I just wanted to complain a little. I think collegeboard should not set their math tests in a way that would favour people with graphing calculators as opposed to ordinary calculators. Graphing calculators shouldn’t be allowed on the test. It’s very unfair. Graphing calculators aren’t even sold in my country and their prices online are higher than average wage in my country.
If you don’t have the money to pay for a calculator, how do you expect to pay for college, let alone living costs in the US?
Financial aid
There are only a few schools that “meet need” (aka give good financial aid) to international students. And those schools are mostly the ones with sub-10% acceptance rates.
Unfortunately I’ll have to apply only to those then.
I’m aware of those details. The problem is the SAT 2 lol. Is it possible to learn to use a calculator in 1 day?
@CrimsonZa I don’t know of any question on Math II that requires capabilities of a graphing calculator - do you have any examples in mind?
AP Calculus, on the other hand, has calculator sections in which a graphing calculator is pretty much necessary.
If you are only referring to the basic functionality of a graphing calculator (plotting functions, solving equations), I think so. More advanced things, like doing statistics or writing your own programs could take more time.
While you’re at it, why not also complain that it’s so unfair that the SAT is given only in English, and English isn’t the official language in every country in the world…
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
The OP’s ability to pay for college is beyond the scope of the thread. S/he’s asked for chances elsewhere, so is well aware of the challenges involved. No need to regurgitate.
Apples and oranges. The language of instruction for American colleges is English, so nobody should complain that the required/recommended standardized testing is in English. Regardless, although the OP is international, the official language of his/her country is English.
Thank You @skieurope
Yours is not a new complaint for College Board. The same issue has been raised often in the past by those representing low income applicants in the US who do not have ready acces to calculators, including a graphing calculator which College Board itself recommends that you have for the math subject matter tests. At least here, school districts or others may provide one for low income students taking the subject matter test but that is not always the case. Despite complaints, CB has done nothing to rectify the problem and continues to note that you need at least a scientific calculator and better a graphing calculator, but then quickly follows that advice with the disclaimer that College Board will not provide any such calculators.
In other words, it does not appear the issue you raise will be resolved. However, you may want to consider sending CB a written complaint explaining the issues faced in your country including that you cannot even get them from a generous source in your country because they are not sold there.
When I took Math II, I didn’t own a graphing calculator. I didn’t think any of the problems on that or the regular SAT required one.
For most students, having the right calculator makes the Math Level 2 test much easier. This is not a secret. If you read any blogs or forum discussions about the test, you will learn this right away.
This is just one of many, many inequities in the college admissions process. People with more money live in neighborhoods with better schools, hire tutors, fill their cv’s with extra-curricular activities, attend college without financial aid. Donors, athletes, legacies, and people in underrepresented groups get special consideration in the admissions. Is any of this “fair”? The “level playing field” is a Don Draper pitch.
I recommend you to get a good scientific calculator if you don’t have access to the graphing ones.
I have the Casio fx-570ES PLUS, it’s way less expensive than a basic graphing calculator, and it has the necessary functionalities for the test: complex numbers, system of equations solver, quadratic/cubic equations solver, f(X) tables (without graphs obviously), vectors, matrices, and it even has the capability to solve unkown values ( e.g. log(X)=200, π^x=402, √(X)*231=1000) all of that and more for less than $12
@HPhelpbot123 I’m gonna have to strongly disagree with you on that one. People taking the test with a graphing calculator have a significant advantage. Although you can eventually arrive at the same answers using a scientific calculator, a graphing calculator will be much more efficient. On an exam in which time budgeting is one of the biggest challenges, any way you can save time is a HUGE advantage. No, the exam may not “require” a graphing calculator, but there’s no denying that it’s a very important tool to have.
Give one kid a 10,000 page dictionary and one kid a smart phone and see who can score higher on a timed vocab test.
And if you have a CAS calculator, you have an even bigger advantage.