Farewell to a favourite: fx-CG50 exam tips and reminders

We’ve recently made an exciting addition to our calculator range in the shape of the fx-CG100, our most advanced graphing handset to date that’s approved for use in UK examinations.

As we approach the end of the 2024-25 school year, it’s the fx-CG100’s predecessor – the fx-CG50 graphic calculator – that most A-level maths students will be taking into their exams.

With that in mind, we wanted to celebrate this device and give a recap of the many ways it can help students, along with some tips to use it effectively.

Know how to turn on exam mode

Putting the calculator into exam mode is something students should feel familiar with ahead of sitting their papers, to avoid any unnecessary stress on the day itself.

It’s a simple way for them to show invigilators that the handset’s memory has been cleared and certain apps and functions have been disabled.

To activate exam mode on the fx-CG50:

• Turn the calculator off by pressing SHIFT and AC/on
• Press and hold the keys labelled ‘u’ and ‘k’
• Continue holding the ‘u’ and ‘k’ keys, then press and hold AC/on
• When asked if you want to enter examination mode, press F1 for yes or F6 for no
• On the next screen, press F2 to confirm you want to enter examination mode
• When you see the message stating that examination mode is not allowed in IB exams, press F1 to confirm

It’s a good idea for students to give themselves time to do this on the morning of their exam. The calculator will then stay in exam mode for approximately 12 hours, before automatically reverting back to normal operation.

We recommend using exam mode because it’s easy to enable and proves there is no data saved on the handset. Students who choose not to use it should be sure to reset their calculator’s memory to clear any data.

Check basic settings

Other common fx-CG50 operations and settings students should feel comfortable with ahead of their exams include switching between degrees and radians.

This is important because being in the wrong angle unit will produce unexpected results, which could cause confusion.

To change the angle unit on the fx-CG50:

• Press SHIFT and MENU to open the setup menu
• Scroll down to Angle
• Press F1 for degrees, F2 for radians or F3 for gradians
• Press EXE
• Ensure that the correct measure of angle is displayed in the status bar

Knowing how to change the display brightness could also prove useful to ensure students can always see the screen properly, even in a bright exam hall.

To do this:

• Select System from the main menu
• Press F1 to open display settings
• Use the left and right cursor keys to turn the backlight level up or down
• Press EXE to confirm

Another important check relates to the calculator’s operating system and whether students have the latest version: OS 3.8. They can find out by opening System from the main menu.

Users who need to update their handset can find download files and installation instructions for OS 3.8 on our website.

Take advantage of solving and graphing

As far as the core functionality of the fx-CG50 is concerned, solving equations and graphing are two key areas where students can get a lot of value out of the calculator in examinations.

They can go into Equation mode to solve simultaneous equations and polynomials, for example, or use the SolveN tool to solve numerically and get their solutions as exact values.

An extra tip is to use the handset’s memory function to store answers for use in later operations, which saves time and reduces the risk of manual input errors.

This is done by pressing the Store arrow key and assigning the answer to a letter, which can then be entered in subsequent calculations. The handset’s answer memory also remembers the most recent calculated value, which can be accessed by pressing Shift, followed by the ( – ) key.

Graphing can offer all sorts of benefits when answering exam questions, particularly when students want to back up their work and visualise their findings.

When solving a modulus equation, for example, they can enter the data in Graph mode to gain some reassurance that their graph has the expected V shape.

Students might also want to use graphs to check they have the right number of solutions by looking for intersections.

Don’t overlook broader functionality

Graphing and equation solving are the fx-CG50’s bread and butter, but there’s a lot more that students can do with the calculator to give themselves an advantage in exams.

When answering statistics questions, for example, those who have had some practice with Distribution mode can use it not only to calculate probability distributions, but to graph them as well.

The app can display both binomial and normal distributions, and can also calculate right-hand probabilities, which is a big benefit for students who struggle with some of the more complex statistical calculations.

Another mode that is worthy of note is Recursion. This app can prove useful when students are dealing with a topic they will be very familiar with – sequences and series – but are facing questions that ask them to explore it in greater depth and detail.

Recursion lets you input up to three formulae – including linear two-term and three-term recursion sequences – which can be converted into number tables and graphs for clearer understanding and analysis.

Make the most of free support

If some of your students are looking for a bit of extra help with the fx-CG50 ahead of their exams, we’ll be hosting two revision webinars in the coming weeks.

These events – focusing on both pure (May 29th) and applied maths (June 16th) – will show how key features of the fx-CG50, including Statistics and Distribution modes, can be used to answer actual exam questions.

All the details and sign-up forms are available on our webinar page.

Best of luck to you and your students for the coming exam season!