The books are highly structured and work best when students work through the whole book, rather than picking sections from it. The book deliberately does not have a list of contents to avoid any temptation to begin coaching part way through the text. Ideally, the book should be used 4 or 5 times a week, with each session lasting for about 10 to 15 minutes. On each page of the book there is a “script” that describes the mathematical exercise to be performed and indicates how the student should answer the questions. The programme requires that each question is answered correctly on three consecutive occasions on different days. When a question is answered correctly, the coach places a tick on the line, a question answered incorrectly is marked with a dot. The repetition and reinforcement involved in this "three tick" system is particularly beneficial to dyslexic and dyscalculic students. There is a full explanation and example pages at the start of each book. There is space on each page of the book for working out solutions, but students are encouraged to calculate without using pen and paper. These books are essentially about putting in place the building blocks of number and developing skills with mental calculations. Plus 1 is suitable for students aged about six upwards. It is the introductory book of the series, and covers counting on and back, counting dots, reading numbers, counting on and back in 10's, addition and subtraction, reading signs, doubling and pairs of numbers that make 10.
