books

[kevina]

Hi all I'm new to these forums and indeed science in general.

 

I'm currently a middle aged man who has decided enouth is enouth and I'm on a course to get a degree. Science was something that always interested me at school and this is the course I am heading towards. I plan on studying with the open university as I can't afford to give up my day job but I've enrolled and start the course in febuary.

 

Anyhow here's my question

 

I'm doing s104 which is a introduction to all the basic sciences and fancy myself either working in chemestry or physics the problem is I did my gcses about 15 years ago. I've already got myself a gcse book on maths to remind myself what's what other than basic addition subtraction and multiplication and some percentages I havnt used any maths since school and am pretty rusty ( I did the open uni are you ready section and was confused with how to add and subtract fractions after a little internet snooping it all came back.

 

Anyhow could anyone suggest some of the more basic books to introduce me once again to chemestry and physics ? I forgot my periodic table so very basic is good . I did remember about adding atoms like h2o is 3 atoms 2 hydrogen and one oxygen and managed to work out what chlorine was made up of however as you can see I'm rather lacking in skills.

 

As for physics sadly other than basic magnetism I honestly don't recall anything I did at school so would have to pretty much relearn it all again.

 

A few books suggested are

 

As level biology

Moles a survival guide

Aqa science

Gcse chemestry

21st century science gcse chemestry textbook.

 

I figure if I can get back upto gcse level I won't appear so dim when I start my undergraduate work.

 

On a side note I don't understand everything you guys write on the main forums but I believe I atleast get the jist of what you are saying and its very interesting stuff

 

Thanks kev

 

And I just found the what science books do you recommend section. Listed under books funny enough

[Royston]

Anyhow here's my question

 

I'm doing s104 which is a introduction to all the basic sciences and fancy myself either working in chemestry or physics the problem is I did my gcses about 15 years ago. I've already got myself a gcse book on maths to remind myself what's what other than basic addition subtraction and multiplication and some percentages I havnt used any maths since school and am pretty rusty ( I did the open uni are you ready section and was confused with how to add and subtract fractions after a little internet snooping it all came back.

 

Anyhow could anyone suggest some of the more basic books to introduce me once again to chemestry and physics ? I forgot my periodic table so very basic is good . I did remember about adding atoms like h2o is 3 atoms 2 hydrogen and one oxygen and managed to work out what chlorine was made up of however as you can see I'm rather lacking in skills.

 

As for physics sadly other than basic magnetism I honestly don't recall anything I did at school so would have to pretty much relearn it all again.

 

I studied S103 (just over six years ago) and have a couple friends who studied S104. The topics are pretty much explained from the ground up. Admittedly I didn't do any preliminary study...(neither did my friends) but it's definitely a good idea to be prepared. I think getting hold of some GCSE text books is a good idea, so get one for each discipline i.e maths, physics, chemistry, biology and geology. The BBC GCSE bitesize site would be a good place to test your knowledge once you've worked through the books.

 

Good luck ! I've been with the OU for over 6 years now, and I've never looked back. It's been a very rewarding experience and is very addictive.

 

EDIT: Also, remember you can ask on here if you get stuck on anything...I'm sure somebody would be more than happy to help.

Edited June 4, 2012 by Royston

[imatfaal]

Echo all that Royston had to say - especially the bit about asking if you have any questions. There is a homework help forum - don't be put off by the name, some of the stuff in there makes my hair curl!

 

I did a degree and a masters at Birkbeck - so mutual kudos to the mature students brigade!

[kevina]

Thanks for the replys. I'm gonna go ahead and pick up the above mentioned books. I've got to do a 15 point introduction called introducing enviroment before I can.start s104 its a automatic pass no tmi r anything just to get used to writeing at university level. The choices were either that or the maths bit feeling pretty good about my maths having worked through a few gcse problems from previous years.

 

Also there's a 30 point module in year 1 which is compulsary and that's a maths module which will count for a lot more than the free one that was on offer.

 

Thanks for the support and no doubt you shall hear from me again in the coming months till then I shall continue lurking and reading various threads which interest me.

[LGM]

Anyhow could anyone suggest some of the more basic books to introduce me once again to chemestry and physics ? I forgot my periodic table so very basic is good . I did remember about adding atoms like h2o is 3 atoms 2 hydrogen and one oxygen and managed to work out what chlorine was made up of however as you can see I'm rather lacking in skills.

The OU books themselves are really accessible. I guess because they're written for self study they explain things more fully than other books at the same level. Some s104 books second hand would be a really good way of getting yourself ready for the course. It's a really good course but one heck of a lot of work.

Edited June 11, 2012 by LGM