Yeah, I would just tell S19 to memorize some formulas, not forking out another $140.
Both S17 and S19 have their TI Nspire CX CAS since 9th grade, good for college (calculus) and beyond.
It is allowed in SAT but not in ACT.
I think Texas Instruments stay afloat off all the poor students and parents.
@RightCoaster It sounds like S19 should stay with SAT. At least, one mystery (?) solved. Better than pursuing both.
With respect to the calculator, it just has to do with what sheās used to. Her school has NSpires so she always uses them at school and knows how to use it. Sheās not familiar with the 84 (despite owning it) and didnāt even know how to do simple things like changing from radian mode to degree mode.
We ended up selling the 84.
I think you can save forumlas on the 84s too, canāt you?
I never had one and have no idea how to even turn them on but Iāve heard my d19 talk about it some. Sort of. Mostly it sounds like when the adults are talking on Charlie Brown but occasionally some words come through.
@homerdog I guess weāll probably just have him focus on SAT. I thought for sure heād get a 34-36 on math and one other section of ACT, but nope. He said right after taking the ACT he just wasnāt feeling it and hated a lot of the questions on it. My other son17 had no issues with either test, but he knew immediately that he had done well on his last attempt on the ACT. He never felt great about any other tests he took.
So maybe with son19 we just stick with SAT, I donāt now. He seemed more comfortable with it. He has a decent math score on the books, so if he could just get his English section up heād have a pretty solid overall score. Right now heās a bit lopsided. I donāt know if heāll ever get his English section over a 700 though, I just donāt see it happening. He would need that improvement to have any chance at some of the schools he was interested in.
If he just sticks with the same score, he should get into all his safeties and matches. He just wonāt receive any merit from match schools probably. It feels a bit anti climactic to be honest. I would like him to apply to at least one or two reach type schools, but right now itās just not worth even bothering with his scores- too lopsided. He wouldnāt be in the sweet spot for admission, and even getting recruited for sports might not help.
@RightCoaster is he is AP Lang? S19 has been doing timed AP tests in there and says heās getting better and better. Hardly missing any answers now. Iām thinking he could possibly beat his current EW score just from the prep heās getting in this class.
@RightCoaster we are in almost exactly the same boat. D19 has absolutely no interest in even attempting another practice ACT. She did one last spring and her score wasnāt as good as her practice SATs but more importantly, she preferred the SAT. She hated feeling more rushed on the ACT and she hated that it felt to her that the ACT was more heavily reading skills. She felt like the timing of the SAT was more manageable. She knew (and was right) that she could nail enough grammar rules for that part of the SAT and could do well after brushing up a bit on math. Again, she was right about math. The reading section is the part that causes her the most trouble. Iām hopeful that after AP Lang and APUSH and hopefully with the additional aspect of a bit of luck with passages that click for her, the next time she takes the SAT everything will fall into line and she will pull it up just enough to be satisfied with her score. If not, I will keep reminding her that her reading/grammar is still well above average and there are so many more important things to focus on in life and her future career.
I wish the ACT had been something done more when I was in high school. I think it would have been a really good fit for me. Back then though, I think there was a bias in favor of the SAT and hardly anyone around here took the ACT.
@homerdog Heās in Honors English and has no desire for AP lang or any AP English stuff . You could load him up on AP math and some science and heād be fine. He doesnāt hate English, and he reads frequently. Just not his passion.
I would expect him to improve his English SAT just from age and experience this junior year.
My S19 was scoring 660-670 on EBRW on the couple of practice SATs he took, but managed a 700 on test day. He wants to aim for a 720, but I think he was lucky to get the 700! Itās not as if heās going to do any prep.
I can see how AP Lang and APUSH would help with that part of the test, but the GC wouldnāt let S19 take AP Lang and he was not up for the amount/type of homework assigned in APUSH, so heāll have to rely on dumb luck and a generous curve.
So the CAS version is ok for the SAT but not the ACT?
@eh1234 I would like my son to get some dumb luck next time!! 
He really only needs to improve the English to be considered for some decent merit and/or if he wants to try to get into some super high reach.
If he doesnāt improve heāll still get into college, probably where heāll likely end up anyways, so the stress-o-meter has gone down.
@gusmahler Thank you for the math book information - I will be getting that ASAP! I don;t even know what calculator D has. I mentioned to her this morning that she could use the one you said that saves formulas and she said, āah, I didnāt really need to know any formulas anyway.ā Maybe that is why she scores so low on math - she doesnāt even know what she needs to know. :))
@payn4ward D wasnāt too happy when I mentioned a tutor! She goes to a tutor for pre-calc but doesnāt want to put any extra time into testing I think. I think it could be a huge help so we are definitely going to try it.
@Corinthian I ordered the SAT score report for the October test date, we got the full test with her answers and the correct answers. I do remember seeing they only do that for certain dates though.
@mom2twogirls I like the Charlie Brown image - that is exactly how I feel when I am early to pick D up from her math tutor!
So this is a conundrum. The CAS model will be nice for college as DS plans on majoring in engineering but it cannot be used for the ACT, likely the test on which heāll fare better. Walmart has the CX for $118 and the CAS for $156. My D20 has the Ti-84 plus CE and I paid just under $100 (its $118 right now on the Walmart site).
@MAandMEmom maybe your school has one type of calculator she could borrow on test day ? Used on eBay or craigslist? I would not buy 2 if youāll never use it again,
@MAandMEmom You are correct.
I do not know why, but that is the case. 8-|
I do not know how to use the TI graphing calculators either. I was taught how to solve math problems by drawing on paper not using a calculator. I do not need a calculator when I do SAT math nor ACT math and can solve all of the problems within 2/3 of time allotted.
I once asked S17 how he got for the number of asymptotes on a particular Math 2 subject test. He said, easy I plotted it on the TI. I had simplified the equation by factoring and drawn the graph on the paper. :-B I guess as long as you know how to use the calculator, which is allowed, that counts too.
S17 took AP Lang and AP USH and his RW section scores did improve quite a bit at the end of Junior year. He did feel AP Lang helped.
For S19, he is not taking either. Erica Meltzerās Grammar Workbook really helped him as the types of grammar questions are not taught in school anymore.
Sorry for the confusionā¦two kids S19 at home in public school with cheapy TI?? and heāll likely do better on the ACT. D20 is away at boarding school with the school-recommended TI-84 plus CE. S19 will major in engineering and is great with calculators so Iām thinking the Nspire CX. Jury is still out on D20 so she can keep the $100 one for now:).
S18 got a used TI 83 on eBay this summer at my insistence. He rarely uses it, prefers his regular scientific calculator AND working problems out by hand. However, I wanted him to have a graphic calculator in case his higher math classes required it. I think we spent $30 on it and it works great.
@payn4ward is that Meltzer book specifically geared to SAT prep?
I just had a chance to read thru the WPI admit topic, wow. I am not convinced son19 will not receive any merit $$ at current scores, and maybe none even if he raises it. Looks like they are using al lot of their merit $$ to bring in a more diverse student body. Thatās fine, just sucks for us, as we will likely be full pay there.
@RightCoaster we have two recent grads from our public hs there. Not sure of the merit they received at WPI but they have what is desired ā gender. They are girls! And athletes. My S19 wasnāt digging the big class size and we arenāt digging the lack of housing so I think its off our list. My spouse works at a private university so we have access to the Tuition Exchange but its pretty competitive there so I highly doubt weād get it.
@RightCoaster I think Meltzer only wrote SAT books. We used them for both reading and writing sections. And we used PWN the Math for the SAT math section. S19 thought all three books, paired with real CB practice tests, worked like a charm. The students has to put the time in though. He did every single page in all three books. I know maybe some of you think prepping is a waste of time but it made a huge difference for him. He had two very different situations for EW and Math. In his practice tests for EW, he started out in the mid 600s. He really needed to learn how to take the test and he had room to get better. Math was maybe the harder of the two to increase. Once youāre near the top, itās hard to ensure youāll get very few wrong. He started out at 750 and was around 770 or 780 all summer. To increase a score at that point, you almost just need to get lucky. Well, you need to be prepared and get lucky!