Math Success Reviewer's Comments

Math Success Deluxe 2008 is not just for kids, this series is good for anyone who wants to improve or update their math skills. This "TopTenREVIEWS Gold Award" winner offers complete coverage of all math subjects, including basic math, introductory geometry and algebra.

Although this program takes the top honor, it is not a game program. It focuses on content, instructional quizzes, formulas, definitions and simulations rather than games or cartoon animations.

This program is aimed towards older children and only includes one disc on addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. The second disc covers subjects like factoring, fractions, decimals, percentages, the metric system and ratios. Since this series has eight discs and covers many subjects it can be helpful for more than one grade level or is a good refresher for adults.

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Teaching Tools:  

We looked at the first two discs of this series that cover topics applicable to fourth through sixth graders. This success series totals eight discs; we also reviewed this series in the geometry review.

The first disc is a SpeedMath disc and the second is a Math Odyssey pre-algebra disc. The first disc includes a virtual classroom with text, visual and audio instruction and many drills aimed towards improving accuracy and speed. Each drill or quiz includes a report card with scores and times.

The second disc includes tutorials, an index, formulas, a calculator, an interactive zone and testing. This disc is in the Math Odyssey program and the layout is similar to other discs in this series.

Although this program scores high in the teaching area, it does not score high in the fun area. This program is high in content but does not include entertaining games.

Topics Covered:  

The first two discs in this series cover addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, decimals, percents, ratios, measurements, pre-algebra and some math history.

The other discs include the topics of Algebra I & II, geometry, trigonometry, pre-calculus, calculus, basic statistics and statistics. This may be a good choice if you have students of different ages in your home, or for adults who want to update all of their math skills for a college placement or entrance exam.

Ease of Install/Use:  

This product installs quickly and is easy to use. However, while in the virtual classroom of the first disc the sound stuttered a bit.

Help/Support:  

This product contains inter-program help, a user manual and email support. Online they relate that they have FAQs and a searchable knowledgebase, however when we looked, we could not find any information pertaining to this series.

Summary:  

This is the most comprehensive, easy to use math program available for kids over 10 or adults. It covers all math subjects from basic math to calculus; however, on the down side it does not include amusing games.