Here's how your students can get the fx-CG50 exam-ready - Casio Calculators

Here’s how your students can get the fx-CG50 exam-ready

Jan 2025 Medium Read: 5 Min

As one calendar year ends and another begins, many teachers and students will be turning their thoughts to mock examinations and full exams a few months down the line.

For GCSE and A-level maths students, this is when all the time they’ve spent using and building confidence with their calculators can really pay off.

Knowing how to use a powerful device like the fx-CG50 can offer all sorts of benefits in exams, such as being able to use SolveN to check solutions to equations and use Graph mode to draw functions for clearer understanding.

To get the best out of their calculator and remove any unnecessary stress, students should also be familiar with some basic settings, modes and checks that can help them get their handset ready for examinations.

Activating exam mode

The fx-CG50, like every Casio calculator, is permitted in all UK calculator exams. You can find out more about this by looking at these FAQs from the Joint Council for Qualifications.

To gain an extra level of reassurance – both for themselves and for invigilators – that their calculator is properly set up to use in examinations, students have the option to turn on exam mode.

What is exam mode?

Activating exam mode on the fx-CG50 is an easy way for students to show invigilators that their calculator memory has been cleared and certain features – such as Python and the periodic table – have been disabled.

UK examination mode is clearly indicated by a magenta band around the edge of the screen.

How to turn on exam mode

To reduce any unnecessary stress or uncertainty on examination days, it’s a good idea for students to be familiar with the process of switching on exam mode.

The steps are as follows:

  • 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

The calculator will then restart in exam mode. It will automatically return to its normal operating mode after approximately 12 hours and any functions or settings that were previously saved on the handset will be restored.

Switching between degrees and radians

Knowing if they’re working in degrees or radians, and how to switch between the two, is an important skill for students. Being in the wrong angle unit for the type of work they’re doing can lead to wildly inaccurate answers and graphs, which could cause unnecessary confusion and stress in an exam.

Firstly, to know what angle unit they’re working in, all students have to do is look for Deg, Rad, or potentially Gra for gradians, at the status bar at the top of the screen.

To change the angle unit, simply follow these steps:

  • 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

It’s also possible to perform individual calculations using a different angle unit to the one selected in the setup menu.

For example, if students have their main angle unit set to radians but want to do a one-off calculation of sin 45 degrees, they can do this by following these steps:

  • Enter Run-Matrix mode
  • Input sin 45
  • Press OPTN
  • Press F6 to access the second options page
  • Press F5 to select ANGLE
  • Press F1 to select degrees as the angle unit for this calculation
  • Press EXE

Display and other settings

To ensure they can use the fx-CG50 as easily as possible, students should also know how to change basic parameters such as the display settings on their calculator.

If they’re working in a brightly lit exam hall, for instance, they might want to adjust the brightness of their screen to view it comfortably. This is a simple task of selecting System from the main menu, pressing F1 to open the display settings and using the left and right cursor keys to turn the backlight level up or down, before pressing EXE.

Other common tasks and settings where students might benefit from a refresher before going into an exam include adjusting the axes on a graph, moving around the graph screen and zooming in. All of these are covered in this video.

Up-to-date OS and other checks

To ensure they have access to the most up-to-date features and functionality on the fx-CG50 – including the popular and highly useful Distribution app – students should be sure they’re running the latest operating system, OS 3.8.

Instructions on how to download and install OS 3.8 can be found here.

This is one of a number of basic checks that students might want to carry out ahead of exams to ensure their calculator is in the best possible working order.

The handset is battery-powered, so checking it has a full set of new batteries is also recommended.

Whatever stage you’re at in using the fx-CG50 with your students, we have resources that can help, from introductory training sessions to videos covering topics such as parametric and Cartesian functions. We’ll also be hosting Topic Deep Dives and free student training webinars focusing on the fx-CG50 early next year. For more information, head to our webinar page.