Before you walk into any exam room, you should have a strategy when it comes to handling the pressure. You should also have a strategy when it comes to handling your calculator. Not every exam or test you take might allow for a calculator, but when it does, it’s important to know how to get the most use out of it. While most maths problems require you to use your brain on how to figure out the right strategy to solve the problem, a calculator can definitely get you there faster.
You don’t want an average calculator if you are taking something more advanced than basic maths. You should look to buy a more advanced calculator which you can buy in stores or browse and buy calculator online. Below we’ll go over some tips, tricks and strategy moves you should make with your calculator.
The first thing you should always do is bring a calculator with you for every and any test or exam. Before you go ahead and use it though, make sure you are allowed to do so. You should always be prepared for any situation, so by bringing one along with you, you will always be prepared when a test is presented to you. A calculator will always help you when you are allowed to use one and it will always solve easy equations a lot faster than the brain. Your answers will always be accurate if you put them in right.
Aside from always making sure you have your calculator handy, you also want to always double check your entry line. For those of you who might be wondering, the entry line is the display that shows what you’ve pushed into your calculator. This happens so many times and leaves a lot of people wondering where they have gone wrong. You can accidentally get numbers mixed up even by a single decimal and it can end up costing you a lot of points from your exam! Most people can’t afford to be making these mistakes, so always check the entry line before you make a careless mistake.
Another thing you should do is learn how to use the functions on your calculator properly and get to know them well. One button could do something completely different so all your answers could be wrong! You want to make sure that the way you are using your calculator is completely correct. You absolutely must use one that you have gotten used to. Kind of like a keyboard, you want to be able to remember which keys are where and how the functions work without really thinking about it too much. You could accidentally spend a lot of time in an exam trying to figure out how the functions work and before you know it, you run out of time.
The last thing you should really remember is when to put the calculator down. Some people can make the mistake of putting too much faith or belief into a calculator; that this device will somehow make all their mathematical equations disappear. There are some problems that can take twice the amount of time with a calculator than they would doing it mentally and working it through on a piece of paper. You need to know when the problem is more complicated with a calculator then it would be to do by hand. Knowing and realising that solving problems on a calculator may not be the smartest option, can save you a lot of time and stress in the long run.
The bottom line is, calculators do help, but only if you master the how-to and if you get the right model. You can find, browse and buy calculator online or in stores. Good luck with your next exam!
