Achievement Tests

ACT

The ACT is a standardized achievement examination for college admissions in the United States produced by ACT, Inc., formerly known as American College Testing Program, Inc. It was first administered in Fall 1959 by Everett Franklin Lindquist as a competitor to the College Board's Scholastic Aptitude Test, now the SAT Reasoning Test.

Calculators are permitted in the Math section of the ACT tests only, but the requirements for the calculators are stricter than the SAT’s in that computer algebra systems (CAS) are not allowed.

Permitted calculators

Any four-function, scientific, or graphing calculator, unless it has features described in the Prohibited Calculators list. For models on the Calculators Permitted with Modification list, you will be required to modify some of the calculator's features.

Prohibited Calculators

(as of September 30, 2008)

These definitions restrict the use of  certain calculators:  

Calculators Permitted with Modification

These types of calculators are permitted, but only after they are modified as noted:

SAT

The SAT Reasoning Tests and SAT Subject Tests are standardized test for college admissions in the United States. The SAT is administered by the not-for-profit College Board corporation in the United States, and is developed, published, and scored by the Educational Testing Service.

Calculators are permitted in the SAT tests and the College Board encourages the use of a graphing calculator over a scientific calculator for the Subject Tests.

Permitted calculators

Any four-function (not recommended), scientific, or graphing calculator, unless it has features described in the Prohibited Calculators list. If you have a calculator with characters that are one inch or higher, or if your calculator has a raised display that might be visible to other test-takers, you will be seated at the discretion of the test supervisor.

Prohibited Calculators

These definitions restrict the use of  certain calculators:  

PSAT

The PSAT/NMSQT, or Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, is a multiple-choice standardized test administered by the College Board and National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC).

Students are strongly encouraged to take a calculator to the PSAT/NMSQT, whether or not they plan to use it. The requirements for the permitted calculators are identical with the SAT Reasoning Tests and SAT Subject Tests.

AP

The Advanced Placement Program is a program maintained by the College Board that offers college level courses at high schools across the United States and Canada.

The use of a graphing calculator is considered an integral part of the AP Calculus course, and is permissible on parts of the AP Calculus Exams.

A graphing calculator appropriate for use on the exams is expected to have the built-in capability to:

Permitted calculators

(as of September 30, 2008)

Graphing calculators having the expected built-in capabilities listed above are indicated with an asterisk (*). However, students may bring any calculator on the list to the exam.  

Prohibited Calculators

(as of September 30, 2008)

Communication between calculators is prohibited during the exam.  

If you have additions to the above article please email: joerg@datamath.org.

© Joerg Woerner, October 14, 2007. No reprints without written permission.