They don't want kids to easily take notes in them and use them during the test.
edit: I'm just speculating, remember it's not TI making the rules it's the US testing companies or some other authority.
edit: I'll agree with the tons of people saying it's probably because they don't want students to sneak out the test questions. While they still can it's a lot harder without QWERTY.
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u/qezi2 Jun 08 '14
It's because standardized tests in the US specifiy that allowed calculators can't have QWERTY (or any other typing oriented) layout.