Following on from the text book thread are there any really good GCSE level science books other than CPG revision guides that teachers can recommend?

[Foxjar]

TIA

[evenstrangerthings]

Not a text book sorry but the exam papers arranged by topic on the Save My Exams website are excellent for revision.

[Foxjar]

Don't want revision but more detailed good quality books that will help them enjoy science.

[Foxjar]

But thanks for the suggestion.

[TeenTimesTwo]

The Letts books have (or at used to have) more explanations than the CGP ones. The problem we had with them was they weren't exam board specific, so contained stuff DD didn't need to know. They were useful however for explaining stuff she didn't understand if I couldn't explain it to her.

[ILikeThatSong123]

My DDs school uses Activate books for science in the class. So we bought this book to use it at home too. The teacher also supplements that book with some additional printouts from some other books which I do not know the names of. And those additional printouts get glued in their workbook. She brings her workbook home before the end of subject tests to revise all the things they covered in the class so i have an idea what they've been learning and at what depth. And the good thing is, her school is following the Activate scheme exactly as it appears in the book in the same order so i know that if we cover the subjects in the Activate book, we are covered.

When it is the termly science test time, I can test her knowledge and her understanding and gauge what she is lacking which needs a different in depth tutorial, and we try to top it with other sources like questions from CPG books and Youtube tutorials. In other words I feel we have some degree of control about her science lessons. I have a science degree which helps. However I cannot say the same thing about any other subjects she's been learning ie no text books (except French which I'm clueless about) and no idea about the curriculum in English or geography or PD etc etc.
Oh we have maths online subsciption too which brilliant (vle Mathswatch). But the rest of the subjects are without any text books. I specifically ask DD if they ever use any books for any other subjects such as geography for instance where she's been learning about Coral Reefs lately... and she says nope, they have worksheets etc but no book is being brought in the class. Frustrating.

I am old fashioned educated, older mum who is in favour of text books from primary school onwards and I hate the photocopied worksheets and homework with a passion. Primary school years were wasted in my opinion without proper text books and unstructured wishy-washy curriculum but that's another matter.

[physicskate]

Not exam specific (most of the new gcse books aren't amazing as they were put together in about three months) but the physics/chemistry/biology for you books are still terrific!!

I'm a physics teacher...

I would recommend the new a Level book though. It's a keeper.

[Foxjar]

Those For You books look fab,but £30 each.😩

[Foxjar]

Don't really want exam specific but books that cover the main content of the syllabus really well.

[Fffion]

Text books for the GCSE specification that your DC is learning.

[Chemicalrainbow]

Are there no old edition ...for you books on eBay or similar? They’ve been around for years (there are three editions that I know of) and, if you’re not after exam board specific, they’ll be fine.

[Ontopofthesunset]

Every exam board produces or approves a text book for their course. Look up the specifications that your son is studying i.e. Edexcel or AQA etc and you can order straight from them. They are usually about £20 but if you mentally spread that cost over the course of the 2 years each book would only be a couple of pence a day and you presumably only want them for a few subjects.

[HarveySchlumpfenburger]

If you don’t mind used versions of the For you books or using amazon, there are a few places on Amazon selling them very cheap.

[Rosieposy4]

Don't buy second hand books ( not a philosophical view point, i mostly buy second hand novels) but they are not Good enough gh for the new soecs, there will be lots of missing content.
If doing AQA then I think either the one in attached photo or the hodder one

[Rosieposy4]

Sorry. Can teach, cannot type!