Students will need access to at least trigonometric functions. The minimum-requirement scientific calculator is the fx-83GT CW / fx-85GT CW. This has all the functionality required for GCSE. Schools should be telling you to get the CW now since that’s the current model, but some haven’t caught up yet and are still telling students to buy the GTX – which is now hard to get hold of new at a reasonable price. The same thing happened when the GTX replaced the GT Plus. Some schools and colleges required, and some still require, their A-level students to buy more expensive graphical calculators – calculators that can plot graphs on their screens, such as the CG50 – since these are often perceived to give the student an advantage. This may well have been true in the past, but the exam boards have got wise and nowadays exam questions are carefully worded so that the possession of a graphical calculator doesn’t give the candidate a significant advantage. That’s EIGHT key presses instead of two – not to mention having to remember which menus to go into.

Until the current GCSE and A-level specifications came in (2015 and 2017 respectively), the standard calculator in most English schools for both GCSE and A-level for a good few years had been the Casio fx-83GT Plus – or the fx-85GT Plus, which was exactly the same except that it had a solar panel as well as battery power. The fx-85GTX takes the UK's Number One Scientific Calculator a step further, by offering Solar Power to ensure no loss of battery during those crucial exams. From the comments I’ve seen on social media from other Maths teachers, I’m far from alone in having a strong preference for the older Classwiz fx-83/85GT X and 991EX models over these new CW calculators. Casio doesn’t appear to have done much field testing of the new models before launching them on the world! Natural Textbook Display (Natural-V.P.A.M), shows mathematical expressions as they appear in textbooks. There’s no S-D button for simple conversion of results between fractions and decimals. The answer always defaults to a fraction, and to get it into decimal format you have to either (a) press FORMAT, use the arrow keys to select the preferred format and press OK or EXE, or (b) press Shift then EXE to get a decimal approximation (i.e. rounded decimal form) – but the latter option will only work correctly if pressing EXE doesn’t prompt the calculator to carry out another calculation.

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Complete the short form that accompanies your product. Please ensure that you complete all of the sections, as this will guarantee the timely processing of your return/exchange. The A-level model now has the generic equation solver function in the same place as the quadratic and simultaneous equation solvers, rather than in an apparently random position above the CALC button. The standard GCSE model in the UK for the past seven or eight years has been the Casio Classwiz fx-83/85GT X (centre in the image), though in early 2023 Casio brought out the fx-83/85GT CW, which is very different and which has replaced the GT X (despite a poor reception from UK Maths teachers). More on that in this blog post. The new A-level specification required the candidate to use a calculator featuring certain statistical functions that the GCSE model didn’t have, so the new standard model for A-level was the Classwiz fx-991EX. This also included some additional functions to help with solving equations, so it could be useful for GCSE too.

In short, the new CW calculators are a lot more complicated to use than the older X models, and don’t offer any significant improvements that I can see.

Of course, graphing software is an extremely useful teaching and learning tool, but Desmos is free and much more intuitive to use than a graphical calculator, and Autograph, also available free, is a very powerful alternative, so in my opinion there’s really no need for a graphical calculator. So what do I need to know about these new CW calculators? The CASIO FX-85 GT CW comes with additional features, including a high definition display and improved menu navigation. Approved for Key stages 3 & 4, recommended for GCSE, National and Higher, Junior and Leaving. If you require any further information relating to the Delivery service used, please call us at +44 (0)20 8208 9567. The A-level models have additional functions such as solving quadratics and simultaneous equations which can be useful at GCSE too, as well as Statistics functions that you don’t need until A-level. So if there’s any chance of you continuing with Maths beyond GCSE then it’s a worthwhile investment. (You’ll probably need it if you do Core Maths too, though it does depend on which board and which modules you study. It – or an equivalent – is certainly required for the Statistical Techniques option on the AQA spec.) However, the advanced scientific calculator fx-991EX will give students an advantage for both learning and the exam in solving equations. Please see below to compare these calculators.

Our nominated carrier is Parcel Force. Deliveries are made Monday – Friday between 9.00am – 6.00pm (excluding Bank Holidays). Students will need access to at least trigonometric functions. The minimum-requirement scientific calculator is the fx-83G CW or fx-85GT CW. These have all the functionality required for GCSE. However the advanced scientific calculator fx-991CW will give students an advantage for both learning and the exam in solving equations. Please see our model comparison to evaluate these calculators. Maths is a visual subject. A graphic calculator allows students to draw graphs and statistical charts, as well as make the same calculations as a scientific calculator. Many schools now use our fx-CG50 graphic calculator which gives a significant learning advantage, especially at the higher tier. Please see our model comparison on why it might be worth considering this calculator. Which Scientific Calculator? As I mentioned previously, lots of functions – too many to list here – now require more key presses than they did before. A particularly annoying one is nCr (to calculate the number of combinations of r items chosen from a set of n – used in binomial expansion and the binomial probability distribution). Previously it was the Shift function above the ÷ key, but now it takes the following series of key presses to get to the same place: functions; new functions on the ‘GTX’ model include Ratio, Digit Separator, Advanced Statistics, Advanced Tables and Variables ListThe Casio fx-83GT CW ClassWiz is the new upgraded version of the Casio fx-83GT X (the UK’s best-selling scientific calculator), containing additional features, to include a high definition display and improved menu navigation. Allowed in every UK exam where a calculator can be used. Recommended and approved for Key Stages 3 & 4 (including GCSE, National and Higher, Junior and Leaving). Sept 2023: A fellow Maths tutor on Facebook recently had a meeting with a Casio representative to discuss these new models. We are told that the intention was to make them more like a phone to use (though I find it hard to see much resemblance myself) and that younger children who aren’t already accustomed to a particular scientific calculator layout have adapted well to its use. However, we are talking about 11-year-olds, and I find it hard to imagine that they’ve been using many of the functions needed for Higher GCSE and A-level Maths! For GCSE Maths, you will need a scientific calculator, but just about any model will do; see AQA’s guidance below for a list of the functions you need. The large Natural Textbook Display shows mathematical expressions like roots and fractions as they appear in your textbooks which increases comprehension because results are easier to understand.