<p>My sister and I have a lot of the same classes... and my mom, to save money, is only buying one set of books. Is this going to be a problem if the classes are at different times? Advice?</p>
<p>for the most part, i never bring my books to class... unless it's an english class or something, and we need to reference the text. i hardly ever buy books. i just borrow them from the library. i hate having books lying around and i'll never use them again.</p>
<p>no problem. however, you guys have to work out the study times for it. might be a hassle.</p>
<p>Yeah I agree. I shared a textbook with someone... and that was tricky figuring out who'd get the book and when. At the same time, it definitely got both of us motivated to keep up with our readings! Besides, the library usually has a copy on reserve so if your sister really needs the book, you can go to the library and check out the reserve copy.</p>
<p>some of my friends shared some textbooks who had the class at the same time and since they all procrastinated reading, it was hard when they all needed the book to study finally read the chapters.</p>
<p>It's easier if you're all in the same place, so there's no having to go get it somewhere and tracking it down. Only potentially a problem if you all need it for finals or tests. As someone mentioned, textbooks are usually not needed for class.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>How organized and disciplined are the two of you? How easy do you expect your courses to be? Are you both going to be needing the same book during the entire period you're working on an assignment, or right before a deadline or an exam?</p></li>
<li><p>How flexible can you be when it comes to when you work on a particular class?</p></li>
<li><p>How often are you gonig to see each other? If you've got 2 days to do an assignment, is it going to be a problem for you to hand off the book after 24 hours?</p></li>
<li><p>How many books are you talking about? Are you going to be in different sections of the same class that have the same syllabus? Same books but different syllabi? Some overlaps in books but a lot that's different?</p></li>
<li><p>How much money are you actually talking about saving? What do these books cost used?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>If you're going to be roommates, you study together very well, you're both very organized and disciplined, the books are for classes where the material comes naturally to you, your classes have different assignments and deadlines, and it's one or two very expensive brand-new textbooks where there's no used-book market, that's one thing.</p>
<p>If you're going to be living across campus from each other and have completely different schedules (social, academic, etc.), you'll be holding off-campus jobs so that you will have to fit studying in wherever you can rather than being able to plan around studying, you'll have the same deadlines, this is going to be pretty much every book, and many can be picked up very cheaply if you shop around online, that's another.</p>
<p>Personally, I wouldn't do it. I also keep my textbooks and refer back to them often. I carry a bunch of books around with me all the time so that if I have a spare minute I can get some reading done -- in part because I don't have that many opportunities. And I do my work at the last minute more often that I like to admit.</p>
<p>But if you think it could work, then why don't you start by buying one set of books and have a conversation with your mother about 2 weeks into the semester about whether this is a good system for all, some, or none of the classes you're both taking? Even 10 years ago, when the bookstore ran out of copies you'd assume that people who didn't already have the books wouldn't be getting them soon (or at least that's how it worked when I was TA-ing a class with 3 sections using the same book, taught by 3 professors, only 2 of whom managed to remember to do the paperwork for the bookstore), but these days there are a lot of ways to track copies down if you determine you need one later than everyone else decides to buy.</p>
<p>Photocopier is now your best friend!</p>
<p>i'm not sure where your mom is going to buy the books but if you she was considering buying them from the school bookstore you might be better off shopping online. You could save half the money you'd spend at the school bookstore. This is the site I like to use: Compare</a> Discount Book Prices & Save up to 90% - GetTextbooks.com. It's a search engine site specifically for books. you'll find that used books are going to be cheaper and just as good as new books. avoid new books for the most part unless there's something specifically about the textbook you need which needs to be unused (like a CD or online serial code for web access).</p>
<p>sharing isn't the worse thing ever by the way. i did it with my roommate on a couple of books. and if he had a class i was taking the next semester or vice versa, we'd keep the books for each other.</p>
<p>you'll find for some general req. you won't really need the books unless there are hw problems you need from the book itself. most textbooks are full of crap. and most of the time it's a waste to even try to read the entire textbook for class.</p>