Recommend Books for Form Six Science Stream Student

[pangping1510]

hi, i m going for form6 next month, so i hope there are those ex form 6 ppl to recommend some useful books for me, pls use the codes below for the ease of the other recomers, thx... :lol: :lol:

PA - pengajian am
MT - maths t
PH - physics
CH - chemistry
BO - biology

thx...keep this thread moving... :lol:

[iQing]

Yo. I would like to introduce an interesting book for light reading and motivation. It?s not KBSM book nor reference book but it?s for a better understanding of science in genaral.
It consist of interesting physics, biology, chemistry, geology, cosmology and many more.

Here?s the link to that book

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/076790818X/qid=1112957786/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-2631828-3832048?v=glance&s=books

[wawa]

I think reference books really depends on individual, some people like a certain style, some people others.

PA- I used The Green Book aka by Federal (Ranjit Singh)...just memorize everything inside will do. :)

MM- Pelagi, great for self study, step by step. Eliminates the need of a teacher! :lol: The federal Past years are good too.

Physics - University Physics by Halliday, et. al. For those who like it slow and simple, get the book by Walker, its sorta blow by blow. Those who love maths should get the one by Serway for Physics with Calculus. (Don't get the one 'for Scientists and Engineers!', i find the explanations horrible..but that's a personal view)

[pangping1510]

thx ar...anybody got any other recommendation? hows pre-U by longman? :lol:

[pangping1510]

bump

[reign226]

Try your school's Pusat Sumber? I didn't know my school has an entire 'secret section' of really expensive foreign books until I entered Form Six (and I was in that school since Form One!)

As for the Pre-U book, it's quite expensive, with glossy paper and all that jack but the information in it is really dumbed down. I know for a fact that for Chemistry, there is no escaping the need for the Famous Tan Yin Toon Series, thick as two telephone directories each. So in fact, your textbook for Chemistry alone has already outweighed all your SPM books combined =D.

There's really not a lot of options for texbooks, unless you are looking at foreign books. The thing I noticed about foreign books is that they write in a 'storybook' manner, while local books are blow-by-blow point-form, trying to cram as much info in as little words as possible. Thus IMO, the local books have really good information, but does not convey them effectively, while foreign books have TOO MUCH text to wade through. Personally, I think the local books are better.

As for exercises, you can get the pink Past Year Collection papers, or the yellow MCQ series, both offering step-by-step solutions. For matematik, the official textbooks are really laid-back in pace, so you might want to get the small Pelangi supplement which has a LOT harder questions. La Salle uses that as their official textbook, because it's that much better.

For physics...haha that's subjek maut, I recommend you just go to MIT Opencourseware website to download the lectures by the professor there. There are only two good books to choose from, and both are written by almost the same guy.

Finally, for PA...I don't like the thick book. It scares me. Just read lots of newspapers, watch NTV7 at 8pm EVERYDAY and cross your fingers. Of course, you'll need at least one book to read up for your Kenegaraan and stuff. But paper two is basically how much you know about current issues.

[HardCoreX]

Physics - University Physics by Halliday, et. al. For those who like it slow and simple, get the book by Walker, its sorta blow by blow. Those who love maths should get the one by Serway for Physics with Calculus. (Don't get the one 'for Scientists and Engineers!', i find the explanations horrible..but that's a personal view

Wawa , i couldn't find university physics by Halliday but by Sears and freeman? is this a right book? there are many other book by Halliday - Fundamentals of Physics , which book by Halliday you are recommend?

"Get Book by Walker" - What is this book's title? there are james s. walker and Jearl Walker ... these 2 different book by these different 2 authors are not the same .

Besides, " Get the one by Serway" I hardly find the physics books by Serway for phsics with Calculus. I found College physics by him but I don't think this book is come with Calculus for physics. Isn't it? so what is the PROPER book's title?

Lastly but not least , which bookstore u usually can find all these books that you recommended?

[zqax]

Yo. I would like to introduce an interesting book for light reading and motivation. It?s not KBSM book nor reference book but it?s for a better understanding of science in genaral.
It consist of interesting physics, biology, chemistry, geology, cosmology and many more.


I had read that book last year, Bill Bryson: "A Short History of Nearly Everything".
A truly fantastic book that covers a lot of expect about sciences.
Every science stream student ought to read it and it's interesting,Personally I think that book has more attraction to me than Dan Brown's novel...Keep me sleepless for couple for nights,just to read another chapter of sciences.

[kevinkhoo1986]

Well, IMO, just don't buy any books published by "FAJAR" Well why?
Physics : Not very detail....

Chemistry : Too detail and very thick. Approximately 6 or 7 cm thickness just for an organic/physical chemistry book. The way they explained certain facts in the book are quite confusing too. Seems like an endless essay for me. I would prefer something like point form when explaining some facts.

Pengajian Am : Try to do the questions and you will know why. A lot of wrong answer and mistake on that book. Don't ever buy it.

Biology : No idea....

Math : Seems alright for me, but i think Pelangi math book better.

I am very regret for buying so many books published by Fajar bakti :x But anyway, Fajar bakti is one of the first few company who published book for the latest STPM syllabus which conducted in English. That's why we have no choice and have to buy fajar book. But right now there are more companies like Pelangi who published form 6 books. IMO "pelangi" is the best! I have been using Pelangi books since form 1 and i think Pelangi is still the best.

BTW, i heard that Longman is quite terrible as well. The cover of the book published by longman seems quite fancy and nice. But don't judge a book by it's cover. The book are quite nonsense as well. It seems like reading history book.

[lyt87]

PA book, for what i know, i think the author ... Goay T.C. one i think quite good

[wendy]

guys.......what about bio?

[reign226]

On the contrary, I don't think there is a 'ton' of spelling errors. Maybe an ommited '-ing' here and there, and extra '-s' periodically, and some misspells. Nothing too drastic, with the exception of one part of the Organic book where there was a misprint.

As for the answers...I din do too much of their exercises, but insofar, I didn't encounter any wrong answers. I am taking STPM2005 and during my time, it was a choice of either TYT or the Matriculation series, so I chose TYT. I didn't know Pelangi or Sasbadi had new books. I should go check...

[skyAngel]

for stpm biology, u betta try to get reference from A-level books. something like Biological Science vol-1&2, and Life on Earth. These books consist of many updated and useful details of biology. But dun fully depend on them. Just for references.

[erikanyam]

Which publisher for pengajian am is good?Oxford fajar,longman or pelangi?I don't like the note to be compact and full of words,please give me some advices on buying the pengajian am book.

[cloverr]

actually u can try to get all those books from seniors..then u save a lot..
for chemistry, i recommend longman instead of tan yin toon, cause tan yin toon's books in paragraph form which i don't like.
for physics, if ur teacher is good, u just need pelangi physics books, the blue color 1..i use my physics teacher notes only
for maths, palangi is better.
for pa, many of my classmates use longman..but i use my teacher's notes..it's actually based on what u need..

[Cactus]

cause tan yin toon's books in paragraph form which i don't like.


ooo. I like Tan Yin Toon's Organic Chemistry. :P I felt that it "respects" the readers by taking the trouble to explain the details regarding the reactions.

The main disadvantage though is that because it is in paragraph form, it can be quite difficult for you to refer back some specific sentences/reactions in the book.

[weiliang]

anyone wants to sell their TanYinToon's organic chemistry?? His Organic Chemistry is ALREADY EXTINCT!!! i can't find it at any second hand book shop!
I have seen the difference betweeen TYT's (fajar bakti - old name for oxford fajar) physical chem and the current oxford fajar chem volume 1. I feel cheated when i see there are 15 chapters in TYT's book, and there are only 14 chapters in hte newer oxford fajar book. how can they cut off one whole chapter?? or combine that one chapter with another chapter?? i FEEL CHEATED!
anyone wants to sell their TYT's Organic Chem?? i live in klang valley :D PM me if u want to sell your book :D