Revision Books

A97

I know that these topics are done to death but with the new ReviseWises and the like, does anybody have any recommendations for the following for Higher Level. I know that some people prefer making their own notes but I personally work well by reading from the book. My biggest issue is time, so I'm looking for something concise while still being good.

English - We have been given lots of notes so realistically, I probably don't need anything unless you guys highly recommend it.

Maths - I hear that those Less Stress More Success books are good. I had a ReviseWise for Junior Cert that simply went through sample questions start to finish, whether they be simple or difficult that was absolutely fantastic. I have Active Maths and it sort of expects you to know how to do the hard stuff yourself.

Irish - Whatever's good really. It would be handy if the book handled all aspects of the paper and explained the grammar, particularly the more difficult concepts. I'd prefer something that is explained in English. I'm dreadful at the aural so I'd love something that could aid me with that. We're doing the extra poetry and we did Cáca Milis over the play.

Biology - I have the old ReviseWise by Michael O'Callaghan. Personally, I think that it's a great little book. It occasionally lacks information but all in all, it's good.

Physics - Just a condensed version of the course will do. Preferably something that covers the theory, definitions, experiments and maths equally well.

Accounting - If there's some sort of worked example book that covers all of the potential workings/adjustments, that would work a treat. The theory is going to be needed too but my book covers it decently well.

Spanish - There's not much to say here. If there's anything that helps with the four aspects would be good, particularly written, the intricate parts of the big comprehensions, the intricate parts of the aural/words that come up often etc. A grammar bit would be good too, that covers bits like the subjunctive.

If you could recommend anything that has helped or is currently helping you out, I would be very appreciative. I'm aiming for the highest grades possible so I'd like something comprehensive. Thanks all.:) Happy New Year!

EoghanIRL

From what I have heard and my own experience , most revision books aren't worth the money . In particular the less stress more success ones are poor .

They condense the information poorly and often exclude the important stuff.

However I felt that were some exceptions .
The projection maths revision books were good . I mainly used these as I was the first year of project maths and found the text books very poor.
Gleas notai for Irish was good. It covers the sraith pictiurs aswell . The notes and vocab are much better than the text book . The sample answers they provide are a1 standard and are very exam focused. I have no shame in saying I reproduced some of their sample answers last year .
Also our teacher bought a booklet in easons with all the phrases for the essays . I don't know it's name but it is a black and white sheet . Actually don't think I could of got my result without it.

For physics the real world physics test book is the best . No need for any revision book . The text book is so good . I read the text book instead of in class notes and got on fine .

Not a big fan of revision books and would advise you saving your money and just making your own notes . It will stand to you in the long run .

MaryHannah

A97 wrote: »

I know that these topics are done to death but with the new ReviseWises and the like, does anybody have any recommendations for the following for Higher Level. I know that some people prefer making their own notes but I personally work well by reading from the book. My biggest issue is time, so I'm looking for something concise while still being good.

English - We have been given lots of notes so realistically, I probably don't need anything unless you guys highly recommend it.

Maths - I hear that those Less Stress More Success books are good. I had a ReviseWise for Junior Cert that simply went through sample questions start to finish, whether they be simple or difficult that was absolutely fantastic. I have Active Maths and it sort of expects you to know how to do the hard stuff yourself.

Irish - Whatever's good really. It would be handy if the book handled all aspects of the paper and explained the grammar, particularly the more difficult concepts. I'd prefer something that is explained in English. I'm dreadful at the aural so I'd love something that could aid me with that. We're doing the extra poetry and we did Cáca Milis over the play.

Biology - I have the old ReviseWise by Michael O'Callaghan. Personally, I think that it's a great little book. It occasionally lacks information but all in all, it's good.

Physics - Just a condensed version of the course will do. Preferably something that covers the theory, definitions, experiments and maths equally well.

Accounting - If there's some sort of worked example book that covers all of the potential workings/adjustments, that would work a treat. The theory is going to be needed too but my book covers it decently well.

Spanish - There's not much to say here. If there's anything that helps with the four aspects would be good, particularly written, the intricate parts of the big comprehensions, the intricate parts of the aural/words that come up often etc. A grammar bit would be good too, that covers bits like the subjunctive.

If you could recommend anything that has helped or is currently helping you out, I would be very appreciative. I'm aiming for the highest grades possible so I'd like something comprehensive. Thanks all.:) Happy New Year!

Hello, I have pres/mocks in two weeks so I have been using revision books, hope this helps! As far as English goes, English Key notes is quite good, our teacher uses it instead of an English textbook. The comparative studies texts covered are Juno and the Paycock, How many miles to Babylon and I'm not scared. If you have good notes I wouldn't bother getting it unless these are the comparative texts ye have done.
For maths, according to my teacher there's not any good revision books, according to him the course is too new, he suggested one but it was the bones of €50 and he didn't recommend for any of us to buy it, I also go for maths grinds and my teacher said if I stick to active maths, avoid the really hard questions and do exam papers I'll be grand.
For Irish, Glasnotai is the best, the only issue I have with it is that it doesn't have any translations and it focuses more on the written exam rather than the oral.
In Biology if I were you I'd stick with the revise wise, there's no difference between old and new and I also have biology:the complete study guide and I prefer the RW.
I do french instead of Spanish but I think people generally stick to the red text book (not sure of the name)
I don't do physics but I know people that do and the have Essentials Unfolded:physics, it's a really small book though so it might be pretty basic, I'm not sure but it's worth a look!
I do business instead of accounting, I don't know much about accounting and I know that there's a lot more theory in business but my teacher recommended we stick to the book if we wanted to do a really good paper, as I said though I know nothing about accounting but I hope I helped anyway

Daisy 55

The biology revision book published by mentor is excellent.

ABCE

The Less Stress Maths revision book is quite handy but it's dear compared to the others(because there's 2 separate book(paper 1 &paper2)). It consists of mainly Worked Examples and each chapter takes out 2 hours to complete/go through all the worked examples.

emersyn

In Spanish we use a blueish-purple book called Espanol Bien Hablado, it's very good for oral prep and has lists of useful/common vocab and phrases. If you don't already use it in school I would recommend getting it

Bazinga_N

English - I've heard Key Notes by Mentor is essential but I haven't personally tried it!

Maths - Same as English, I hear good things about the new Less Stress books are supposed to be very good, but again I haven't looked at them.

Biology - Honestly ReviseWise is all you need (the older version is what I have, I assume the new edition is the much the same, if not better)!

Physics - I've looked into a couple of different revision books for Physics and tbh none of them are overly great. I'd highly recommend making notes from the Real World Physics textbook. It might sound like a pain, but it's genuinely useful!

EDIT: Just looked up the new Revise Wise books and judging by some of the sample pages from the Physics one it might not be too bad: http://revisewise.ie/leaving-cert/physics-hl/

ABCE

I have the Less Stress Physics and it barely covers each chapter(not worth it). Essentials Unfolded seems a lot better for Physics( I was able to borrow my friend's a for lunch at it seemed to be a lot more concise yet detailed)

EoghanIRL

ABCE wrote: »

I have the Less Stress Physics and it barely covers each chapter(not worth it). Essentials Unfolded seems a lot better for Physics( I was able to borrow my friend's a for lunch at it seemed to be a lot more concise yet detailed)

I did lc physics last year and used the real world physics text book . Most people I have spoken to agree it's all you need . I have looked through the physics revision books and they are really poor.

d1234

For English Key Notes is very good for Othello and Poetry but I'd also recommend the Mocks.ie poetry notes - the format of them is lovely - gives poem, little background and then the essential points. The Less Stress books are also great for maths.

Peregrine

ExamEdge for Physics. It's by the same author and publisher as Real World Physics. Basically condenses the RWP book and does a very good job of it.

ReviseWise for Biology.

Keynotes for English. Make sure to get the right one.

I had Less Stress More Success for Maths last year. Didn't use it at all. I just did exam papers.

Less Stress More Success is really good for Art History. I prefer the older version with sketches rather than images.

La Tour Eiffel

If anyone has a copy of Rapid Revision Economics for Leaving Certificate, could you please get in contact with me! Folens have now discontinued it, but I am looking for a copy because from what I have read, it was excellent. I have been looking at ReviseWise and Shortcuts to Success but neither seem to offer revision books for Economics - from what I can see anyway. Less Stress has one, but they only have the old version available on their website.

If anyone does have a copy of Rapid Revision Economics, could you please get in touch with me - I could really do with it this year! If you have any suggestions regarding what alternative revision books are out there for LC Economics, they would be much appreciated too. Thanks!