<p>hello, i will be taking math 16a and chemistry 2a during the fall quarter, and on the uc davis bookstore website, it says that these courses require “custom” textbooks. how are the custom and a normal textbooks different? will i be okay if i buy a standard version of this textbook?</p>
<p>For chem, I would assume the custom textbook is a lab manual specific to the particular labs you’ll be going through in your course and section. In which case there’s no such thing as a standard version.</p>
<p>Don’t know about math. Email the instructors and ask them instead of us.</p>
<p>a lot of the time, custom books are hardly different from standard - they usually switch things around or omit certain chapters. this depends on the class and professor. (and no, lab manual = lab manual, custom textbook = modified version of the standard textbook)
i would just get the standard because it’d be a lot cheaper and just use someone else’s book if i find i need to, but you might want to ask the professor first to figure out what exactly is different between the books.</p>
<p>Sorry to thread ninja from kplovesu, but since his question was answered:</p>
<p>How about “international versions” of textbooks? Ive seen much better prices on those, and of course the sellers assure me there are few differences…</p>
<p>even better imo</p>
<p>buy this chem textbook for 2A</p>
<p>[Amazon.com:</a> General Chemistry: Principles and Modern Applications with MasteringChemistry® (10th Edition) (MasteringChemistry Series) (9780136121497): Ralph H. Petrucci, F. Geoffrey Herring, Jeffry D. Madura, Carey Bissonnette: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/General-Chemistry-Principles-Applications-MasteringChemistry/dp/0136121497/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1313718860&sr=1-1]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/General-Chemistry-Principles-Applications-MasteringChemistry/dp/0136121497/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1313718860&sr=1-1)</p>
<p>it’s exactly the same as the custom one except some chapters are in a different order from the way the custom edition numbers them straight the way UC davis teaches them</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>International textbooks CAN be good, but be weary–sometimes the problems in them can be different. If you do get international texts, make sure to check any assigned problems against a U.S. version. As far as reading goes, though, they’ll do just fine.</p>
<p>How sure are you that this is the same book? I’m really unhappy with paying 180 for some stupid custom book when it costs half that for a public ed. on amazon</p>
<p>pretty sure those questions were answered earlier in the thread</p>