Straighterline: Textbook or ebook?

[ironheadjack]

Good evening everyone,

I'm considering trying my first Straighterline course.

For unknown reasons, textbooks take forever to ship. Seriously, I've purchased 4-5 textbooks in the past few months from Amazon, B&N, and BETTER World Books. They all took at least 2 weeks. :angry:

Could I rent an e-book from chegg and use it to comfortably pass the course? Or is it easier with a physical textbook in your hand??

**If it matters; I'm considering taking Cultural Anthropology, American Government, & maybe a science course.




Side question, using SL only the Final exams are proctored, correct? Midterms are not proctored?

[Daithi]

I've bought used textbooks for all my courses and most came within a couple days, but I too had a few that took 2 weeks or more. So, I haven't used chegg, but I have read other posts on here where at least one user rented his book from chegg and really liked it. He (or she) said it was easier to use the search feature to find answers, and he was able to complete the course in 3 days, so the rental fee was cheaper than buying a used textbook.

I'm not 100% positive, but I believe only the finals are proctored. All of the courses I've done have only had a proctored final.

[ironheadjack]

Thanks Daithi.

It seems like using the e-book would be easier, the search function would help, the ability to switch browser tabs instead of going from book to computer screen sounds like an easier process. But yet most people on here prefer the physical book, wasn't sure if there was something I was missing...

[koenigtv]

I've used ebooks for 6 out of my 7 Straighterline courses. There are defienetly pros and cons to using ebooks.

Pros are that the book is available immediately, the search function does make it faster to find content and you can access the ebook on your PC or IPad so you can always have access to the book for studying. One great thing about the Chegg reader is you can copy content to the e-reader clipboard and build links to the original page. This is probably a gray area when testing as SL only allows 1 page of handwritten notes and doesn't specifically address this issue (yet).

The cons are that renting ebooks from Chegg or SL are more expensive then buying used books, the search function, while fast, will often return results that are scattered over the book and you may have to go through multiple pages to find what you are looking for. Although with the Chegg reader you can limit searches by chapter so if you are studying or testing on chapter 3, you can limit your search to chapter 3 but it takes some getting used to.

The biggest challenge is probably getting past the tactile experience of using a book. That feeling we all went through converting from real books to books on an iPad.

I live overseas and need ebooks so I've learned to make the best of it. having said that ebooks have the same content as the real book and can often help you find material faster.

To answer your testing question only the finals procotored, midterms are not.

[armyb77]

I always found it cheaper to rent the hard copy addition from Chegg and then use their 7 day instant access digital copy that comes free with the used, new, or rental purchase of most hard copies. I would then complete the course with the ebook, and when the hard copy came in I would just return it and get a large refund for the early return.

[clep3705]

armyb77, that's a terrific suggestion.

Does Chegg pay return postage? If not, media mail from the U.S. Postal Service is the least expensive way to mail a book.

[armyb77]

Yes chegg does pay for the returns so its very painless.

[ironheadjack]

Thanks everyone, and that's a great tip Armyb.

Are there any alternatives to Chegg for e-books?

I was checking Chegg for the book needed for SL American Government and they only have a new copy to buy for $150.

[armyb77]

Amazon has them used for like $9 with shipping, no instant access though for that book. Amazon.com: Buying Choices: The American Democracy

Not all of the courses will have instant access but many of the Business courses do.

[armyb77]

Here is an option get the 9th edition instead of the 8th. The American Democracy 9th edition by Patterson | 0073403873 | 9780073403878 | Chegg.com

Then use the chapter outline and self study for the 8th edition ARIS: to ensure you are following in the right order. New editions usually just change or add chapters, Once in a while it may change the terminology.

It's a suggestion that may work for you, and instant access comes with the rental for 7 days.