International Version of Textbooks

[earpiemom]

This is my son's first year of college. Can anyone tell me what the difference is in international versions of textbooks. They seem so much cheaper so I'm afraid there is some difference. Thanks!

 

[dakcp2001]

They are softcover instead of hardcover, and there usually are not many differences. I used one for Micro, it had a few minor differences in the chapters, but it was lighter and easy to carry and did the trick. So many people at my school were using them the proff was already aware of any differences and warned us if something was off. It was no big deal at all. I dont think you can resell them. But reselling textbooks is heartbreaking anyway, I just listed 1500 worth of Nursing School texts online I expect to get about 250-300 total if they all sell.

BTW I would suggest NEVER buying textbooks from the campus store, try half.com or Amazon. SOme people rent texts at Chegg.com I ahve never tried this, but my classmates used it.

Can you email the proff & ask if they are ok with International versions?

 

[ajk912]

Thank you! Does anyone have a good source for buying international textbooks?

 

[crisi]

Be careful. A number of my classmates had issues with the international versions. The problems in the back of the book were sometimes (not always and not all of them) different. So we'd be assigned problems 4,5,7, 12, 15, 18 and 22. And they'd do them, but four of them would be the wrong problem.

If you pursue the international version, it may be worthwhile to go to the library for any problems assigned from the book.

Not all books have problems - my major was Accounting - lots of end of chapter problems to work.

 

[Alphabetsoup]

I've taught with some of the same books both overseas and in the US. When I create my syllabus I usually just give the topic and either page numbers or chapter number. I regularly get students who use older versions or international versions. I don't mind, HOWEVER, I do get very narky when said student comes to me after a pop reading quiz complaining that they read the pages or chapter number i assigned, but it was not on the topic of the quiz and therefore I should allow them to read the RIGHT chapter and retake the quiz.

If you order international texts for your child, you would do him a favor by reminding him to ALWAYS double check that he is reading for the right topic! Sometimes things are in a different order in different versions of textbooks. And above all, if there is an order difference -- NEVER accuse the professor of being mean and sneaky for 'changing the topic without warning'.

 

[ksumn1]

I've been told many times by professors and pther students that the differences are marginal. Occasionally, the topics or chapters will be out of order or some math problems may differ. To be safe, I'd email or stop by the professors office to make sure.

And to Alphabet soup...I totally see your point about double checking topics, chapters, assignments etc but to be honest, the cost of college textbooks is so high that I see why many students use older editions or international versions. My textbooks, 6 books in total, are going to cost $389 this semester and I'm considering that to be a good thing!!

And on campus bookstores are so overpriced it's unreal.

 

[earpiemom]

Thanks so much for the information. I had never had to deal with this and I couldn't believe the difference in price. We have ordered one of the international versions and it was like a third of the price of the US edition.

 

[webprinter]

DD ordered one off EBAY last year and it was exactly the same. It was even in English (it came from Hong Kong). She saved a lot of money on it. But, now she rents her text books after finding out they are hard to resell.

 

[quentina]

This is my son's first year of college. Can anyone tell me what the difference is in international versions of textbooks. They seem so much cheaper so I'm afraid there is some difference. Thanks!

This is all I buy....off of Ebay. No difference inside the book. On the cover, it says, not valid for sale in US.

I get books for around 35 bucks that would cost 180 in the bookstore.

I just have my kids put stickers over the clause on the cover

 

[disneylove69]

I used Amazon and was able to get my business books new and sealed for about $30 when they were over $100 used at the book store. Also don't sale back to the college you won't get anything. I resale on Amazon and many times made more then what I bought them for.