Science Textbook Woes

The first part of the story is really my fault.

I signed up for Biology 111 because I never received credit for IB Bio, having only done Standard Level. I only recently understood that when they say “not for students who have credit for Biol 12”, it means, “not for students who have done Biol 12″. I thought there was supposed to be some kind of special advanced credit for that. So I dropped the course and have since signed up for an Earth and Ocean Sciences distance education course, but not before I’d bought my biology textbook and started writing on a couple of pages.

Alas, alas, this is what I get for engaging with my texts. After being advised time and time again to highlight important points and summarise the body of the paragraph in the margins, highlighting five sentences and writing two of my own are what has ruined me — I can’t refund my textbooks anymore.

As for Textbook Buybacks, I suspect that their motto to “Milk it for all it’s worth!” is really more applicable for them than for students — I bought my textbook for $133.65, tax not included, and they are only offering to buy it back for $20. $20. For a textbook that if I had not taken the packaging off (and furthermore, not written on it, though I don’t believe I even mentioned that point), would be a perfectly brand-new textbook.

I’m losing hope in this venture but if anyone is interested in buying an almost completely new textbook, with beautiful clean pages (apart from maybe 3 which have a few words nicely highlighted in a non-aggressive, peaceful green colour, and with a couple of lines written in a lovely script on the side margins that helps you with your studying), for Biology 111, please tell me so. I’m selling it for $80. (Any less and that’s just ripping me off too much.)

It is truly not worth buying science textbooks.

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