difference between study guides and course companions?

[Alex .]

what is the difference between study guides and course companions?

These are the ones that I am looking at on Amazon:

Study Guide

Course Companion

Thank you.

[Procrastination]

Basically, the difference between a study guide and a course companion is the amount of information you will find and the depth in which it is treated- I have a course companion for physics and a study guide and I can tell you that the first one is much more helpful when you have time to study and explains thingS better while the second one is kind of a summary on the syllabus. In my school, the people that take biology have this study guide you're showing me and another IB Course companion. Their veredict comes to the following: They're both very helpful but the companion has way more information and is more complicated to understand.

If you have time to study or if you want to gain deep knowledge on different biological aspects, you should buy the course companion. If not, you should buy the study guides which is pretty easy to understand is also designed for the final exams.

I hope it helped

Edited September 4, 2011 by Procrastination

[Alex .]

So as I am taking Biology at higher level it would be better for me to purchase the course companion as it goes more in-depth on all aspects of the course?

[Procrastination]

Yes, that'll do the trick and as you're exams are in 2013, you still have plenty of time to study.

[kim luffy]

well i prefer the study guide for biology HL stuff because it's much easier to understand and if at times i need more explanations then i refer to the course companion. If you want to understand the easy way then study guide but if you want in-depth then go for the course companion :)Both are useful. Hoped i helped

[ninety]

The way I see it, the Oxford course companions = textbooks. Oxford just likes to use 'course companion' instead of 'textbook', that's all.

The Oxford study guides on the other hand are designed for quick and efficient revision - each topic will usually be covered in around 3-4 pages, and every page only includes the essential and important points. This means the study guides won't cover every single point on the syllabuses/syllabi. The study guides are what people usually use to cram right before a test

I'd say the Oxford study guides are pretty good. I like the way they lay things out, and the glossaries at the back of each guide are particularly helpful. BUT, although they're nice resources to have, they're not completely essential to the IB course. Textbooks are.