Financial & Travel Musings

If you’re trying to sell sell textbooks it’s often quite a sobering experience as to the value of second hand books.

The problem, of course, is that discounting is rife thanks to the likes of Amazon and that really drops the price of second hand books. However, that’s not always the case and sometimes rarity lifts the price considerably even of something that you would think obsolete.

For instance, just a few nights ago I realised that I needed to refresh my memory of calculus for a course that I hope to start in the new year. As it happens I still have a copy of a mechanics textbook printed way back in 1970. It’s seriously dated and although the theory is fine the practical parts use outdated units. Anyway, I figured that since it was a textbook with origins back to the 1940s there would be an updated edition of it around. There isn’t unfortunately but that same book is available second hand for about twice what I paid for it new 30 years ago yet for half that amount you can get a brand new copy of a similar textbook.

Even more interesting is a course that I looked at as a child in the 1970s which is now on sale for several hundred poundswhereas newer versions of the course are available for maybe twenty or thirty pounds. So, often you’ll find that the value of your course texts will increase over time.

Popularity: 1% [?]

One of the problems these days is that getting good results in your courses isn’t always enough to get in to the college you’re aiming for.

For many years the accepted standard test that colleges applied has been the GMAT and naturally that’s resulted in there being quite an industry built around GMAT prep training. Is it worth spending your money on any of it though?

Well, up to a point, yes. It’s essential to be familiar with the overall format of the GMAT itself, how the questions are presented, and even the relatively trivial organisation of the test centres. Even a very basic preparation is sure to raise your score by a few points and you can even find some programmes guaranteeing to raise your score by 50 points or perhaps a little more.

That sounds like a useful amount to raise your score as it’s more than enough to move you up a band in the results. If you are currently sitting just a little below the score you require for your preferred college then clearly it’s going to be money well spent. Don’t expect to raise your game by 100 points or more quite so easily as there’s only so much that can be done. Remember that a large part of the GMAT score essentially equates to an IQ and you can’t do much to raise that.

Popularity: 9% [?]

Although we’ve been going to the gym for a few months now, we’ve just been working our way around the various bits of equipment without bothering to find out what they’re called.

Sure, there’s the running machine but is that one that has your legs and arms all going at once called a ski-ing machine? On the weights side of things I just assumed that there were “weights” full-stop until recently but it seems that the weird looking thing that I’ve seen the really serious people working with is called a Kettlebell which sounds obviousl now that I’ve heard the name but before that I’d never even of thought of it having a name!

Isn’t it strange just how much you can be “into” something but not know anything about the terminology that it uses?

Popularity: 24% [?]