Brilliant Revision Aids (Co-ordination Group Publications)

Member Name: blonde_girl774

Product:	Co-ordination Group Publications
Date:	21/11/08 (253 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to Understand, Colourful Layout & Great Overall.

Disadvantages: The Humour is a little Cringe Worthy.

I recently needed to brush up on my GCSE knowledge of maths and science. As I've not really studied either of these subjects since my GCSE days about seven years ago now I knew that I needed some sort of miracle. However my mum reminded me about a box full of revision materials from my time at high school so I decided to have a little root to see if there was anything helpful.

I came across several text books before pulling out a Coordination Group Publication and I knew that I might just have found my miracle. These books were an absolute godsend during my GCSEs and really helped me with revision, far more than any other books I had at the time. I quickly ordered the accompanying books so I had a full set in maths and science from age 7 upwards.

Who are CGP?

Coordination Group Publications was founded back in 1864, long before many publishers began. They've always focused on educational books and have been publishing their current study books up since 1995. They pride themselves on offering helpful products at affordable prices. The books range from Key Stage 1 which is suitable for Year 1 and 2 at primary school, right up to AS and A Level. They also produce Welsh books as well for those in Welsh schools.

The Concept of the Books

The concept of the books is largely focused on the fact that colour and fun will promote and aid in learning. They were designed to not only get across the necessary information but to keep children entertained while reading them. The books are really easy to understand and they certainly managed to hold even my attention over the past couple of days.

The books are separated into sections and each section will have a number of topics as well as a revision section at the end. Each separate page will have a title and then sub headings as most pages are split into a couple of sections to break down the learning. At the bottom are several questions to test yourself on with the answers being found at the back.

Bright colours are a necessity as well as plenty of colourful diagrams. The font is always black on a white background with important words or titles being in bold or in red. The pages never feel overcrowded and as each page is normally a separate topic the books are designed so you can focus on a page and feel you've actually learnt something.

The best thing about these books is that they manage to break down even difficult topics. For example maths, think of a difficult maths simultaneous equation and they actually go through it step by step so it's impossible not to understand where the solution comes from. They can take a difficult problem and make it seem far simpler than many teachers can!

The books are normally around one hundred pages, the AS and A Level ones might be slightly longer. About five or six pages are devoted to contents and an index while about twelve pages are devoted to revision sections and answers at the back. As such in most books you get about eighty pages of pure academic knowledge which in my opinion is good value.

Although revision guides are the main things that CGP produce, which are all largely in line with the current National Curriculum, they also produce other material as well. Workbooks, text guides and practise papers are just an example of these other products and I've found them all to be just as useful and attention holding as the revision guides themselves.

Obviously it isn't recommended that you rely on these books alone to get your child through his / her SATS or GCSEs. Other methods must be used as there really is no replacement for learning through a teaching at school. However they are a great back up, they allow your child to check they really do understand things and can just add a little bit of reinforcement too.

My only other criticism is the humour that is used throughout the books. Some of it is funny, but some of it is more cringe worthy. I think they may have tried a little too hard at times and sometimes they do sound a little patronising with things like, "maths really is an awful big complicated subject/" Most of the time they do simply try to be encouraging though.

The Range

As I've already mentioned the books stretch from Key Stage 1 right up to A Level. The subjects vary at each key stage, for example Key Stage 1 only has books in English, maths and science whereas Key Stage 3 and GCSE also have books in English language, English literature, humanities, languages, science and technology as obviously they cover more subjects at these levels. The AS and A2 level books are similar to those at Key Stage 1 as these are quite a new range to the site and I imagine it's a range they are continually developing.

The Prices

The best thing about these books are the prices. They tend to retail at between £3.00 and £11.00 which I consider to be really good value, the higher prices are for the AS and A Level books. If you go onto the CGP website you can pick up absolute bargains with books being priced at as little as £2.00. If you order them through a school you get a further discount and can pick these books up for as little as £1.50 each.

My Opinion

In the past I have owned several different brands of books and I have found that these are not only the easiest to use but also the most effective at explaining topics. Of course some of the topics in here are explained at quite a basic level so if you were looking to go for the A* grade in GCSE for example then you might want to invest in a slightly more complex revision guide. They're also based on the National Curriculum and not an exam board's criteria which means they're not specific to any exam board. In other words don't be alarmed if you come across a topic that you've never done at school because chances are it won't be in your syllabus.

Although they are cheap I just want to reiterate here that they're certainly not cheap in terms of quality. My books are all still intact and only a little battered from all those years ago. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend these books to anyone; they really break down difficult subjects and explain them using a step by step method which is ideal for anyone who is struggling with a concept. Out of the all the revision books I've had I'd say that these have been the most valuable investments. I've found them so useful over the past few days and honestly believe it was money well spent!

Thanks for reading.

Summary: A range of affordable revision guides from CGP.