The things I'd actually recommend.
Parents often ask me which revision guides, books, calculators or bits of kit are actually worth buying. So I've put the things I regularly recommend in one place, along with a little guidance about what they're useful for.
Maths
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CGP GCSE Maths Revision Guides
These are the Maths books I recommend most often. I use them as a little reference bible — somewhere to quickly refresh a topic when you've forgotten how it works.
Choose your exam board and tier below. For most pupils, the Revision Guide is the one I'd start with; you don't need to buy a pile of different books.
English
CGP English Literature Text Guides
I recommend these for quickly refreshing plot, characters, themes and quotations — particularly as exams approach.
Use them to help you know the text, not to learn somebody else's analysis. In lessons, I'm much more interested in what you think and how well you can support it.
Online lessons
The drawing tablets I actually use
You don't need an expensive tablet with a built-in screen for online lessons. A simple pen tablet lets you write naturally on our shared whiteboard, work through calculations and draw diagrams as we go.
XP-Pen Deco 02 — my everyday tablet. This is the one that's been sitting on my desk for years and gets used lesson after lesson. It's an older model now and isn't readily available, so I wouldn't specifically go hunting for one.
My advice: a simple pen tablet is plenty for online maths tuitionCalculator
Which calculator should I buy?
You don't need anything particularly fancy for GCSE Maths. For most pupils, I'd go for the Casio fx-85GT CW+. It has everything you'll need for GCSE and is suitable for both Edexcel and AQA. View the fx-85GT CW+ on Amazon.
If you're doing Higher Maths and are likely to continue with Maths beyond GCSE, the Casio fx-991CW+ UK is worth considering instead. It costs more, but gives you additional functions that become useful as the Maths gets more advanced and means you won't immediately need another calculator if you move on to A-level. View the fx-991CW+ UK on Amazon.
Whichever you choose, I'd much rather see you become really familiar with one good scientific calculator than buy the most complicated model available and never learn where anything is.
My pick for most GCSE pupils: Casio fx-85GT CW+Not sure which one you need?
If you're already one of my pupils, just ask me. I'd much rather tell you which edition, exam board or bit of equipment is actually useful than have you buy the wrong thing. Otherwise, you're welcome to get in touch and ask.