TI-83 or TI-89 or TI-92 plus for SAT 1?

[Whisper]

The only thing I have to say is: Bah @ standardized testing.

That is all.

Oh, and good luck to your daughter, Chess I'm sure she'll do fine. Just make sure she gets enough sleep the night before the test. Nothing'll zonk you out faster than those extraordinary dull stories that always seem to be chosen for reading comprehension. Not that I'm speaking from first hand experience or anything...heh...heh heh...

 

[chess9]

Whisper:

I'll ditto that bah!

Maybe by the time college rolls around for her they'll be testing DNA. Either you have the smart gene or you don't. Oops, hope not. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Ah, our Brave New World.

 

[The Wildcard]

The Ti-89 can do symbolic equations, much like the Ti-92 can. So i would think that if the SAT board banned the Ti-92, they would ban the Ti-89.

 

[rhinox99]

I'm currently using a 83 in almost all my math classes.
It's really straight forward and does most complex functions.

But if they do allow the 89 or the 92 and money isn't a problem... wouldn't choosing one of those give you an edge since they do algebra functions when symbols are entered?

 

[Sybren]

I didn't read enough other posts to notice if anybody mentioned it, but trig is NOT on the SAT I. The College Board classifies all of the math problems as either algebra, arithmetic, or geometry... and the geometry problems don't get any more difficult than volume and area, as far as I can remember.

 

[dcdomain]

I'm sure you've heard of what I'm about to type before. Just a tip from personal experiences... well not for now, but further down the road, forget about sending your child to special SAT prep programs, save yourself the money. I've been through a couple of them and they don't usually help. Only thing they do is FORCE you to set aside some time (the classes) to review the material for the SAT's. If your child can discipline herself, or if you can just make sure your child dedicates some time to review, just grab a couple of practice SAT books and go through the practice tests. SAT is all about taking tests, the more you take, the better you get. When I took the SAT's for the third time my senior year, I was able to recall answers to many of the questions. (You won't believe how often they reuse past questions) The last time I took that test was a joke... so in conclusion, just keep taking practice tests, forget about memorizing vocabulary, learning the Greek prefixes and suffixes or learning equations (they give them to you anyway)! It's like a skill learned, practice makes perfect.

On another note, don't worry about what calculator your child should use. If you can see through the problem, there is no need to use a calculator on the test at all... I'm using a TI-89 now in college (mainly for games)... and it's a great calculator. You could get by with a cheap calculator now, and then get your child an 89 when she's in high school. Otherwise invest in the 89 now so your child can get comfortable with it.

by the way... best wishes!!!

 

[Digobick]

If she learns how to use the TI-89 well (it's really not that hard), then she will probably ace the math section of the test. The 89 can do every problem on the test for her, if used properly.

Whether or not you want her to do that is up to you.

 

[ManSnake]

I think ti-89 is most bang for the buck, it is faster than ti83, smaller than ti-92plus but packs in the same power as its bigger brother, get that! btw it is allowed on the sat!

 

[RGN]

Get the TI-89, it helped me through Calc3!

 

[bigben]

Go with the 83, although I stress that calculators aren't important at all. Heck, I forgot my calculator the day of the test, had to borrow someone's crappy scientific calculator, and ended up with a 1590.

I think that the most important things to remeber for the SAT are:
1. Don't stress before hand. Don't let your daughter worry about what she gets on this test. Stress can kill a person's thinking more than anything else
2. Have your daughter go to bed early the night before and make her a nice breakfast the morning of the test.
3. When teaching her trig, geometry, and reviewing the verbal part, make sure that she understands everything that she gets right and wrong COMPLETELY. All thought has processes, and one of the focuses of the SAT is to see how well one can do these processes. If che can hammer home the central ideas of Geometry and Trig and she knows them COLD, then she should o well. Its not important how much you know, but how WELL you know your stuff.

Tell her good luck!

 

[dcdomain]

Yeah! Give your child a "ice" breakfast (bigben)... but seriously, sleep! Sleep does wonders! Oh and one more thing, study in spurts... don't force your daughter to study 3 hours straight! She'll probably get everything in the first hour, and start zoning out. Once you sense some stress or frustration, push a little further to make sure... and that should be it!

 

[The Wildcard]

Bigben's got the right idea. Don't stress. If you are an above average student and you've either taken an SAT PREP course, or you have studied yourself with an SAT prep book then you are pretty much very prepared for the test. Just take the night before the test to relax and next morning, go in there and tear up that test, lol.

 

[chiwawa626]

just to let u know, u can take the SAT 1 with a regular scientific calculator, no need for a grahping calcualtor.

 

[chess9]

Glad to hear no trig! Now I need to teach her geometry over the holidays. And how to use the bloody calculator.

The reason given for not allowing the TI-92 is because it has a QWERTY keyboard.

Obviously the SAT has been a seminal moment in time for many of you.

Thanks for the many suggestions. They all seem quite good.

 

[Viper GTS]

I have yet to take an SAT, but I may take one soon. Only problem is the only decent calculator I have is my 92+... Damn, I may have to break down & buy an 89.



Viper GTS

 

[poop]

Get her a TI-34II. It has scroll buttons so you can get old answers and resuse them. A VERY cool time saving feature.

Anything else is overkill on the SAT. All the math is pretty low-level. None of the higher calculators are even useful. Once she gets in calc I, a TI-92 plus or TI-89 are what she would find useful. I, myself, don't believe in using a calculator except to perform ridiculous arithmetic (8382343*34972134/234413=?) and to verify complex integrals/differentials.

I hear people in here talking about studying for these tests. Even taking prep classes. Doesn't that seem like cheating? These tests are supposed to find out what you KNOW, not what you can cram for a little while. Besides, what these classes/books tell you is how to cheat. ie, what are traditionally the most common letter choices. They also use some statistical trickery to boost your score.

 

[JW310]

<< The Ti-89 can do symbolic equations, much like the Ti-92 can© So i would think that if the SAT board banned the Ti-92, they would ban the Ti-89© >>



Actually, the reason the TI-92 isn't allowed on the SATs is because it has the QWERTY-style keyboard on it© They don't allow any calculators with a QWERTY-style keyboard to be used on the SATs©

JW

 

[BlackFalcon]

In my humble opinion the TI-85 (now the 86) is the best for the SAT. The 89 and 92 are mainly designed for calculus; however you gotta love their symbolic math stuff.

 

[co0lbean]

The ti92 is not allowed
for sat I go for a ti83 or 82
for calc AP go for a ti89