There’s also a “Back” button that’s useful if you take a wrong turn – which happens frequently with these calculators! The GCSE model now has a dedicated button for the x-variable (previously you had to press ALPHA then Close bracket to get the x). (There are few enough pluses!) Maybe the screens on the X models were of more variable quality and I just got lucky with mine. ![]() I haven’t noticed that myself – never had any complaints about the older ones – but I’m happy to list it as a plus. ![]() I’ve heard other Maths teachers comment that the screen contrast on the new CW calculators is better than on the X models. Old and new A-level models side by side Improvements The new CW calculators are far less intuitive to use, often replacing an operation that used to require only 1-2 key presses with one that requires 2-3 or even more. I’ve done what little I can to address this by submitting my own reviews and highlighting this! ![]() Most people won’t realise that these positive reviews refer to a very different calculator. They’ve also sneakily reused the Amazon listings for the older models, calling the new ones “Successor product”, which has allowed them to keep all the positive reviews for the “X” models. It would be far more honest to call them “the replacement for” their predecessors. That seems misleading to me, when the models are so completely different. So what do I need to know about these new CW calculators?Ĭasio describes the fx-83GT CW as “the new upgraded version of the Casio fx-83GT X” and the fx-991CW as “the new upgraded version of the Casio fx-991 EX”. Of course, graphing software is an extremely useful teaching and learning tool, but Desmos is free and much more intuitive to use than a graphical calculator, and Autograph, also available free, is a very powerful alternative, so in my opinion there’s really no need for a graphical calculator. This may well have been true in the past, but the exam boards have got wise and nowadays exam questions are carefully worded so that the possession of a graphical calculator doesn’t give the candidate a significant advantage.Ī graphical calculator is also significantly more complex to operate than a scientific one. Some schools and colleges required, and some still require, their A-level students to buy more expensive graphical calculators – calculators that can plot graphs on their screens, such as the CG50 – since these are often perceived to give the student an advantage. The new A-level model: Classwiz fx-991CW A word on graphical calculators I have been using these models for a few years now and have always been very happy with them.Īs you can see from the images below, most of the functions on the new calculators were in much the same places as on the older GT Plus, so it was easy to learn to use the new models. This also included some additional functions to help with solving equations, so it could be useful for GCSE too. The new A-level specification required the candidate to use a calculator featuring certain statistical functions that the GCSE model didn’t have, so the new standard model for A-level was the Classwiz fx-991EX. The GCSE model was the Classwiz fx 83/85GT X, and included a few extra features that the GT Plus didn’t have, although the GT Plus was (and is) still perfectly adequate for GCSE. When the new specifications came in, Casio brought out new upgraded calculators called the Classwiz series. Until the current GCSE and A-level specifications came in (20 respectively), the standard calculator in most English schools for both GCSE and A-level for a good few years had been the Casio fx-83GT Plus – or the fx-85GT Plus, which was exactly the same except that it had a solar panel as well as battery power. So what do I need to know about these new CW calculators?Ī short (recent) history of Casio scientific calculators.A short (recent) history of Casio scientific calculators.
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