AS / A2 Level Biology

Clicking on the Revision Notes button takes you to a second screen where you can choose between A2 and AS course revision where you'll find individual chapters covering core principles, genes and genetic engineering, physiology and transport, behaviour and population, energy, control and continuity, environment and ecology and micro-organisms and disease. Clicking on any of the chapter headings takes you to a list of sub-sections which you can navigate in turn or scroll through using the mouse, jumping ahead to specific topics. Alternatively, click on the magnifying glass and you can search the entire CD-ROM for a specific word.

Although you'd struggle to call the chapters interactive the topics are well explained and lavishly illustrated; more important, information is often presented in a bullet point form that's ideal for revision purposes. All of the course modules are suitable for all examining boards.

The exam papers are a cross section of actual questions set by different examining boards in recent years and should give you a good idea of what to expect. The best way to "sit" them is to print out the question and then write the answer in the space provided. When you've finished, go back to the program and click the "eye" button and you'll see the examiner's answer.

One last point. The program authors point out that "While every effort has been made to place each topic in its appropriate AS or A2 category, different boards have, on occasions, placed topics in different modules and year groups". In other words, if you can't find something where you expect it to be, use the search tool.

Disappointing use of multimedia then, especially given the subject matter, but elsewhere there's evidence of considerable care and most particularly, focus on providing an efficient aid to revision and some good exam practice. --Rob Beattie