Calculator Programs -- Legal or no?

Sly_Si
Mon, 15 Jan 2007 16:55:44 +0000

Personally, I’d like to see calculators banned from the SAT entirely. The way I see it, there are really only two kinds of things a calculator can do. One kind–like multiplying large numbers–is something that shouldn’t be tested on the SAT, since it’s just a matter of punching things into a calculator. The other–like solving triangles–is something that students should be able to do on their own, and if they can’t, they shouldn’t get credit for it. I suppose things like graphing equations don’t really fall under either category, but I can’t remember any SAT problem for which this has been a critical function. And you should be able to get a rough idea of the shape of a graph just from looking at the equation anyway.

This would require a slightly different style of problems, but it’s not that difficult to tailor a test so that it can be taken without a calculator. The AMC writers do it all the time.