Brain Box – A review “Highly recommended”

This Brain Box is a book that focuses upon guiding students through that sticky period of preparing for and taking exams at all levels. This encompasses presenting good learning habits and how they can become habitual and normal practice as well considering motivational issues. The book is written primarily for students as it is part guide, part notebook, part reference book. However, I would argue that the book would be of great use for teachers, as the book contains easy to implement activities, particularly for revision, which can be used in lessons for any subjects, as well as parents, as there is plenty of practical advice which can enable parents to support their child effectively in that nervous exam season. I would also add, that this book would be an ideal resource for any teachers who oversee their school’s PSHE programme, as the activities in this book can (and might say) should be implemented in a Year 11 PSHE provision.

The book is well structured and starts with considering effective habits of success and motivation issues, which are clearly rooted in theory and modern thinking as mindsets and the theory behind flow are covered extremely effectively here. Indeed, this resource would be very effective in a CPD session on how these ideas can be implemented in the classroom. Then, it takes us through exploring effective ways of working including some great strategies and the best explanation I have seen on how to use the popular idea of foldables. Then the book methodically looks at how to deal with revision, exams and results, which all students and parents should read as they would gain great advice and confidence from the information given here.

As with all Independent Learning Press books, The Brain Box is gorgeously and attractively designed which makes this wealth of great advice and information eye catching and well-structured. Benton and Hodgson have adopted an informal and accessible writing style which adds greatly to the value of this book and helps communicate a range of potentially challenging and demanding theoretical ideas effectively. This is a resource, which can help all those – teachers, parents, and, most importantly, students – who are stakeholders in the examination season maximise performance at whatever level they are at or role that they carry out. Highly recommended.