68K is interesting and all but can someone add a z80 "what OS do you have poll?" too?
+Why does the VCAA have 83+SE banned in exams!

SE banned? BTW, what is VCAA?

I dunno, but it sounds serious!

NO!!!!!!!!! the SE is my life!!!!!!!

VCAA - *forgets the expansion for this acronym*
> Victorian Certificate Assessment Authority (or something)
They're the local people who tell you what calcs you can use in school exams!
83+SE *quote: It has been banned because the 83+SE allows students to hold certain applications which could help them cheat*
WTF?! *tilts head sideways and knocks himself out with 83+* No, that's a lame excuse not to use the latest technology to improve our learning.
VOTE #1 - Should 83+SE be unbanned from exams in my state?

Well, I see several problems here:
1. If it is in fact all school exams, then that includes PSAT and SAT which most of the students used them in.
2. The only difference from the 83+ is more memory and a faster processor therefore it should be banned too if that is the case
3. It states on the wraper when you buy it that you CAN USE IT ON ACT, PSAT, SAT tests and these can be considered "school exams"
4. If the 84+ and 84+SE are 100% compatable with the 83+ and 83+SE, they need to also be banned for the same reson as the 83+SE as would the 83+ (#2 on my list)
5. Well, if my math is right, that leaves 82, 83 [old], 85, 86, 89 of which the 82 and 83 cannot be found in stores and the 85, 86, and 89 are too expensive for many people and the 92 and up are already banned for anything related to testing (at least in my school system)

Gee, will they provide calculators to all of us from now on? We can use them at our school for anything as long as:
1. we provide it
2. the test administrator clears all the memory immediately before the test and verifies that all the data is perminantly erased. (sorry for spelling)

I see no evidance to support this due to all these factors. Why don't they just give us paper if they are so picky about calculators. I KNOW for a fact that most (if not all) calculators can store similar things

Anyone support my ideas?
Anyone want to pick it apart?
I'll be waiting...

The following is evidence to support use of the TI-83 Plus SilverEdition:

A quote from the Product Page at education.ti.com

"The TI-83 Plus Silver Edition is allowed for use on the SAT I**, ACT***, SAT II Math IC and IIC, PSAT/NMSQT, and AP Calculus, Chemistry, Physics, and Statistics. For more about the Advanced Placement courses and exams, visit AP Central, the official online home of AP professionals."

School systems (state, local, federal, whatever) have no authority to ban a calculator from the SAT or any other College Board test. CB and the EPS are private companies, with no affiliation with any high school system or even any college system. Only CB can make the decision on which technology is or isn't allowed on its tests, and then the proctors of the tests (which are generally teachers/faculty from the school where the test is being administered) have the duty to comply with their rules. What the other user was talking about were the mandated standardized tests that the district (province maybe?) makes every student attending school there take. The SAT and ACT are not mandated, ie they are voluntary and nobody in the world (except maybe your parents) can force you to take them. They are only required by some colleges (well, most colleges actually, but I'm making a point) to attend there.

That sounds right but still, the other points stand. Oh, BTW, last year the school system paid for all the sophmores to take the PSAT so everyone did wether or not they wanted to. This year I had to pay for it because they stopped doing that. The thing that bugs me is I would think that they would at LEAST clear the ram or make sure we didn't have a list of information or somthing on them. I was quite shocked that they didn't even mention that. It would have been easy for someone to cheat.

Still, the 83+SE is the same as the 83+ but with more mem and a faster processor and is lesser than the 84+ and 84+SE so that's still true.

i wouldn't call that cheating at all. it's just using the technology that you are allowed to use to your advantage.

Yeah, I mean, what could you store on your calc for the SAT? Formulas? They give you most of them anyway on the back (as if you need them, lol). And it's not like you know the answers in advance, so you can't put the answers in there.

I have formula programs to save lots of time that I store on my calculator for Math class.

Whew!! *wipes sweat off of forhead*

MWM

By the way, Educational Testing Services makes the SAT.
Even if you thing they are P!

Right. I stored the answers to a history final on my TI-82. You know how old TI-82's are? You can store answers on ANYTHING. Worrying about cheating on calculators is just a waste of time because you can _always_ find a way to hide it.

(Not that I'm, heh, promoting cheating or anything... *evil laugh* btw, I didn't USE the TI-82 on the history final, in case you were wondering)

but you can't store applications like Symbolic on the 82... that was considered a big problem last year, when i did exams. every calc was going to be tested blah blah... but they just did nothing, could've cheated easily...
but it still doesn't make sense at all the 83+ is allowed and the SE isnt.

How does Symbolic help you cheat on a test? Does it have more useful functions than Omnicalc? Or should I just end this discussion and go and bitch at the VCAA?

Perhapes I should have asked earlier, where are you??? What country, city, state, etc.

I'm in Fredericksburg (actually it's physically Spotsylvania County but that's not what the post office calls it), Virginia, United States.

Australia\Victoria
"VCAA - Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority:
For VCE Examinations (Victorian Certificate of Education) and GAT (General Achievement Tests) students are permitted to use Texas Instruments Graphing Calculators (80,81,82,83,83+(not SE),85,86)."
Reasons for the use of 83+SE in exams (my opinion):
For: Answers can be acquired much faster than other calcs than 84+/89Ti, More memory allows for larger tasks and more statistics to manage.
Against: Applications which can assist in cheating are directed at the 83+SE specifically and therefore this calculator should be banned.
Problems: Applications are NOT limited to 83+SE usage for such assisting*.
So, you see this unfounded banning?
FYI: QWERTY based calcs are banned because they assist in notetaking which can store answers. *Not that experienced calc key-layout users can't type just as fast =P*

Just buy a keyboard to use a 83+, 83+SE, 84+, 84+SE or use the keyboard on the calculator. Geez, how stupid can those people be that make laws...

Just buy a keyboard to use a 83+, 83+SE, 84+, 84+SE or use the keyboard on the calculator. Geez, how stupid can those people be that make rules...

They probably don't own any calcs.

SOunds like a bunch of tyrants hiding behind a long acronym! Maybe they're going to get rid of calcs all together and bring back slide rules! *Hides in the corner, terrified*

That's weird. I'm suprised they banned the 83+SE without banning the 89. It's a lot better. It will factor things for you without getting your own program to do it. It wouldn't matter it they cleared the memory on an 89, it would still rock. Does the 83+SE factor things for you without having a program to do it?

Yes, the 83+ and 83+SE both have a built in quadratic eqn. solver, but it only solves 1 term at a time, cannot solve if imaginary answers are present and doesn't use radical notation.

HOW??? I wish I had known that a few weeks ago, I had to do them by hand because I didn't have the program handy.

I love the way a poll about ROM/AMS versions on 68k calculators can turn into a discussion on why the 83+SE shouldn't be banned on tests. But I agree that the VCAA is more than a little bit illogical for banning 83+SE and not 83+ or 89.

Or any others for that matter. Any calc with flash mem is equal or greater to the 83+SE