The school term has just started and it was exciting to meet familiar faces and new ones in our weekly tuition classes for both O-Level Maths, O-Level Chemistry and A-Level H2 Chemistry.
While I was teaching in my Secondary 3 Additional Mathematics class on the usage of their Scientific Calculator to solve linear simultaneous equations, one student pointed out there was a new calculator which is much more powerful in terms of functions. Another student in the O-Level class mentioned it too. I was excited about this new calculator!
I went searching for calculators in our centre and managed to find one in the cupboard! Casio fx-95ES Plus. It looks exactly like my current Casio model except it has additional functions like:
- Displaying answers in surd forms! (Useful for Trigonometry, Surd!
- Solving quadratic inequality! (Many students can't seem to get this right!)
- Setting your base in logarithm! (You can forget about change base formula in logarithm!)
These are the new features that I observed, there could be more!
However, when I went to the Ministry of Education Approved Calculator List, Casio fx-95ES Plus wasn't in that list. Since this calculator was bought by my colleague Sean Chua from Popular bookstore last November, I was thinking maybe MOE has yet to update the list so I emailed them to confirm. And attached was their reply.
Lesson learnt:
- Not all calculators sold in Popular bookstores are approved for usage in major examinations.
- We must still learn our concepts well instead of relying only on calculator to help us!
Well, I'm going into the topic of Quadratic Inequality in a few weeks time, join me in my weekly O-Level A-Maths tuition classes before it's too late! Go to www.WinnersEducation.com NOW for the details!
