Can I get 1st or 2:1 if I attended all lectures and seminars without buying books

Do lectures and seminars tell everything in the books , So I can record them and study for exam , and not need to buy expensive books

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Reply 1

Jamerson

Original post by go2thezoo

Do lectures and seminars tell everything in the books , So I can record them and study for exam , and not need to buy expensive books

Really? You're paying £9000 a year in fees but you want to skimp on the textbooks?

Reply 2

zxh800

Use the university library...

Reply 3

Lizzie232

Use the library, use the internet.

The only thing I would say is: some courses set exams based on specific textbooks, so unless you want to be forever requested them from the library I would suggest getting the "essential ones" for your course

Reply 4

awe

What subject?

I haven't read any of the books, and I haven't attended many lectures. I'm 2.1/first in joint English Literature and Creative Writing.

Reply 5

Ripper-Roo

Do whatever works for you, it's your degree.

One thing though, seminars should not be compulsory. Bloody hate those things

Reply 6

desdemonata

That really, really depends on your course, on your lecturers, on how you plan to study...

There's no yes or no answer to this. They do generally make you buy the books for a reason, and in some courses it's insanity to not buy any - law, for example.

Reply 7

montstar

Depends what degree you're studying. I'm studying chemical engineering and have only bought 1 book so far, which I didn't really need. But if its something like Psychology or History that requires lots of reading then you might need to buy them.

Reply 8

Joinedup

it's different to A levels - imo totally memorising the lectures would not be enough to come out with a 2.1 or better.

probably you could get away without buying a single book but IMO you'd have to be reading journal articles or something to get a first.

do go to any study skills seminars that are being run - this is where you find out about the resources available and might also be where they tell you about referencing.

Reply 9

x__justmyluck

Depends on your course and your uni, how much reading you're supposed to do and how much of that is available online/how many copies your library has.

Reply 10

Antifazian

You don't necessarily need to buy the books, depending on your subject, but you will need to read at least some to do well because just regurgitating lecture material doesn't get high marks. There's a reason that people say they 'read' for a degree, because arguably most of what you learn will come from your independent reading, again subject-dependent.

Reply 11

Georg Hegel

I know a first year philosophy student who never bought any books, just took books out of the library and read PDFS (illegally downloaded) on his kindle and he got 75%.

What is important is that you read the books, articles etc. If you have them from the library, pdfs or your own copy it doesn't make much difference.

Reply 12

sr90

Volunteer Team

Haven't spent a penny on textbooks and i'm about to graduate, i'll need to **** up spectacularly not to get a 2.1. The library and its associated resources are all that you need.

Reply 13

vdoto

If anything, books are more helpful than my lectures and some of my seminars as they just don't go into enough detail for me to write my essays/prepare for exams, but then I think its expected to read around your subject anyway. Libraries are useful but then for my course theres a short supply of books at my library so I had to buy quite a few. Online articles are useful too and some books can be accessed online for free.

Reply 14

username1221160

I've found that Wikipedia is a far superior companion to the lecture notes than the textbooks we were advised to buy.

Reply 15

arkhamz

Wikipedia + Lecture notes + pdf e-books + hard work = A good grade. Don't waste money buying books. Photocopy stuff or download em.

Reply 16

username944192

Original post by desdemonata

I would disagree for law personally, I have forked out for the textbooks year upon year and only ever used them if I really didn't understand something in a lecture. This year I have opened one of mine twice and the rest not at all. Journals and cases are more important and the textbook just summarises cases but you've got to read them anyway so really could've saved so much money!

Reply 17

SmaugTheTerrible

Original post by infairverona

So do you just prepare for tutorials from lecture notes?

I always read the textbook for the chapter relevant to the tutorial and if I dint I would be lost. Lecture notes aren't detailed enough.

Depends on the University I guess.

Reply 18

Stephanie_12

I can't imagine doing that, so far this term alone I've had to buy 9 books, this is alongside the ones that have been provided online or through my uni's library.

Reply 19

username944192

Original post by adamsmithqm

I use lecture notes yeah but I also read the cases mostly in full (unless they're stupidly long) and journals. Unless you actually don't understand how the law works, I don't think the textbooks are necessary tbh. Maybe my uni just has really good lectures idk, I just think a lot of the time the textbooks just summarise everything and you'd be better off reading the primary sources themselves.