The Letts range of GCSE titles are revision courses on CD-ROM covering every exam board. Each title is designed with the specific course in mind-you cannot revise the same way for each subject (as there are no set "right" or "wrong" answers in English, unlike Chemistry for example). Once the program has been installed (please note you will still need to put the CD in the drive due to the large amount of content) you will need to log in as a user. Multiple users can be entered and all individual scores and progress will be stored. You're now ready to revise. The main screen provides three main options-Revision, Progress and Mock Exam. "Revision" is broken into the main study sections and includes exam and revision hints and tips. "Progress" is where you'll find the records of results, how much content you've covered and which areas need more practice. The "Mock Exam" includes the answers, so you can test yourself first or run through the paper and view the answers at the same time. As well, the software comes with a manual that's also available online within the program, a timer which allows you to set limits for revision sessions and a pop-up notebook. [+]

Smart Start French is enough to make a French teacher's palms sweat-almost. The package is well designed and modern-to use fancy teaching lingo, it applies the successful "communicative approach" popular since the mid-1980s. Thus, you'll emphasise communication skills instead of grammar and word-for-word translations. Sure, you'll make mistakes, but people will understand you-and that's what's realistic for the time you've got before you head to Paris, right? Using this integrated CD-ROM, audio CD, and workbook, you'll learn French in a dizzying variety of ways: CD-ROM: Vocabulary games in contexts like food and sightseeing Practice and games ranging from adaptations of Go Fish! to BingoThe listening and reading games are exceptional among language-learning software packages Tip: If your computer has a microphone, you can practise your pronunciation and get feedback from the software Audio CD: New vocabulary, workbook conversations, and pronunciation Listening comprehension exercises, including dictations Tip: Take it in the car with you Of course nobody becomes fluent in French just by playing on the computer. You have to use your French with other people who speak French. Moreover, this isn't a replacement for a competent and systematic French teacher. The focus is on spoken French and commonly used phrases, rather than reading and writing and grammar. The non-intuitive icons are the only shortcoming in the software, but the User's Manual will help you figure them out. If you have a fair amount of free time but aren't a class-taking person, working conscientiously through Smart Start French will have you understanding basic written and spoken French in a month or so, and you should emerge able to say a few simple, useful things, too. Most importantly, this package is fun for both the student supplementing classroom work or the adult seeking to improve their French vocabulary and pronunciation before travel or work in France. [+]

Designed to help candidates revise for their GCSE English, Maths and Science, this three-CD set tests their command of the basic information needed to get through the exams. The games may appear rather unsophisticated to teenagers used to playing the complex games now on the market, but they are a way of sugar-coating the work needed to revise. (Those who have used Full Marks products at an earlier level should be warned that there is only one new type of game not found on earlier sets, and even some of the questions are repeated from the SATS Key Stage 3 sets. )Each of the three disks covers 10 to 11 areas of each subject, giving the user a choice of four different games to play on each disk. These test a student's knowledge using multiple choice questions. Each question is colour coded, and the object is to match the answer to a feature of the same colour in the game. If the student gets the answer wrong, the correct solution is highlighted. Should they need further help revising the subject, each level has help pages which give a summary of the field and provide all the information they need to get the correct answer. The software requires a minimum of 16MB RAM, Pentium or equivalent. -Julia Cresswell.