{"id":854,"date":"2013-03-04t10:00:22","date_gmt":"2013-03-04t10:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/sat\/?p=854"},"modified":"2015-04-15t23:22:29","modified_gmt":"2015-04-15t23:22:29","slug":"sat-calculator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/sat\/sat-calculator\/","title":{"rendered":"sat calculators"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>yes, you can use your calculator on the sat. did you think that the college board gods were so cruel? you can even use a graphing calculator, which you may be able to use for a graph question (although it\u2019s really not necessary) or a question about a quadratic equation.<\/p>\n<p>calculators can only be used on the math sections, though. on every other section, they\u2019ll have to be turned off and put under your desk, so you don\u2019t try something shady like using <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ticalc.org\/archives\/files\/fileinfo\/378\/37807.html\">a dictionary app<\/a> on the verbal sections.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>good calculators and bad calculators<\/h2>\n<p>remember that you can\u2019t use your phone as a calculator on the sat. you can\u2019t even take the phone into the building, in some cases. most schools will allow you to keep your phone on you (there are simply too many students to check everybody) but if they see it\u00a0<em>at all<\/em>, they will take it away from you, cancel your scores, and send your phone off to be inspected (that includes during breaks).\u00a0it may feel weird to walk around without a phone, but you\u2019ll have to leave it turned off in your bag or even at home on\u00a0the saturday of the test. that\u2019s also true of any other electronic devices, including ipads, laptops, mp3 players, and cameras.<\/p>\n<p>so if your calculator seems like it has a little bit of computer blood in its veins (if it has a touchscreen or internet access, for example), then it\u2019s probably not acceptable for the sat. check <a href=\"http:\/\/sat.collegeboard.org\/register\/calculator-policy\">the list of acceptable sat calculators<\/a> if you\u2019re not sure.<\/p>\n<p>meanwhile, you shouldn\u2019t bring <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/amico-silicone-adhesive-refrigerator-calculator\/dp\/b008mo4bzq\/ref=sr_1_1?ie=utf8&amp;qid=1361205535&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=refrigerator+magnet+calculator\">a refrigerator magnet calculator<\/a>, or any other four-function calculator. they\u2019re allowed, of course, but they\u2019re not practical for sat math. if it can\u2019t find the square root of 289, it\u2019s no good.<\/p>\n<p>let&#8217;s make it nice and clear. here&#8217;s what you need from your sat calculator:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>the main four operations: addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division (duh.)<\/li>\n<li>exponents and roots (it helps if you can find\u00a0<sup>4<\/sup>\u221a256, for example.)<\/li>\n<li>ability to backspace (some cheap calculators only have a &#8220;clear&#8221; button, which slows you down.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>here&#8217;s what might be nice to have, but isn&#8217;t necessary:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>graphing<\/li>\n<li>solving an equation for a variable<\/li>\n<li><sub>n<\/sub>c<sub>r<\/sub> and <sub>n<\/sub>p<sub>r<\/sub> operations for combinations and permutations. most scientific and all graphic calculators have these\u00a0somewhere, even if you haven&#8217;t noticed them.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>here&#8217;s what you can&#8217;t have:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>internet<\/li>\n<li>touch screen<\/li>\n<li>qwerty keyboard<\/li>\n<li>anything that doesn&#8217;t look like a normal calculator, really<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><\/h2>\n<h2>non-calculator tricks<\/h2>\n<p>going straight to your calculator after reading each question is a bad habit. yes, on the sat, calculators will cut down the time it takes to do some calculations. and yes, they can keep you from making some simple mistakes. but if you start punching numbers before you\u2019ve seen the bigger picture, you\u2019re most likely just going to waste time. the calculator doesn\u2019t help you unless you already know why you\u2019re using it. if you don\u2019t understand how to get to the answer, then do a few things:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/sat\/sat-math-perfect-800\/\">check if you can plug in numbers<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/sat\/sat-math-perfect-800\/\">check if you can eliminate answer choices<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/sat\/sat-math-word-problems\/\">draw word problems<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/sat\/sat-geometry-angle-diagram-questions\/\">fill in measurements on geometry problems<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>those strategies might give you a clearer picture. your calculator, meanwhile, won\u2019t. altogether, you should only really have it in hand for about a fifth of the time or less. when i take sats, i only use a calculator for one or two questions on the test. and even for those questions, the calculator is just for checking whether 61 is prime, for example (doing a bunch of quick, basic division) or for making sure i\u00a0add right when i\u00a0sum up 4 + 17 + 32 + 9, or anything similar. the sat is not a calculator-based test.\u00a0calculators are only important for a pretty small handful of problems on the sat.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>don&#8217;t upgrade to a nicer calculator<\/h2>\n<p>basically, the calculator is so inessential for beating the sat that the only reason you would buy one is if you don&#8217;t own a calculator at all. if you do have a calculator that is allowed for the test, then you&#8217;re going to use that one. it&#8217;s more important that you&#8217;re comfortable with the calculator you have than it is to have a fancy, powerful machine. that power won&#8217;t really help. the sat is a test of your knowledge and puzzle-solving skills, not a test of your familiarity with advanced calculator techniques.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>yes, you can use your calculator on the sat. did you think that the college board gods were so cruel? you can even use a graphing calculator, which you may be able to use for a graph question (although it\u2019s really not necessary) or a question about a quadratic equation. calculators can only be used [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[91],"tags":[36,81],"ppma_author":[24883],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- this site is optimized with the yoast seo premium plugin v21.7 (yoast seo v21.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>sat calculators<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"sat expert lucas verney-fink discusses how on the sat, calculators can make or break you, but only if you use the right ones\" \/>\n<meta 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