I hope I didn't catch you too late! It's time for my annual warning to NOT sell your textbook. This is the time of year when many A&P students think about selling their textbook back to the bookstore or textbook co-op. Some sell them directly to other students on campus or through an online platform. DON'T DO IT!
Why not? Because you still need it!
Just because your A&P course is over, your use of your A&P textbook is far from over. Here are just a few of the many reasons you should keep your A&P materials, including the textbook:
- You'll need to review your A&P at the start of nearly every topic in your professional / clinical courses. Many nursing, medical, and allied health textbooks include a brief review of A&P . . . but you'll do better with a quick skim of your fully illustrated A&P textbook.
- Your A&P textbook will get you out of a jam. There will be occasional moments when you "blank out" on some essential bit of A&P . . . something you need to "get it" in a later course. Your trusty A&P textbook will come to your rescue by providing refreshing your understanding of that tricky concept . . . in a way that is already familiar and comfortable for you.
- You need to start a professional library. So many health professionals begin their careers regretting that they sold off many of the essential reference tools they need to get started in a successful professional career. Your A&P textbook is the core around which you should begin building your professional library of resources.
- When you're out there in the "real world" you'll need some tools to help you cope with new situations. It's a great comfort to have your A&P book there to help you review basic concepts that you haven't run across in a while. When you're pulled to a different department, start a job in a new specialty, or struggle through a professional continuing education course, you'll find your old A&P book is a great place to dig out all those things you know you know . . . but with which you need some brushing up.
I just smile and reply, "you sold off yours after our course ended, didn't you?"
The sheepish reply then comes, "yeah, I know you told us to hold on to it but I didn't think I'd really need it. Now I REALLY need it to help me in my nursing course!"
[FYI, we A&P professors really do NOT have a pile of old A&P books laying around to give away.]
Considering that you rarely get much of a return on selling a used textbook, it really isn't much of a hardship to keep your A&P textbook. You'll be really glad that you did!
Also see my Study Tip Your Professional Library in the Lion Den.
