REVISION FOR SCIENCE KEY STAGE 4 WITH ANSWERS. By Joe Boyd and Walter Whitelaw. John Murray #163;5.99. (#163;4.50 without answers)

Tests and exams preoccupy parents, teachers and pupils - which means a growing market for revision materials. Pupils want easily digestible resources, but for the teacher, value for money is imperative.

Each NEAB book contains 150 pages of text, questions, terminal exam questions and answers. So why are they only Pounds 4.99? Simple - Heinemann has used the same text for the “Co-ordinated” and “Modular” books, and printed them in black and white with few photographs.

The four books are arranged in attainment target order with four sections within each chapter. Test questions provide a coherent and cost-effective package.

The John Murray materials are let down by their design and paper quality.Content is arranged by attainment target - including Sc1 - and divided into Foundation and Higher tiers.

The text is interspersed with a mass of questions, calculations, incomplete tables and spaces for diagrams. The layout has the narrowest margins possible and, given that these are the second edition, one would have expected something more appealing.

Justin Dillon is director of the International Education Unit, School of Education, King’s College London