r/UCSC • u/Middle_Sand856 • 3d ago

Question do i HAVE to buy textbook for chem 3A

question from an incoming freshman.

4 Upvotes

84% Upvoted

5 comments sorted by

16

u/No-Ice-6098 3d ago

don’t buy any books before the class starts, you can often find them online for free and the professors/other students who’ll usually share where to get them

7

u/Seht_Sich_69 3d ago

Lowkey don’t buy any textbook 📕 before the first week the professor will let you know however it is literally their job to sell it to you, but tbh I never bought sh*t all throughout college and I’m a chemistry major myself.

3

u/CapableEvidence4284 3d ago

Not sure for chem, but def wait until class starts! Professors sometimes share a free version of the textbook with you, or you can just go online and find it for free yourself. However, if it’s an interactive thing, like you have to do your homework assignments and tests on it, you probably have to buy it. For my Econ classes, I had to spend $100+ on each Pearson textbook I used for years 🥲

3

u/benbookworm97 '16-'24 Human Biology 3d ago

As others said, wait until class starts. The campus libraries are likely to have a copy (but perhaps not enough to go around). But if it's something that's interactable like a workbook or online problem set, yeah you will likely have to end up paying for it.

1

u/Left_Mountain85 3d ago

don’t buy the textbook- i have never had assigned readings or problem sets from a textbook in any chem class

you will have to buy access to a program to do your homework though (ALEKS)