 An Excellent Book, 2006-03-13
I used this book as part of my Mathematical Methods option in the International Baccalaureate (IB) Program, and found it very helpful; the MEI series of books is not linked to any specific syllabus (although it has strong links with OCR), which makes them suitable for anybody taking an A-Level Mathematics subject or equivalent.The book strikes a perfect balance between introducing new concepts, detailing the composition and applications of said concept (through worked examples and extensive diagrams) and supplying questions to practice said concept. The pace is well judged, neither labouring a point unnecessarily nor overloading a reader with multiple concepts before adequately explaining them, which makes it ideal for self-study. Each chapter ends with a 'key-points' section, which is very useful for revision. Although this book essentially covers AS-Level Mathematics, I fully recommend this book to anyone taking a mathematics based subject. Topics covered:
Basic algebra; Co-ordinate geometry; Polynomials; Uncertainty; Indices; The language of mathematics; Sequences and series; Differentiation; Integration; Trigonometry; Logarithms and exponentials; Further differentiation and integration
A must have for the MEI A level maths syllabus, 2006-01-21
I found this text very useful, it is well set out and progresses gradually through the MEI syllabus teaching you all you need for the AS level exam. Diagrams and working are clearly displayed in an accessible manner. I quit the edexcel syllabus due to the quality of the Heinemann texts but this series has all you'll ever need for A level maths.
 Excellent, but not perfect, 2007-10-13
I did AS Maths (MEI/OCR) last year and for most of the year lazed around, barely paid attention in class and generally "dossed". When it came to the "exam season" I knew I had to get my act together and sat down with this book literally weeks (possibly 2 months) before the exam. I knew enough of C1 from class and GCSE level to be able to teach it to race through that section of the book, but we had only just started C2 when I went on study leave so it was like hitting a brick wall at first. But by persisting, I managed to steadily work through the chapters, reading the explanations and worked examples then doing the questions (whilst refering back to the examples) and checking the answers. 90% of the time I wouldn't move on until I could do all of the questions correctly and the breadth of questions was good enough to prepare me for the exam and get a good understanding.
The only thing that let it down was a slight gap in the worked examples. Often, the questions after a section would include methods which the book hadn't explained yet and hadn't worked through with examples yet. This was incredibly frustrating and I had to fall back onto other resources (online, going into school during study leave, friends/relatives)
Another thing to look out for is some typos/mistakes in the answers. On some questions I had worked through them fine but didn't get the answer that was at the back...and as I said, I wouldn't move on until I got the "right" answer. I wasted enough time due to this (and so it became 90% of the time because I came to accept that the book might just be wrong...)
All in all, a good book that I owe my grade to.
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