Lesson: The GRE Onscreen Calculator

Comment on The GRE Onscreen Calculator

wtf they don't give you sine/cosine/tan ?? that's not fair!!!
greenlight-admin's picture

You won't find any questions on the GRE that require you to use those trig functions.

Thanks for showing how CE, C, MR, MC and M+ work. I always wondered about those buttons!!
Question: Why do you have to go 49 AND THEN square root?
Why not press square root then 49 then equals? That's how most calculators do it.
greenlight-admin's picture

It's true that SOME calculators allow you to press the buttons in that order, but not all do. Cheap calculators typically require you to enter the number and then press square root.
As I've said in other videos, the clunkiness of the onscreen calculator typically renders it less useful than applying some useful approximation techniques (unless the question requires a high degree of accuracy).

Its always better to use the calculators as less as possible.
But i have q doubt, do ETS people monitor how many time we have used the calculator and do they consider that also while scaling the score?
greenlight-admin's picture

I've never heard of that. I strongly doubt that ETS monitors calculator use by test-takers.

This comprehensive review is great. I always wondered what that 'transfer display' button was for. Thanks. I sometimes press the wrong number a lot, so the 'CE' button will be helpful for me. That said, I think I'll try as much as I can to avoid using the calculator unless when necessary. After taking the Practice Prep test, I realized that I could have saved a ton of time by just estimating instead of punching in numbers on the calculator.
greenlight-admin's picture

Yeah, I think most people don't know what the CE button does :-)
Great realization about saving time by estimating!

Cheers,
Brent

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