I’m of the mind that if a textbook is listed in the required materials, I should get it. Usually, I do so and I have used the book sufficiently enough to justify the purchase.

But I admit, there have been times when I wondered why I even bought a book, why I wasted what little money I had on a book I was told I needed, only to feel cheated out of that money when the end of the semester rolled around.

This kind of thing happens, probably more than some would like to admit.

However, that doesn’t completely sway me to quit buying the textbooks I am told I will need for a class.

I’d like to believe my professors are not pulling my chain when listing a book in the required course materials. I respect them enough to show up to class with what was asked of me to be prepared to use said materials when needed.

Especially if it is a class for my major, I will always buy what is asked of me. And I’m the kind of person who will buy the books knowing that I’ll probably keep them, because I believe their purpose will probably benefit me past a certain week in a particular class.

I’m often baffled when students don’t buy the books asked of them. More often than not, a student actually needs the book, yet it is never purchased.

How do you expect to learn anything – never mind succeed in a class and pass – if you don’t put in the work?

Often, these are the students who I’m surprised even made it to college, so maybe that says more about a particular kind of student than about the issue at hand.

I know sometimes we get shafted in this effort to be good students, but that doesn’t mean you should just quit getting the materials you need.

If anything, instructors may need to be more cognizant of the materials they are telling us we must buy. That is where much of the problem lies, is it not?

Whatever the case, if you truly want to succeed, and not just in a class or in college, but beyond in a way that benefits your own self, buy the books, read them, do the work.

Being ill prepared is only going to hurt yourself, so why not arm yourself with the means to succeed?