Textbooks: buy used or buy new?

[CavsFan2016]

So I'm getting ready to buy the textbooks for our first unit of my M1 year. It's like $350 all together for brand new books but only half that price for used copies of the same books. Should I go ahead and spend the extra money to get brand new copies or take a risk of getting some used copies? What's worked for you guys?

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[ortnakas]

Do you care about other people's highlighting or no?

 

[bashwell]

So I'm getting ready to buy the textbooks for our first unit of my M1 year. It's like $350 all together for brand new books but only half that price for used copies of the same books. Should I go ahead and spend the extra money to get brand new copies or take a risk of getting some used copies? What's worked for you guys?

1) Don't buy any textbooks! (Except maybe First Aid, but even that is debatable as an M1). At the very least, wait until a few weeks into classes, if not longer, and see what books are actually being used by your profs for exams and also what your seniors recommend.

2) Personally, I found most books a waste of money. That includes the various anatomy books (e.g., Netter, Moore, Gray, Rohen), my favorite physiology book (Costanzo), even Robbins (get Pathoma instead if you need a path resource, then Goljan if you feel you need more).

3) However, if you insist on buying books, then used editions are fine in general, as long as they're not more than 1 or 2 editions behind.

 

[CavsFan2016]

1) Don't buy any textbooks! (Except maybe First Aid, but even that is debatable as an M1). At the very least, wait until a few weeks into classes, if not longer, and see what books are actually being used by your profs for exams and also what your seniors recommend.

2) Personally, I found most books a waste of money. That includes the various anatomy books (e.g., Netter, Moore, Gray, Rohen), my favorite physiology book (Costanzo), even Robbins (get Pathoma instead if you need a path resource, then Goljan if you feel you need more).

3) However, if you insist on buying books, then used editions are fine in general, as long as they're not more than 1 or 2 editions behind.

We just started a new curriculum at my school this year so I'm not sure if I can get any good advice from the second year's about which books to buy/not buy. I don't really want to wait until a few weeks into the unit because I feel like I'll just be behind...I might just go ahead and buy the used copies tonight

 

[cellsaver]

We just started a new curriculum at my school this year so I'm not sure if I can get any good advice from the second year's about which books to buy/not buy. I don't really want to wait until a few weeks into the unit because I feel like I'll just be behind...I might just go ahead and buy the used copies tonight

I bought some of the latest editions of the textbooks required at my school and used the med school library for those texts that were sitting on the shelves

Check your school's med school library

 

[LyMed]

I bought some of the latest editions of the textbooks required at my school and used the med school library for those texts that were sitting on the shelves

Check your school's med school library

That's a resource many students forget. My library not only had medical textbooks, but also STEP1 books.

 

[cellsaver]

That's a resource many students forget. My library not only had medical textbooks, but also STEP1 books.

many medical textbooks at med libraries are uncracked. I have downloaded ebooks from those very library texts, by scratching off the secret code that the publisher provides...with permission of the library staff.

yea, check the med school library first. Plus many schools offer interloan library (ILLIAD) and those can be very valuable too

 

[ChordaEpiphany]

.

 

[Azete]

I never bought or read a textbook in my first two years of med school. Occasionally I did practice questions but I just utilized the free books in the library for this (or got a PDF from a classmate). Scored 255-260 on step 1.

 

[Med student 18]

used!!! also, if you don't mind PDF it!

 

[rafa 22]

pdf! often didn't even need books. Lecturio + lecture notes were all I needed most of the time. used the books more as a reference and looked at them before the test to make sure nothing vital was missing.

 

[backside_attack]

1. Never buy textbooks.

2. If you are required to buy them, buy used.

3. Only buy review books (BRS, etc.) new/"like new" because the practice questions are good - but most of these are easily Google-able for free if you look for the PDF.

 

[Tomego]

Im an incoming MS1 so I dont know how this will work out for me but I just rented the books that are required. How often do I look at the few undergrad books I kept? Never. If I really feel like a book or feel its important maybe Ill splurge to get it but at this point, its extra cost and weight Ill have to pack with me through residency.

 

[TRPMinus]

We just started a new curriculum at my school this year so I'm not sure if I can get any good advice from the second year's about which books to buy/not buy. I don't really want to wait until a few weeks into the unit because I feel like I'll just be behind...I might just go ahead and buy the used copies tonight

My school actually has all of the books online for free on their library website. Not sure if that is a thing, but check first

 

[Username555]

What's worked for me? Buying no books at all.

The only book I used as a supplement was BRS physiology, and I got that for free from someone. Didn't buy any other books for any courses all of M1, neither recommended ones or required ones.

 

[CavsFan2016]

What's worked for me? Buying no books at all.

The only book I used as a supplement was BRS physiology, and I got that for free from someone. Didn't buy any other books for any courses all of M1, neither recommended ones or required ones.

How do you study then? What resources do you use?

 

[staus027]

I realize this is an old thread and probably not viewed anymore, but I'd still like to weigh in as the voice of dissent. While it's possible that I'm a bit of a bibliophile, I think that the value of having books is highly underrated. Particularly in medical education, I find it to be very advantageous to have books on the shelf that can be readily available for home reference. While I agree that there's something to be said about the convenience of having everything on an iPad and via PDF, I think that having a physical book to reference is unmatched. But that's one student's opinion.

 

[aldol16]

Find PDFs of the books online or through your school. I don't think I ever bought a textbook that wasn't a third-party review resource. Examples of books I bought include First Aid.

 

[Styrene]

So I'm getting ready to buy the textbooks for our first unit of my M1 year. It's like $350 all together for brand new books but only half that price for used copies of the same books. Should I go ahead and spend the extra money to get brand new copies or take a risk of getting some used copies? What's worked for you guys?

Neither. Textbooks are no longer required or generally recommended unless somehow a class requires it practically (ie forcing students to bring it to class).

The level of detail available now makes it basically impossible to learn in that old-school way.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

They’re a waste of money. Our school gives us all our textbooks for free. The only one I used during preclerkship was first aid.

 

[Vietnhadr11]

Don't you have a laptop ??

 

[14_karat]

Why buy a textbook? Just buy an iPad and download the free and available PDFs that are all over the internet. You can still highlight and annotate in them as much as you want using iBooks.

 

[YCAGA]

Use Amboss and First Aid for looking stuff up. If those don’t have it, use your schools library website to get the digital version of a textbook.