one you have the obvious price advantage, for another, often the previous owner of the book underlined or highlighted the important sections, and this means that skimming becomes easier (this is of course if you trust that the previous owner of the book was smart enough to have underlined the correct passages).

The best way to buy books is directly from previous students. This ensures that you pay less for your books and also that the students selling their books receive more money for them. Remember that the less intermediaries there are, the less money you spend and the more money goes in the pocket of the seller.

Professor Colette Mazzucelli, Department of Political Science, Hofstra University and Center for Global Affairs, New York University

The more we teach, the more we learn about… discovering ways to save money for our students as book prices increase. Examples from my courses this semester are helpful illustrations. The comparative politics coursefor the Hofstra undergraduates, features three texts, which Norton sells as a package. The e-Book option is one the company’s sales representative helped me to identify as much less expensive for students. This package features efficient access to content on personal laptops in class as well as ease in note taking and markup right in the e-Book margins. Students who prefer to purchase the print copies of the different texts are encouraged to buy the much cheaper second editions even though new third editions just appeared in print. For those eager to compare, the new third editions are now placed on reserve as well in Hofstra’s Library. The Facebook reference to We Compare Books is available for undergraduates in my different class sections as they shop for cheap textbooks in various courses. Bookstores may prefer that students purchase individual textbooks, instead of packages, because these texts can be resold when the same classes are offered in subsequent years. In the immediate term, however, buying texts in packages or in bulk, as the next example illustrates, offers genuine savings for students. At New York University, my international relations syllabus for those graduates new to the M.S. Program in Global Affairs features extensive reading. This is a foundation course, which should also offer students ideas to develop research interests as the program of studies progresses to the thesis requirement. In this fall’s learning community, one of the members works for Pearson and offered to sell the others one of the required volumes for purchase at a discount price. Another option to keep costs low is to require texts for purchase that are available in paperback edition. In courses with such a wide selection of readings, the effective and efficient option in terms of savings and organization is to assign a minimum number of texts for purchase, let’s say five, all available in paperback. The rest of the readings are posted on the Blackboard learning system as PDF files for students to access from their home computers each week. The international relations syllabus also integrates progressively the wealth of public education materials available free of charge online, including multimedia resources and written transcripts. In these ways, the course retains breadth and depth in the readings, excessive trips to the Library Reserve Desk are unnecessary, and students do not spend as much for required course purchases. The future holds the promise of additional savings as many books are made available on the public commons by universities like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In this era of ever-rising tuition rates for higher education, every option to save counts during college years. Students should be able to afford the books for the courses they pay a substantial tuition to attend. This adds to the teacher’s responsibilities in course design to continue to identify savings options without sacrificing quality in higher education.

PSMA6005NA

Management Control In Nonprofit Organizations
Book ISBN: 0072508256

Balanced Scorecard: Step-by-Step for Government and Nonprofit Agencies
Book ISBN: 9780470180020

PSMA7321NA

Foundation Fundamentals
Book ISBN: 1595420061

Grant Management: Funding for Public and Nonprofit Programs

Book ISBN: 9780763755270

PSMA6004SA

Economics of Social Issues
Book ISBN: 9780073402802
Annual Editions: Economics, 35/e
Book ISBN: 9780073528564

The rush by students to rent college textbooks may be misdirected

WEBWIRE – Thursday, August 06, 2009

Contact Information

Tammy Kassner

Director of Admissions

Andrew Jackson University

205-871-9288, ext. 107

tkassner@aju.edu

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – College students are flocking to companies that rent textbooks rather than buying them at bloated retail prices from campus bookstores. Some students have the impression that they are saving money by renting textbooks. But research done recently by Tammy Kassner, director of admissions at Andrew Jackson University, indicates that many rental fees are frequently more expensive than buying books second-hand.

Since Andrew Jackson University www.aju.edu delivers its low-cost courses online, and their students can’t just walk into a traditional campus bookstore, their admissions and student services departments have been helping students find good deals on textbooks. After checking prices posted online by Chegg www.chegg.com , BookRenter www.bookrenter.com and Amazon www.amazon.com for textbooks used in eight popular courses, Tammy Kassner’s staff found that few rentals were bargains when compared to the used-book prices posted on Amazon.

Five out of the eight textbooks were less expensive to purchase, based on Amazon postings, than to rent from either Chegg or BookRenter. A textbook for a criminal justice course (CJ316) at Andrew Jackson University, for example, could be bought used on Amazon for $5.24 while rentals on Chegg and BookRenter were $45.09 and $58.40, respectively. The rentals have to be returned with minimal highlighting and no writing in the margins or the student is charged full price for the textbook, according to an article in the July 31 edition of Inside Higher Ed by Stephanie Lee. “That turns a lot of students off as they want to be able to make notes in the margin as well as highlight certain things,” commented Kassner.

Kassner says that newer editions can be cheaper to rent than to buy used as there aren’t as many newer editions flooding the market to drive down prices. One instance she found where renting made sense was a textbook required for the university’s BA 541 business course. The least expensive Amazon posting was $84.94 while the same book could be rented from Chegg for $51.50 and from BookRenter for $$27.40. “But a buyer of the new edition can also expect to sell the textbook for a pretty good price when they finish the course,” Kassner said, “so the actual net cost could be substantially less than the cost of renting.”

So what does Kassner and the Andrew Jackson University staff recommend? They encourage students to shop around and compare prices, including shipping costs. “And be sure to read the fine print if you’re renting,” she cautions. “We also suggest that our students check www.wecomparebooks.com for their pricing comparisons. After all, we’re trying to provide our students with a quality college education at the lowest cost, and overpaying for textbooks just doesn’t fit in with that philosophy,” Kassner concluded.

WebWireID100861

Related Links

Andrew Jackson University website

Inside Higher Ed article “Rent, Read and Return”

WeCompareBooks website

Article was originally published in:

http://takeeducationanywhere.com/2009/08/06/the-rush-by-students-to-rent-college-textbooks-may-be-misdirected.aspx

Today things are different. Sure you can still act as I once did, and many students do just that, but the reality is that student loans are harder to come by, and the job market being what it is, everyone is struggling and will likely continue to struggle after graduation. This is why I want to share what little wisdom I have acquired during my years as a student.

It has been brought to my attention that I do not make any money from the maintenance of this blog, this is totally true. This blog exists, and We Compare Books itself was founded because I want to help students. I feel an affinity with students, and I do not want them to repeat my mistakes. On that note I would urge you to read this blog, if you are a student, and please take the advice to heart. If you are a professor who cares about your students, you can share this blog’s URL with them. If you are a parent, or know anyone who could benefit from the information here, I would urge you to spread this news. The world has changed, and we cannot afford to keep living as though it has not.

All this to say: compare prices. It is imperative that you check prices, all over the Internet and at your local bookstore. This is the only way you can be sure to get the best prices for all your books.

Buy  Wurthering Heights at the lowest price by clicking on this link.

“Set in the 18th century against the backdrop of the wild and rugged Yorkshire moors, Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte is the story of unbridled passion, longing and revenge. The story begins when Mr. Lockwood, tenant of an old mansion Thrushcross Grange goes across the windy moors to meet his weird, reticent and brooding landlord Heathcliffe, master of another mansion Wuthering Heights. He is forced to spend the night in Heights because of a thunderstorm and is put up in a room which once belonged to a young Catherine Earnshaw. The night turns out to be wild and stormy. Adding a touch of eeriness is the figure of a young woman whose plaintive wails of ”let me in” sets the story in motion.

Heathcliffe, actually of gypsy descent, was raised in the Heights where he was brought by the master of the house Earnshaw from one of his trips to faraway places. Heathcliffe befriends and falls in love with the wild and passionate Catherine Earnshaw who returns Heathcliffe’s silent and brooding love. Their star-crossed love coupled with the intense hatred of Cathy’s brother forms the core of the book.
How Heathcliffe loses Cathy and his agonizing longing for the only woman he could ever love is the haunting motif of the novel.”

After such a long absence from the world of Academia, getting ready for the GRE has been no walk in the park for me. For those of you who don’t know how it works, the test is broken down into three major parts with limited time to finish each section. The sections are as follows; Quantitative Ability, Verbal Ability, and Analytical Writing Ability.

Quantitative is a 28 question section that draws from all of your High School Mathematics knowledge such as Algebra, Algebra 2, Geometry, and a wee bit of Trigonometry depending on how well you are doing. The tests are now computerized with no proctoring (chaperone) these days. The way the system works is, it starts off easy and the better you do, the harder it gets. Now if you are a Math wizard or you majored in Mathematics, Physics, Engineering and so on, you probably won’t need much help getting ready. I, however, come from a Liberal Arts background and I find the thought of the Quantitative section none too pleasing. I am basically relearning Arithmetic and Mathematics from the ground up.

Verbal Ability is a 30 question section that tests your vocabulary and word logic, complete with analogies, antonyms, sentence completions and reading comprehension. To me personally, Verbal doesn’t scare me so much because the typical words found on the GRE are cake. Basically, if you can read on a 10th-12th Grade level, you’re in good shape. If your reading and vocabulary isn’t so hot, you will need help. But help there is, which I will talk about soon!

Finally, there is the Analytical Writing Ability section. To many of you, this may seem quite daunting if you have trouble formulating opinions and explaining them through. There are two parts to this test. The first is one 45-minute “Present Your Perspective” task, and one thirty-minute “Analyze an Argument” task. If your spelling is bad, not to worry! If you can form a sentence, you’re in good shape! This part of the test is grading on a 1-6 scale and most schools require a 3. All you have to do is be able to argue concisely and to the point. For practice, ask someone you know for assignments and get to practicing!

Now there are a TON of books and programs out there to help you and that’s what I’m going to talk to you about next. A really good place to start in general is the Research & Education GRE General Test book or REA for short. This whopper of a book clocks in at $35.95 U.S.D. at your typical Barne’s & Noble but the best thing about it is it comes with a CD with three sample tests and six more written ones inside the book! As a general place to get started, I highly recommend this book. However, there are weaknesses.

The Arithmetic Refresher section was very useful. I wrote every rule on flashcards and just outright learned them. However, when I came to the Algebra and Geometry sections, they were sorely lacking. So here is my advice to you; don’t be afraid of “Dummies” books! They are extremely useful. If you’re too embarrassed you’re a dummy at something, just use Amazon or something similar. The absolute best book I found on Algebra is a book called Algebra Demystified : A Self-Teaching Guide, written by Rhonda Huettenmueller and printed by McGraw Hill ($19.95 U.S.D. retail). This book is fabulous and does not cut corners! You LEARN algebra. I also purchased Geometry for Dummies (2nd edition) by Mark Ryan ($19.99 U.S.D. retail) but haven’t made it that far. But I’ve used Dummies books before and they are quite useful!

Now as for Vocabulary, there is an outstanding book of flashcards entitled Research & Education Association GRE General Test Vocabulary Building Flashcards. (REA again) In my opinion, the words aren’t too bad. But I’m a writer. What are you gonna do? Just make sure you get the “Premium CD Edition” which includes a CD-ROM complete with games for vocabulary building! This infinitely useful book runs at $15.95 U.S.D. retail and I feel it is an indispensable asset.

Now if you want to get crazy like me, which I doubt you will, because, well, after all I’m…well…er…crazy, you can read the hardest, oldest books you can get your hands on and highlight every last word you don’t know, make your own dictionary, and further your vocabulary that way as well. A word of the day on your website isn’t a bad thing either, but the words are generally stupid and useless. Read philosophy, particularly anything written before the 1700’s. Those guys were wordy and they liked to show off!

Now one more thing, if you have any leftover Undergrad English and Math books, and hopefully notes, dig them out. I’m using my Writer’s Handbook from Freshman Year (way back in 1989!) and a copy of The Oxford Essential Guide to Writing. Remember, if you are weak in ANY of the above categories, get to practicing! The best thing is, you can retake it. But don’t dilly-dally. The test is only good for five years then you have to give it another go if you take a prolonged break from Graduate School.

Oh, and start arguments with a sound leg to stand on. Just bring up anything; politics, religion, current events, even play the Devil’s Advocate! Start learning to formulate constructed thoughts! This will be a great help to your Analytical Ability section.

The book: “Getting By: Lessons From a Rural Past” puts forth some ideas that may seem radical. Can we possibly take anything good from the depression days many see as ‘ancient history’? What does it have to do with today? Author Jan Hoadley shows plenty.

Many approaching retirement have seen their pensions, and their safety nets, disappear. Those graduating from college have financial concerns too and those in college wonder how they can not be a casualty of the whole thing not of their creation. For those who have never had to conserve let alone do without it’s a daunting thought.

However the answer presented isn’t chuck it all and move to the high hills as some might think. Instead it’s evaluating our priorities, looking at our place in the big scheme of things, using the technology that we have and encouragement to do what we can from where we are. Basic introduction to gardening, small and large livestock, credit and budget information is all included as well as resources to begin looking further.

Through the end of May get 10% off Getting By: Lessons from a Rural Past” by going to Additional information is also found at the book’s website www.gettingbylessonsfromaruralpast.com – information for Americans no matter where you live. Strong communities build America from the ground up – and this is a good place to find the steps to get there.

Summer classes, on the other hand work differently.  Most summer classes last 4 weeks, although some may last 6, and you typically have class 5 times a week, with assignments from day one.  Given this short duration it becomes difficult, if not impossible to order a textbook online and wait for regular delivery, and no one wants to pay for overnight shipping.  In this case most students end up going to the bookstore and paying full price for the textbooks.

The solution to this problem is one that is quite simple, but one that few students think of – plan ahead.  Summer classes are rarely a last minute thing, therefore, the same day that you register for a summer class contact the professor (email usually works best) and find out what the required books are, and order them 2 weeks before the start of class, this way you can be sure that you will receive the books in time for class.

Planning ahead and ordering your books online before the start of class has another advantage, and will help ensure that you are getting the absolute lowest price.  Towards the end of every semester students start to sell their textbooks online; given the increase in supply and the fact that demand for textbooks typically peaks after a course starts, this is the optimum time for you to get the best prices on textbooks! And the best way for you to ensure that you are getting the best price on new/used textbooks is to use a textbook price comparison site such as We Compare Books