ClassWiz tips and resources to get your students exam-ready

By Amarpreet Singh Kular

Mocks and preparation for full exams will become a top priority for many teachers and students.

With that in mind, we thought it would be a good time for a refresher on how ClassWiz scientific calculators can offer support at this demanding time.

In this blog, we recap some of the key functionality available on these recently updated handsets, and share some tips and resources to help you and your students get the best out of them.

Calculators and exams: a quick reminder

To start with, just a quick reminder if you have any concerns about the rules regarding calculator use: all Casio calculator models are permitted in calculator exams in UK schools.

If you would like to find out more, take a look at these FAQs from the Joint Council for Qualifications.

As far as particular handsets are concerned, we recommend the fx-83GT CW and fx-85GT CW for key stage 3 and GCSE Foundation papers, and the fx-991CW for GCSE Higher examinations.

Some ClassWiz functionality highlights

The scientific calculators that make up our ClassWiz range have various tools and applications that can offer valuable support in exams.

All of these models are appropriate for GCSE examinations, but there are some key characteristics and differences between handsets that it’s useful to be aware of.

fx-83/85GT CW

Our entry-level ClassWiz models have lots of capabilities that are relevant to common exam questions, including:

• Producing number lines to view inequalities
• Displaying values in various formats, including recurring decimals
• Performing basic statistical calculations such as median, mode and spread
• Finding the mean from a frequency table

Another good example of fx-83/85GT CW functionality that could help students work more quickly and check their answers in exams is the GCD (greatest common divisor) and LCM (least common multiple) features.

When faced with a question asking them to find the lowest common multiple or highest common factor of two numbers in a calculator paper, students can go into Catalog and select Numeric Calc, followed by GCD or LCM. They can then input the relevant numbers inside brackets, separated by a comma, followed by EXE to get their answer.

fx-991CW

The fx-991CW is the most advanced calculator in our ClassWiz range. It’s distinguished from the fx-83/85GT CW handsets by features such as Equation mode and the Solver tool.

Solver uses Newton’s method to approximate solutions to equations.

It can be useful for various types of exam questions, such as those that involve solving polynomial equations by finding the roots and minimum values.

If a student is given the equation y = x² – 3x – 4, for example, they can use Solver to back up their written work and confirm the roots are 4 and -1, and the minimum values are 1.5 and -6.25.

During exam preparation lessons and revision sessions, you could use ClassPad to draw the graph of this equation and give your students a visual representation of the solutions.

The fx-991CW also features the Inequality app, which is capable of solving second, third and fourth degree inequalities. If they’re asked to solve a quadratic inequality in an exam, such as 2x² – 5x – 3 < 0, students can open the Inequality app, select the relevant symbol type and orientation, then input the coefficient values and EXE to get the solution. In this case, the calculator would display

ClassWiz tips and recommendations

Before they head into exams, it’s a good idea for students to refresh their memory of some basic ClassWiz operations that can really help them out during their papers.

The Ans key, for example, makes it easy to access the latest calculation result. Rather than having to write down or remember the outcome of their last calculation, students can simply press Ans to enter the value into their next calculation.

If they would like to save multiple values to use in different operations, they can do that by pressing the Variable key and assigning a value to the variables A, B, C, D, E, F, x, y, and z.

Another key students should be very familiar and comfortable with ahead of their exams is Format. This lets them quickly cycle through different representations of the same value, including decimals, recurring decimals, fractions, prime factors and sexagesimal conversion (hours, minutes and seconds).

Also worth noting is the f(x) key, labelled Function, which lets students define and evaluate two functions as either f(x) or g(x). This data can then be quickly recalled for use in other calculations, saving time and reducing the risk of manual input errors.

If f(x) is defined as 2x – 1, for example, entering f(2) followed by EXE will give a result of 3.

Taking a more general view, we – not to mention many teachers we have spoken to – recommend that the best way to build familiarity with a scientific calculator is by using it from day one in secondary school.

What’s more, mandating the calculator model you will use for GCSE exams from year 7 gives students a full five years to master its functionality. This also means you don’t have a mix of different calculators in the classroom, which creates a more positive teacher and student experience.

Recommended ClassWiz resources

We’ve been working hard internally, and also with outside collaborators, to build an extensive library of resources to support the ClassWiz range. Everything you can do on these calculators is now covered and explored in the many resources you can find online.

The best place to look for these is our ClassWiz help page, where you can find a full familiarisation webinar recording, key skills videos, a set of five teacher worksheets and more.

We would also recommend downloading our interactive manuals for the fx-83/85GT CW and fx-991CW.

These documents let you click on any key on your chosen calculator to navigate to a new page that explains what it does with examples. The manuals also include lots of links to in-depth videos and other online resources to help you learn more.

We hope these materials will be of use to you and your students, and best of luck for exam season!