When you're gearing up for the SAT or the ACT, you want a calculator that is powerful, robust, and easy to use. You also want a calculator that your high school math teachers use and teach from. They will likely recommend the nation's most popular calculator: Texas Instruments TI-84 Plus CE. Unless your high school has a different recommendation, this is the best calculator for test preparation.
Click on the following amazon.com link to order this specific calculator: TI-84 Plus CE
If the cost of a new calculator is too much of a stretch on your pocketbook, you can purchase other variations of this calculator from Craigslist or Ebay for less than half the cost of our recommended calculator. Heck, you might have a sibling who owns one or maybe your parents have a TI-84 variant still floating around at home--these durable calculators last forever! As long as it has 'TI-84' in it's name, its buttons and functionality are almost 100% identical.
Then, after you get your calculator, it's time to get in some practice! Download the free calculator worksheet on our math practice page and learn how you can shave precious seconds off each calculation and increase your accuracy!
Cheers to higher test scores!
If you would like to learn more about the calculator requirements of each test, you can find these calculator policies by jumping onto the official sites:
SAT
(https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/sat/taking-the-test/calculator-policy)
ACT
(http://www.act.org/content/dam/act/unsecured/documents/ACT-calculator-policy.pdf)
