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Standardized test calculator rules in this country are not governed by reason. For instance, a TI-89 is allowed on the SATs, but a TI-92 is not. Basically the
by Crito 12y ago
Standardized test calculator rules in this country are not governed by reason.
For instance, a TI-89 is allowed on the SATs, but a TI-92 is not. Basically the same calculator, except the TI-92 has a qwerty keyboard. How would a tiny little qwerty keyboard actually give you an advantage on a test like the SAT? Who the hell knows. Remember 10 or so years ago when teenagers were all typing on telephone keypads?
On the other hand, the advantage of a TI-89 (with a CAS) over a TI-83+ (without one) is fairly extreme.
(Also, anyone who bothers to google it can trivially get around the reset key combos for at least 83+ line: http://brandonw.net/calculators/fake/ http://brandonw.net/calculators/fake/ Somebody who takes the time to program their calculator for cheating on a test can do this)
- baddox 12y agoI don't know if it's fair to say that the rules aren't governed by reason. You're thinking only of the capabilities of the calculator, but there are other potential reasons that are valid. It could be a simple matter of wanting to make it easy for testing staff to identify acceptable calculators by making the list of acceptable calculators very small.
- mdturnerphys 12y agoThe TI-92 with its keyboard was banned not because it would help the test taker, but because of a worry that the full keyboard would enable copying the test to send to someone in a later timezone.
- Crito 12y agoI am skeptical that it would be of any help, particularly since the calculator is only allowed to be out during the math sections, not during the language/written sections. With the 89's input history, you could effectively record the mathematics section merely by running it all through your calculator and then extracting the history after the fact.