With the advent of each academic year, a list of must read becomes the norm. Some of the books are cheap, whereas others turn out to be expensive. Either way; purchase of these books makes a dent to your pockets. To save you time and money, I’ll let you know of something I learnt some time back.

It’s not mandatory to buy each an every book for your current year. During my initial years in college, I went on a shopping spree, and bought out each and every book required as per the syllabus. That actually turned out to be waste of my precious resource; as all the books were not fully utilized.

This taught me how to gauge which books were imperative, and which ones were not.  It also showed me how to get a particular book; spending the least amount of money. Given below are some of them.

Be patient, before you buy a particular book; try to attend at least one session of each class. This will give you an idea which books to go for. Hearing the professor’s review of books will help to make sound judgments which are the most important books to buy and from where it can be procured.

E.g. if most of your relevant topics are in one book, you’ll be inclined to go out and make an immediate purchase.   If it turns out that you require this book only for a couple of weeks, then it’s better to borrow it from one of your buddies. But, if information for a term paper will depend on a particular book, then it’s better to buy it.

Once you’ve got a list of books to be procured, your next task would be to find out from where these books can be procured for the least price. Bookstores in campus all boast of selling books for students at their lowest price. In actual, they’re not. My observation is that, they lie and actually charge more with an added gimmick of buy-back. At the end of the semester, they hardly give you a fair price.

Which is best place to buy? I’ve found online purchase of books to be the most efficient and cheapest. Big merchants have almost all the types of books you want, and that too at a far better price than those offered by the campus based book stores.

However, if you’ll require books only for two or three weeks, then look out for merchants who offer a buy back policy with full refund. But do read the buyback policy thoroughly with respect to within how many days should the books can be returned.

Some people have devised options of determining which books would be required for particular semester, and the most economical or cheapest ways to have it. But after sitting for one session of each class, personally I know I need not purchase all my books

If this writing didn’t help you much, just bear this in mind: Save your efforts, money and time by only purchasing those books which will help you to clear your semester.