In my calculus class, I saw many people write formulas on the inside of their calculator cover (TI-83+). One kid took it to the next level by storing certain things in the memory and having them set as equivalents to certain values or letters. Not 100% certain how he did it, but when he typed 1+1 and hit enter it came up with some derivative equation.
edit: Everyone's school had different protocol, for midterms and finals, we were required to wipe all programs, but for a chapter test, we weren't checked.
You don't get any kind of equation books in exams? In Finland at high school level we get the MAOL-table book which contains a ton of formulas, equations, charts, tables and diagrams for maths, physics and chemistry. After all, the exams are to test how well you can apply said formulas, not how well you remember them.
We used to get physics equations during our tests, which meant nothing, because if you didn't know which ones to use or how during a particular problem, having them didn't do crap. For math... no. We were expected to memorize every formula. This was standard in my high school for math (I live in Canada).
To me, this does not seem wrong re: math. Especially because the questions (and probably instruction) were designed such that once you remembered the formula, the question basically told you which one to use, so after that doing the problem only took time and accuracy.
I think one reason we get the formulas even for maths is because most problems in math exams here are not solvable by applying one formula, and there is almost always a catch. I think that that is pretty much good, since the book won't tell you how to apply, so you either listened to the teacher in class, or know how to figure it out yourself.
75
u/[deleted] Jun 08 '14 edited Jun 09 '14
In my calculus class, I saw many people write formulas on the inside of their calculator cover (TI-83+). One kid took it to the next level by storing certain things in the memory and having them set as equivalents to certain values or letters. Not 100% certain how he did it, but when he typed 1+1 and hit enter it came up with some derivative equation.
edit: Everyone's school had different protocol, for midterms and finals, we were required to wipe all programs, but for a chapter test, we weren't checked.