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Best calculators for AP Chemistry (and other SATs and APs)


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Hello,

Can anyone give me a recommendation for the best calculator for the AP Chemistry exam?  It would be a bonus if it is also good for the SAT/ACT and other APs like AP Calculus.  But, if I need to buy more than one, I will.

 

The TI-84 plus series was recommended, but there seem to be several versions of it.

 

I know that a simpler, cheaper calculator is also okay.  We have the TI-30X IIS, and can use that one.  I just thought it might be good to go ahead and start using one of the graphing calculators since those will be needed for other exams, like AP Calculus, and start getting familiar with it.  I also read that a familiar calculator is better than the "perfect" calculator, which I thought was good advice, and which is why I want to get one now that could be used for multiple exams.  

 

For SATs, the TI-89 calculator was recommended as being a good one on a blog I just read.  I don't know if that one is approved for the AP Chem exam also though.

 

Any suggestions are appreciated.  Thanks!

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DD took SAT and math2 SAT 2 subject test with a regular scientific calculator; a graphing calculator was unnecessary.

I believe the  AP Calc is the only test where a graphing calculator is required.

She is a physics major and has not needed one in college either.

Edited by regentrude
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AP Calculus is the only exam that will require a graphing calculator.  If you think you might use an outside class for that course, I would hold off buying a graphing calculator until you see what the instructor recommends.  (Often times, the instructor will provide specific instructions for their preferred calculator).  

 

As a practicing engineer, my go to calculator is a TI-30XIIS.  Any standard scientific calculator would suffice, that's just the one I've been using for years and am most familiar with.  

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Thanks!  I am probably overthinking it, just want to be sure we have the right tools.  Sometimes I feel like I am missing out on things high school teachers tell their students, and I worry that I will miss something we needed to know.  Thanks for sharing!

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