<p>Thanks a lot. I will try that!!</p>
I should mention that CAS functionality is also banned - even if it is tacked onto the calculator after the fact.(Yes I am talking about those various CAS apps for the Casio fx-9860g/prizm and Symbolix for the ti-83+; and also including quadratic factorizers -_-) So it would be a good idea to not try using those on the ACT, because “technically” they can null your score.
But I personally swear by a TI-85 - this particular calculator lacks a lot of advanced features(PrettyPrint, namely), but it makes up for that with an awesome suite of features that make a lot of ACT problems a breeze.(Lets just say its numerical capabilities are on par with the ti-89, if not better) Namely the ones involving formulas, because unlike 99% of calculators on the list but like the ti-89, it can pass a list through a formula - thereby evaluating a formula for multiple arbitrary values without user intervention.(and did I mention that it has quadratic/equation/multi-var solvers as well? Numeric-of course :P)
I can’t believe that the ACT people actually wander about on CC and ignore this thread… Anyway, my suggestion is, do NOT try these… cuz a) you can possibly get caught; b) you won’t have enough time buzy typing on your calculator, the ACT math timing is pretty tight; c) if you do enough practice, the equations and formulae will be automatically imprinted in your skull. Calculator tricks are just unnecessary. If you interview people who get 36s on math, you’ll find that few, if any, of them use calculators frequently on the test.
BTW, the ACT proctors check your calculator types but they do NOT check if your calculator has been screen-cleared. You can just type the formulae onto the screen the night before and jot them down at the beginning of math in less than a minute… There is really no need to program blablah into your calculators… And from my personal experience, calculators take twice as much time to solve a graph-related problem as it does if I choose the right way to do it, BY HAND.