AFE PPL Course Series Pack : AFE - Airplan Flight Equipment
I used to teach using these books and found them very easy to use.
Use the aircraft stopwatch or timer on the ADF - turn it off and then on again on the runway for your FLT (flight) time and rest for ET (elapsed time - stopwatch). It is always visable in your scan as looking down into your lap is bound to mess up your flying. As long as you have a watch, you are legal.
I like the A4 boards because you can put them out of the way - keep it simple. Clip your plate to the back of the map so you don't fumble through a kneeboard adn again, you can raise it to eye height to see detail, not lower you head into your lap.
Bring the map upto you, don't look down if you can avoid it (don't strap it to a kneeboard).