MATHS CONNECTIONS: GCSE Revision software for Windows 95. pound;24.99 single user. pound;149.99 network licence. By Tim Price Dauntsey’s School Devizes, Wiltshire SN10 4HE This was a pleasant surprise; software, written by a school mathematics department, which is as good as many commercially available packages.
The presentation is of a high standard and the coverage of GCSE topics is exhaustive. Users select a topic then complete a path across a grid by answering questions correctly. Wrong answers mean a longer path must be constructed.
Where appropriate, an on-screen scientific calculator appears (although not for questions where mental arithmetic should be used). Tests can be taken at any time, and you can construct your own. A logbook keeps a record of all the questions answered and the scores.
One of this program’s advantages over other packages is its tolerance of the variety of forms in which answers may be given.
It also does not require special notation to deal with powers or fractions. However, the program makes no claims to teach mathematics, and so the help function is limited to advice on using the program rather than on answering the questions.
Despite these restrictions, the package is impressive as an easy-to-use source of comprehensive practice questions.
