alevel maths: what calculator should I get?

5

Hi everyone! I am currently in year 12 doing alevels maths, I was wondering what is the difference bewteen the graphic calculator and the other calculator? I dont know if I should really invest into a £100 calculator... can I use it for my chemistry exams?? can I still get A/A* without the graphics cal?

Reply 1

sdfj

19

Original post

by biochemmathss

Hi everyone! I am currently in year 12 doing alevels maths, I was wondering what is the difference bewteen the graphic calculator and the other calculator? I dont know if I should really invest into a £100 calculator... can I use it for my chemistry exams?? can I still get A/A* without the graphics cal?

Hi, I'm an A-Level maths and FM student - I have the CG50 (graphical). I mostly use graphing tools for checks, and it does save me a little bit of time - especially for 'plotting (trig) graphs' questions. It does, however, take a while to get used to - it's useful once you are though. I personally think it's helpful to use my old scientific calculator alongside the graphical. You can definitely get an A/A* without it. Will it help, probably. £100 is a lot - I got mine for 65, which is still a lot. You might get a better (VAT free) offer from your school if they sell them? If you aren't worried about the cost, then I would recommend it.

I doubt it'll be helpful in chemistry but you'd be allowed it in an exam.

Reply 2

sara572729

13

Original post

by biochemmathss

Hi everyone! I am currently in year 12 doing alevels maths, I was wondering what is the difference bewteen the graphic calculator and the other calculator? I dont know if I should really invest into a £100 calculator... can I use it for my chemistry exams?? can I still get A/A* without the graphics cal?

I do mayhs and fm , I feel like the graphical is needed a lot more in fm for polar coordinates . I feel like for trig graphs in maths you can get by just fine using your normal one , if yoy know what the graphs look like and how to do transformations 😭😭 I would just use the non graphical if I were you , you can defo get an a* in maths witj it !!

Reply 3

moffs

4

Original post

by biochemmathss

Hi everyone! I am currently in year 12 doing alevels maths, I was wondering what is the difference bewteen the graphic calculator and the other calculator? I dont know if I should really invest into a £100 calculator... can I use it for my chemistry exams?? can I still get A/A* without the graphics cal?

I am in AS level and I personally use a TI graphing calculator however I don't think it's necessary to invest in such a calculator unless you are the kind of person to do maths outside of school as the standard calculator is more than enough for all of the topics in a level maths
I don't really find that the graphing calculator ever poses an advantage in these subjects with perhaps it's only benefit at this level being able to draw the graphs to check sketches or assist with calculus

I personally find that graphing calculators are much better suited to higher level maths (uni and above) and I'll only ever use the graphing calculator specific features for quantum mechanics or advanced calculus
So if you are only going to use it for a level I would stick to a standard calculator as it'll do everything you need and it'll be a lot easier to get used to (on top of this, it is likely that your teacher will teach your class how to carry out certain functions on your (standard) calculator that may not work the same way on your graphing calculator)

I hope this helps and if you're still unsure, I think the best person you can consult is your teacher

Reply 4

stindal

3

Original post

by moffs

I am in AS level and I personally use a TI graphing calculator however I don't think it's necessary to invest in such a calculator unless you are the kind of person to do maths outside of school as the standard calculator is more than enough for all of the topics in a level maths
I don't really find that the graphing calculator ever poses an advantage in these subjects with perhaps it's only benefit at this level being able to draw the graphs to check sketches or assist with calculus
I personally find that graphing calculators are much better suited to higher level maths (uni and above) and I'll only ever use the graphing calculator specific features for quantum mechanics or advanced calculus
So if you are only going to use it for a level I would stick to a standard calculator as it'll do everything you need and it'll be a lot easier to get used to (on top of this, it is likely that your teacher will teach your class how to carry out certain functions on your (standard) calculator that may not work the same way on your graphing calculator)
I hope this helps and if you're still unsure, I think the best person you can consult is your teacher

i'm an A level tutor and recommend this one instead for £21...it is solar and doesn't run out of battery power like the other one and virtually the same except without the graphical plotting capability you won't have time to use in the exams...Casio fx-991CW Advanced Scientific Calculator (UK Version). I recommend using a GCSE Casio calculator for Mechanics and most work (keep it in degrees) and the A level one (set in radians) which is essential for A level Maths Statistics. If you do Further Maths you might prefer the expensive A level graphical calculator but for single A level Maths the £21 one is perfectly sufficient.

(edited 3 months ago)

alevel maths: what calculator should I get?

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