A smarter kid would have kept his mouth shut.
(Honesty comment notwithstanding)
That's what I was thinking. Any kid who can figure out that (1) a key combination will perform a function and (2) the results would be accurate in not getting any kind of "unfair" advantage at all, unless we use the Left's definition of "unfair" as being any ability not possessed by the stupidest among us.
It reminds me of a story I heard from a co-worker who was a cop in Vancouver for a while. During their training, they had to take a fitness test that consisted of a timed run through Stanley Park. During the run, one group passed a truck that belonged to the park staff that had been left unlocked with the keys in the ignition. They took the truck, parked it near the finish line, had a beer, then poured water over themselves and ran to the line at roughly the same time as the rest of the class, doing their utmost to appear winded. After they returned to the classroom, the instructor announced:
"You all passed, including the SOBs who took the truck that we left for you. Your objective was to get to the other side of the park as quickly as possible and how you got there was your business."
From the model number, it looks like a TI-30Xa modified to meet Virginia state testing rules. They probably just took the fraction label off the button instead of changing the electronics. If so, you would just have to look at a picture of an unmodified TI-30Xa to see which key was for fractions.
I would have beaten that kid to a bloody pulp after school.
Maybe I am old fashion (46), but how is anyone going to learn to use their brain when getting educated when they have a machine do it for them? Just bugs me that they are using calculators to take a test, these things are not everywhere in real life.
My high school physics teacher made us use the slide rule, even though pocket calculators were cheap and available by then (late 70's). UGH. the good ole days.
Why are schools buying calculators in the first place?
Simply more corporate welfare.
Oh boy. Here come the wedgies.
The use of numbers on a test which are too large to factor by hand, eg.
.723893456 (keyed at random) = 723,893,456/1,000,000,000 = ?/?
is pointless when smaller numbers illustrate the point satisfactorily:
0.375 = 375/1000 = (5*5*5)*3/(5*5*5)*2*2*2 = 3/8
.09(09) = 9/99 = 1/11
An argument can be made that since errors can occur in the factoring process, such a question without a calculator would not isolate on the fraction simplification process. But if you don't have a multiplication table and a few other factoring rules down from preceding grades, you won't find that problem with this test.
If he's so smart, why is he using a calculator?