[Closed] Approved calculators for new GCSE. Confused!

Standard answers are Casio fx83 or 85 in either GT or GT Plus. My eldest did A levels last year and wasn't allowed a 991, but wants one now as they allow them on her Maths degree.

Edit: Think I spotted them on offer in Tesco last week.

Midlifecrashes

I did a maths degree. Never used more than the most basic aritmatic on a calculator.

I'd advise not getting one unless she finds she needs it!

Buy the bog standard one.

Fancy ones do all sorts of things, solving equations plotting graphs etc.

Don't risk it just get the right one.
Standards change including equipment acceptable in exams. Just the way it is.

I know standards change, but what are the standards? Must be some official up to date guidance somewhere.

Ask her teacher. Life's much easier for the teacher and the kids if they have the same calculators.

When I bought it last year it said that it was approved for GSCE, and I understood that only CAS calculators were banned

Thankfully, the government messes everything up every few years.

FX-991ES/ES Plus (ie. the silver one) is permitted. We had a communication from Edexcel that pretty much explicitly says so (and this isn't exam board specific, they are interpreting JCQ guidelines). Unless it does "symbolic calculus" then it is allowed, and in that case unless you've spent "a lot of money" on the calculator then it won't.

People seem to assume that because the 991 solves quadratics and cubics (not to mention definite integrals etc, phwoarr) then it must be too powerful for use, but it is permitted. Indeed, for the new A level we are being led to believe that it (or something similar) is actually a requirement.

The advice from Edexcel went:

Models we are asked about often, and which can be used in examinations, are mainly from Casio - they include the fx-50, fx-50F, fx-50 PLUS, fx-50FH, fx-82, fx-82SX, fx-82MS, fx-82ES, fx-83GT PLUS, fx-85ES, fx-991ES, fx-991 ES PLUS, fx-7400, fx-7700, fx-9750, fx-9860, fx-9860GII.

HTH 😉

Edit: and [url= http://www.jcq.org.uk/exams-office/ice---instructions-for-conducting-examinations/instructions-for-conducting-examinations-2015-2016 ]from JCQ[/url] (page 20):

Calculators must not:
• be designed or adapted to offer any of these
facilities: -
o language translators;
o symbolic algebra manipulation;
o symbolic differentiation or integration;
o communication with other machines or
the internet;
• have retrievable information stored in them -
this includes:
o databanks;
o dictionaries;
o mathematical formulas;
o text.

Edit#2: Re: conversions, yes they may well do conversions however you would need the lid to work out which one is which, and according (again) to JCQ guidelines you must not take the lid into the exam with you...

Daughter has said that changes in the new GCSE require them to remember conversion ratios (eg 8km = 5 miles).
I guess some of the info stored on the calculator could be classed as a databank, but if you need the lid to use them do they count?
Also she believes the 991ES is "too good" as solving equations to be allowed.
I don't want her to have an "illegal" calculator, but I do want her to have the best allowed.

The silver one is probably worth half a grade at A level.

The table mode is useful at GCSE 🙂

I wouldn't interpret the conversion function as a databank or even stored information. You can't retrieve "facts" as a list or whatever

Up to you. I know that I will be taking our exam board's advice on this matter (and have done for many years). Maybe call AQA themselves to be absolutely sure?

ps - there's nothing new about conversions in new GCSE maths as far as I can recall either. It's always been there I'm sure.

pps - Table mode is on all of the newer Casios not just the silver ones if that's what you're implying 😉

Thanks for the advice munkster (and others!). I will check with Head of Maths and see what he says. I know an fx83 or similar is perfectly functional, but some of the extra features on the more sophisticated calculators do help check that answers are correct and for students to spend more time on the difficult bits of a question.
My son has an FX-CG20 that I got him at the start of YR11 so that he could get used to it before A-Level. He sit's his maths and further maths A2-levels in a couple of weeks and hopes to study maths at York if he can get ABB.

Also there's probably a bit of playing field levelling. I know some of our kids struggle to afford even a basic one, staff keep an eye out for special deals, so by not allowing prices calcs better of kids don't get that advantage.

I am all for leveling the playing field at a national level, but to do so in an individual school is narrow minded, and I am not sure it happens. Grade boundaries are set at national level, so if a particular school restricts calculators to the base model then they are still competing nationally with schools who have the better equipment. Ultimately a decent calculator will not make a poor mathmatician into the next Fermat, but it does help a little to check work and work with more speed and confidence.