LC Revision Books

Conor S

Hi all,

What does everybody think of those leaving cert revision books that the shops are selling??

Are they worth the money?

Can anybody recommend a particular brand of book?

CS

Budo.Judo.Kev

No, they're all just a waste of money.

Papillon87

Conor S wrote:

Hi all,

What does everybody think of those leaving cert revision books that the shops are selling??

Are they worth the money?

Can anybody recommend a particular brand of book?

CS

Hi Conor,

I bought a load of those revision books last year for my leaving but if i'm honest I really only crammed the day before each exam so they weren't particularly beneficial. That said, if you have a very mediocre text book, as I did for Biology (it was tiny compared to the other ones in the shop and pretty hard to use) I would recommend getting one to supplement the information in the book. if I was to recommend a brand I suppose it would be Rapid Revision. OOHHHHHHH I just remembered! I DID use a book for my Irish Oral, just called "The Irish Oral", I will try to find the publisher. I found that excellent, it had the sliochts on cd and everything and was done out question by question! got an "A" in higher level irish so must have done me some good!

Hope these ramblings were of use!

ZorbaTehZ

Budo.Judo.Kev wrote:

No, they're all just a waste of money.

IDD, most of them are a load of horsesh1t

Pez

the less stress ones are good

Papillon87

Pez wrote:

the less stress ones are good

Yeah. But again, they all just contain exactly what is in your book already. Apart from my crappy biology experience. But on the whole, in hindsight, you really don't NEED any.

Pez

Papillon87 wrote:

Yeah. But again, they all just contain exactly what is in your book already. Apart from my crappy biology experience. But on the whole, in hindsight, you really don't NEED any.

yeah.. but some books are crap. like the geo one'todays world' . that made no sense 2 me so id recommend the less stress one for that

Papillon87

Pez wrote:

yeah.. but some books are crap. like the geo one'todays world' . that made no sense 2 me so id recommend the less stress one for that

Yeah, I was agreeing with you there!! I had a TERRIBLE Biology book, I mean seriously I don't know how it got onto a shelf. So I used a revision book for biology, which was quite scary on one hand because there was sooo much information which wasn't in my book at all!

Pez

Papillon87 wrote:

Yeah, I was agreeing with you there!! I had a TERRIBLE Biology book, I mean seriously I don't know how it got onto a shelf. So I used a revision book for biology, which was quite scary on one hand because there was sooo much information which wasn't in my book at all!

haha ye i had a crap bio book too. It's a shock when things are narrowed down in revision books and u see just how much u dont know lol

Dagnir Glaurung

I found the Economics Less Stress good because my book was terribly waffly. It's very concise though so only use it if you already know the stuff and want a quick revision. The Physics Rapid Revision lays out definitions and formulae in a handy fashion and again, I found useful because my book was poor. Those were the only two I found any good. The This is Poetry series of English notes are really good but overpriced and not really necessay unless you feel you need something extra to push for an A1. Even then you could probably find adequate notes for free on the internet.

Tingo

Some of them are.

I didn't think the Business one (Less Stress More Success) was very good. It didn't shorten anything, made every sound more complicated and harder to learn off, etc. I wouldn't recommend revision books off that.

My German one is helpful though, but that's in comparison to my German book being aimed for the A levels (Or GCSES? One or the other), and didn't have any Leaving Cert related stuff in it.

You're probably best off flicking through the books in the shop and seeing if they are any good. Preferably if you know anyone who has just done sixth year, get the books off them. That way they have to be worth the money.

It depends on the subject really, and what you're looking for in the book. The maths ones just have loads of questions worked out. On one hand that could be useless but on the other helpful. I don't have an English one. I mean what would be in it? Even more poetry notes, examples of different styles of writing, tips on how to write an essay? I personally wouldn't find that useful, but if you have a bad English teacher or never got around to listening, it could be helpful.

Can anyone recommend a particular brand of book?

I think the Rapid Revision books are very good for Biology and Physics, the layout is very convenient. They are very small compared to actual textbooks sothe sheer volume of information isn't overwhelming. :cool:

XchampagneX

I recommend making your own notes instead of using the revision books. It's easier to learn IMO! Having said that, Rapid Revision Chemistry was very useful

Nerd007

the geography rapid revision book saved my ass!!!!!

R0C0

I found the physics 'Less stress..' book good for just getting everything organised in your head, though it did leave out some stuff on the honours course!

Gangsta

XchampagneX wrote:

I recommend making your own notes instead of using the revision books. It's easier to learn IMO! Having said that, Rapid Revision Chemistry was very useful

I agree with the chemistry one, the rest of em are jus plain sh1te.

Seinas

can anyone reccomend one for business???

i gave up accounting yesterday and i took up business.....its not being done in school so im planning on teaching it to myself :eek:

yeah i know, a 2 year sylabus in like 5 months ((i want it finished for the pre's so i can decide to drop to ordinary level depending on the result))

is there any revision book that has answers to exampapers??

Rockerette

i didnt buy any of them, apart from an essay writing one for English, which helped with the comparative a good bit, and the different type of styles youre meant to write in.. but even still, it was a bit unnecessary.
also i had the book that goes with the Discovery Poetry book, with notes on all teh poems... but again, that was just sorta for my own interest..!


The Less Stress Geog one seemed pretty good, i had a good look at one of my friend's a few times, and it looked good.


But mostly i'd say dont bother really.

colm-ccfc84

use the business one, my teacher wrote it! i never use the text book

Seinas

colm-ccfc84 wrote:

use the business one, my teacher wrote it! i never use the text book

thanks and the name of it would be......???

~flammable~

the less stress chem and economics ones were good...but yeah, making ur own notes is much better me thinks

colm-ccfc84

Seinas wrote:

thanks and the name of it would be......???

less stress for leaving cert business higher level by john f o sullivan

exiot

Physics Rapid Revision is THE best book for revision. Get it if your doing physics, its brilliant

FunkZ

Papillon87 wrote:

Yeah. But again, they all just contain exactly what is in your book already. Apart from my crappy biology experience. But on the whole, in hindsight, you really don't NEED any.

I started using two Less Stress books. The Business one, so I can have two perspectives on the course. And the Music because I dossed in sixth year and now I've got a lot to learn. But TBH just buy a Ray Charles album and you'll be grand.

Tingo

Papillon87 wrote:

Yeah. But again, they all just contain exactly what is in your book already. Apart from my crappy biology experience. But on the whole, in hindsight, you really don't NEED any.

My biology book is decent enough I suppose, but I am unable to draw any of the diagrams. In the book they're all artistic and 3-D, and when my stick men look dodgy, it's quite clear that my biology diagrams just suck. The revision book I have, just gives plain clear diagrams. Granted, my versions still suck, but at least now they vaugely resemble what they're supposed to be. :rolleyes:

The book could be more thorough, but it's worth the money just for the simple diagrams.

So, my advice? If you can't draw very well, pick up a revision book. You mightn't need it, but it certainly helps.

ninebeanrows

You dont need these study books to do well.

You just need to go up to your room take out your text book and study
its as simple as. These revision books only give people a false sense of security
because they are so small.

You must learn things not just learn words.