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Any program aimed at this particular market has to go for a fusion of two separate concepts - those of teaching, or revising in the case, a concept by giving examples and detail and the concept of testing to see if it has been learned adequately. In the past I have seen packages that do the first very well but skimp on the second and vice versa. This package seems to have got the balance just right and has done it in a very attractive and interesting way.

Don't think that these programs can replaced good teaching or hard work. They can't, but they might be able to make some of the boring bits seem just a little more enjoyable. The package is based on a menu program from which you select the topic or area of the syllabus that you wish to cover. The range is comprehensive and whilst I cannot give a full list, some of the topics are: Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry and Statistics in Part 1 and all these plus Matrices and Probability in Part 2.

On selecting the area, you are told to insert the data tape and the correct section is loaded. There then follows a number of tutorial screens explaining the area, sometimes with graphics. On occasions there may be other "overlap" screens which you can select. At the end of each section there is a test of ten questions on the material covered. These contain references to the appropriate section of the tutorial and the screen can be recalled by pressing the f0 key.

It is at this point that the quality of the package starts to show for, besides the main screen, pressing ESCAPE takes you to a "scratchpad" where you can enter expressions to be valuated just as you might on a calculator. These are left on the bottom of the screen so that you can use them in your answers. This is a good idea and I'm surprised that some other packages haven't used it too.

The final selection from each menu is an examination made up of twenty questions to be answered in one hour. Once again this is a good idea and the questions cover those areas in the tutorial sections. There is a range of question types and they are selected at random from the store within the data tape, meaning that the option can be used more than once.

The quality of good educational software is obvious at every turn and this package has that quality. I have no reservations at all about recommending its use to all those who need such a suite.

Dave Carlos