DSST Only Allows 4 Function Calculators

[dhlvrsn]

Excellent news! Too bad some areas don't have multiple testing centers. My only concern with raising this issue to DSST is that based on the replies that many have recieved they are the ones who are "not the sharpest knives in the drawer" and are the "disinterested party." I don't recall too many questions until the computer versions of DSST came out.

A couple of searches of the forum should reveal the trouble people had getting clarfication if you could still bring a calculator to the CBT version. The fact sheets did not (and still haven't) change to reflect the new test format. The answers were just as brilliant...

If you are looking for back up it will not come from DSST. Find a testing center with a clue about how tests should run. Excellent point about AP exams etc.

[Matymus]

This is nuts! I was allowed to use my BA-II Plus calculator...in fact, the administrator actually GAVE ME another statistics calculator to use, just in case mine wasn't enough to do the job!! Oy vey....how hard is it to get a straight answer?! :p Thank God I'm done with this test anyway.

[mstcrow5429]

I've decided that the Casio FX-115ES may technically be a graphical display in the properly interpreted sense, as it has square pixels, not segmented legs. Therefore, I am going to use the Casio FX-300MSPlus for the Principles of Statistics exam (FX-300MSPlus - Scientific & Financial - Calculators & Dictionaries - Products - CASIO)

As others have pointed out, the HP-12C and HP-12C Platinum are programmable, as they can store and play keystrokes. I have decided that it is possible, although not certain, that this would break the "programmability" rule. Therefore, I intend to use the HP 10BII. About.com does have a piece in the "Mutual Funds" section titled "Best Financial Calculators" (Mutual Funds - About Mutual Funds. Obviously, such things are highly subjective, but the HP 10BII came in 1st, and the TI BA II Plus came in 5th. I have heard nothing bad about the TI BA II Plus. Regarding the TI BA II Plus, the review says "This calculator lacks some of the advanced functions you find in the HP calculators, but it should be good enough for most people." I'm going to surmise those advanced functions would not be needed on the "Principles of Finance" exam. I am a finance major, and will be taking upper-level TESC TECEP business and finance exams. If they allow calculators, it certainly would make sense for a finance major to acquire the more advanced calculator, as opposed to someone that is only covering the basics and is not a finance major.

Edit:

Looking at the product packaging for the FX-300MSPlus, the rear cardboard seems, somehow, to have pictures of pixels on the top half of the display, and normal leg segments on the bottom half. I did notice that other calculators of similar statistical ability (i.e. I want one and two variable statistics, and nCr and nPr) had all pixel displays, even blinking cursors. I'm just going to go with the FX-300MSPlus, as I'm not even sure all-pixel displays are necessarily "graphical" (maybe it's a clumsy way of denoting graphing ability?), and it's very difficult to figure this out when many calculators have moved to pixel only displays.