When I started college in 1971 there was a big controversy over whether calculators should be allowed on exams. The argument was that it gave “well off” students an advantage over the slider rule. By 1976, it was no longer an issue, everybody had calculators.
For awhile I had a Sinclair that was also RPN. It was great until it started to make mistakes. After that I could not trust it and got rid of it.
In the last year I’ve picked up a couple of slide rules from the ‘Bay. An aluminum Pickett and a bamboo Post Vesalog. Both for a reasonable price. Am slowly learning how to use them. There is a learning curve involved, but there is something elegant about them.
I remember that well. Our chem prof decided to give us 90% to set the problem up properly and only 10% for the answer.
The setup was with paper and pencil and the equations were complex with large numbers. I would set them all up and then go back and compute the answers in the remaining time.
I'm still good at long division due to that experience.
I received (some would say earned) a BSME in 1977. Calculators were forbidden in my frosh year, 1973-74. Slide rules rule. To this day!