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<p>I don’t see why it would be that confusing. In the Berkeley calculus book example, splitting it actually makes sense, because some students who take Math 1A and 1B do not continue on to Math 53, while some frosh do not need to take Math 1A or 1B and can start in Math 53. So those students would only need to buy one of the two volumes for $62.50 or $59.75 instead of both at $122.25 or the whole generic book at $194.15 to $219.96.</p>
<p>Well UCBalumnus, I guess that you have a higher level of patience than I do. LOL. Last year I spent many minutes online trying to decipher this particular textbook requirement for Lake Jr. “Fundamental Of Physics Vol 1. Chapter 1-20 by Halliday.” You will find that there are numerous editions/versions of this book and similar others written by the author. Frankly, it took awhile for me to figure it out.</p>
<p>Wow. Halliday’s Fundamental of Physics was the book I used in high school 30+ years ago. It must have many editions by now. </p>
<p>Double wow. Resnick and Halliday, if I remember right, and Sears and Zemansky too for me circa '70.
In defense of the profs, the payoff from text books is so low because of the limited market, so they’re probably trying to improve the payout. My only publication was a chapter in a comp sci book published by my grad school advisor around '80 and I got royalties of about a hundred bucks. But then how much has general/intro physics or calculus changed in the last 30 years to merit newer books? </p>
<p>The 10th edition of Halliday/Resnick/Walker Fundamentals of Physics comes in various generic editions:
<a href=“http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-EHEP002531.html#purchase”>http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-EHEP002531.html#purchase</a></p>
<p>For the hardcover ones, you can get the following choices:</p>
<p>Regular (chapters 1-37) $262.96@MSRP, $209.19@Amazon
Extended (chapters 1-44) $272.95@MSRP, $211.76@Amazon
Volume 1 (chapters 1-20) $179.95@MSRP, $162.80@Amazon
Volume 2 (chapters 21-44) $179.95@MSRP, $153.97@Amazon</p>
<p>Volume 1 + Volume 2 = Extended</p>
<p>A student who will be taking a physics sequence that goes beyond chapter 20 will find that buying the regular or extended version (depending on whether the class uses chapters 38-44) will cost less than buying volume 1 and 2. However, such a book (particularly the extended version) could be rather heavy to carry around.</p>
<p>I believe the college is required by federal law to now list the ISBN, so people can compare prices for the same edition. My daughter’s college did not, and listed long complex acronyms that could not be understood. Anatomywithfetallabmanualmitgleibenfusaccesscard</p>
<p>^ It does not help if the school uses a special package or edition. That ISBN would still be only available at the Unversity bookstore.</p>
<p>Well it’s a year later and I am more confused than ever. I do remember that trying to sort out the various versions from Ebay and Amazon was a chore. Sure, the school had specific requirements but I’ll bet that other parents looking for less expensive options were as befuddled as I was.</p>
<p>All but one of D’s classes this semester (freshman) required custom book packages with online access codes. Originally, ALL of her classes required custom packages, but right before school started, D was able to transfer into a different Calculus class designed for Bio majors and that one class didn’t require a custom book. I was able to rent it on Amazon for $35 vs paying $199 for it. I found it on Chegg to rent for $20, but at the time it was uncertain if D would get the approval to transfer since the class she wanted to switch to was full/closed. The book was no longer available to rent on Chegg by the time D switched classes.</p>
<p>I couldn’t find other versions online for the rest of the books because the ISBN numbers were different due to the books being custom. We ended up buying the other books at an off-campus store nearby and saved some money. However, the campus bookstore doesn’t charge sales tax when D swipes her ID card, but we had to pay tax buying the books from the off-campus store resulting in much less of a savings. </p>
<p>D has had to use the access codes for every class. She also needed a Clicker+ which we were able to find used. </p>
<p>Oh, yes- the Clicker. DS attends a schools with an average class size of 20 students. One class is requiring an i-clicker. The current attendance is 18 students. It is a physics flipped classroom. How much longer could it actually take to simply poll the students? </p>
<p>Clickers are even used in elementary classrooms now with smart boards. They are called something else and look different, but it’s the same concept. At least they don’t have to be purchased by the families. There are 300 students in one of D’s classes and 120 in another class which are the classes that use clickers.
As for the access codes, she’s already had to take several quizzes online outside of class time. When I was in college we didn’t have quizzes, at least not that I remember. I had maybe 3 or 4 exams per semester with the last one being a final. The access codes are only good for 6 months, so even if she can use the same book next semester (I doubt it though), we’d still have to buy another access code a la carte which costs more than buying it in the book package. </p>