I bet there is at least one to agree to the fact that a student’s performance in exams is always below his/her expectation. It’s never hand in gloves with the preparation. Here, I sit beside a crisp dirty book stand that required cleaning months ago. All I see is books, variety of notes, journals and test papers popping out. Shouldn’t that actually be directly proportional to the scores a student should get? I would wonder what more efforts it should take to help score better?

It took me a long time to judge the correct requirement to excel. It’s not about the number of books, but the right set of books you refer. It’s not about the nice handwriting but the right concept that wins grades. It’s simply the correct selection of matter. Reference or textbooks? Selection is very important.

Textbooks are a standard source of information with built-in study content for schools, colleges, and other educational institutes.

• They are precise, small and help a fast run through of concepts.
• Reduces waste of time in searching & scanning through chunks of data.
• Language is simpler and understood by all.
• Possess designed answers ready to be mugged and produced.
• More no. of pictures adds to the excitement and curiosity.
• Most importantly, it’s an ‘all in one’ book. Thus can be read in all positions. Doesn’t need you to sit up tight like a robot. One can stretch, can laze around and can read them in all moods possible- be it grumpy, sloppy or even gay. Ask me how many times I have slept with the book flat on my face. The times are many!

Not only do these books win preferences among students but also among many professors in almost all fields.

A Reference book is more a kind of a dictionary or an encyclopedia.

• Gives authoritative information.
• Prepared to contain broad coverage of the subject.
• The books are huge, with endless number of pages to read through. The reader here is never besides but many a times almost on the book. That’s the hugeness!
• They are time consuming and many in number. Every engineering student has to go through at least fifty plus reference books in B.E. Even four years of engineering wouldn’t finish it all. One is a ‘Babu’ other a ‘Rashid’. Are Indain authors less, to add even the foreign names like ‘Kang’ in the list? Arghhhhhh..
• Reference books are limited and expensive to hold personal copies of all of them.
• Language is at times way beyond the understanding capabilities of a moderate student.

• They are most remembered at the time of semester vivas and oral exams.

Question is - Why doesn’t the list end at the local Max publications or any Unique solutions?

Even textbooks can be of various categories:

1. Course books specify the measured specific syllabus for a particular subject area within a given curriculum.
2. Training manuals highlight the practical steps of sequential completion of an activity.
3. Revision books cover the questions seen in recent past exams.

Yet, all these books are not complete without the supplement of reference books.

The simple answer to all above questions is that textbooks spoon feed students. Knowledge acquired is forgotten as soon as you’re out of an examination hall. They are always assumed to be correct. But the saddest part is that even revised editions show flaws not very less than newer ones. It may be a ‘kt-saver’ but will never play a ‘score-builder’. It may be cheaply available but won’t help clear fundamental concepts.

On the other hand reference books require efforts. Studying through a reference book is not easy. But it is information retained for life. They concretize every student’s fundamentals and inculcate in every learner the source of correct thinking. They channelize a student’s brain into the industrial world.

This is not only for the newcomers to degree fields like engineering, but applicable to students all over. It’s never too late to open a reference book. That is indeed the right set of matter. Time consuming, but assured correct knowledge. A blend of both is a must. The concepts from a reference book and the format of answers from a textbook is what according to me is the correct selection of data. So, choose it wisely, open it regularly, study it patiently, and learn to score it with the Right Pick Of Matter.

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