Students need good, well-structured case studies to support their answers in GCSE geography exams.

The Country Studies series offers an in-depth look at six countries; Italy, Brazil and Japan have already been published, the new titles are India, South Africa and the USA - a selection that encourages useful comparisons.

The 64-page books include a glossary, a Let’s Revise section and a Country Statistics page. Let’s Revise provides two pages of exam advice and a sample answer and comments. The statistics page uses up-to-date 19989 data of real value.

Country Studies: USA provides a sound background to the wide, open spaces, the people, cites and the economy with a series of regional comparisons that are suitable for many syllabuses. India has some excellent case studies, also looking to the future of the country. South Africa covers valuable topics like drought and desertification, townships and rural settlement, minerals and unequal regions.

Used together, these three publications will provide a well-balanced set of GCSE resources.

Karl Donert is senior lecturer in geography at Liverpool Hope University College