As you may already know, our friend Larry Phipps of Land Surveyor's Workshops offers an HP-35s calculator pre-loaded with programs to assist you with surveying exams. Larry has been kind enough to offer SurveyorConnect fans with a $25 discount. All you have to do is purchase the calculator from his online store and enter coupon code WENDELL or ANGEL to receive your discount.
For more information, please visit the Land Surveyor's Workshops website HERE
That's legal? I'd consider it cheating at LSU. State Board Exams allow that?
> That's legal? I'd consider it cheating at LSU. State Board Exams allow that?
Yes, 100% allowed on the NCEES exams. The Calculator Policy greatly restricts the calculators allowed in the exam room but it in no way restricts what programs one can or can not load into the calculator.
As for the various states and what they allow or do not, I know of no state that restricts the calculator even more than NCEES. Some states are more lenient.
Larry P
I programmed my own when I took the exam. It was great peace of mind having the programs and I could use it on the state portion as well. I would consider $280 well worth it.
Works out to about $20/hr with my fat fingers, I could have spent that time better than the money.
Steve
When I went to the Univ of Arkansas, one was allowed to program a HP11,15 or 41 but you had to create the program yourself and turn in the documentation of the program with the test.
Robert when I went to university we had the choice of 6 figure trig log tables or 6 figure trig tables with a facit hand turning calculator. We were able to take in formulas, but you had to know how and when to use them, especially in spherical trig...as I recollect.
RADU
Robert,
I took the Arkansas tests in 1984-85 using a HP41 with empty 'ports'. Anything that I stored (programmed) in memory was allowed. I remember the modulus of elasticity of a steel tape (lufkin highway Nubian) was stored. Didn't need it, but it was there!
DDSM
RADU
Me too. We were not allowed to use calculators on exams. The reasoning was that until everyone could afford a calculator then no one could use one. The HP35 was new and a the few folks that had them were the objects of jealousy.
Andy
When I sat for the Texas exam in 1987, we were allowed approved calculators.
We would let the BOR know what we wanted to use and they would decide.
Regulations were that they were not programmable nor had any programs loaded.
I used two Sharp EL506S calculators.
I remember there were nearly 400 takers and people were scrambling for electric sockets because there was everything from desktop calculators that had keys the size of a computer keyboard to my credit card size pocket scientific calculator that ran on watch batteries.
The Sharp had the ability to store 3 values, a memory + key and a three button rectangular to polar feature and/or polar to rectangular feature.
Still, I made and filled out DMD sheets for final calculations.
B-)
If I am not mistaken you could take a 48 with TDS into the exam here in Washington back in the late 90's, early 00's.
I used a program for my exam and I found it best to type the programs yourself, it helped me to learn the program, and I knew every program in the calculator.
Your generation amazes me, RADU.
> I used a program for my exam and I found it best to type the programs yourself, it helped me to learn the program, and I knew every program in the calculator.
That's how I did it as well, coming up with a program and programming the calculator requires you to know how to do the work long hand.
Of course, I also recommend that you know how to do it without the calculator in case the heavy hand of fate kills your brand new batteries or wipes the memory.
> I used a program for my exam and I found it best to type the programs yourself, it helped me to learn the program, and I knew every program in the calculator.
I have heard others say the same thing.
Maybe I'll try to program my HP33s with my lat-lon distance calculations.
I've had this thing for probably 10 years and have never programmed a single thing for it.
E
I don't remember needing "programmed" calculations when I took my test. There was some math, but it really took understanding the concept more than obscure mathematical formulae. Personally, I like training my head to remember a lot of the needed formulas. Once learned, many of the basic ones stick even many years after. (Maybe that's not true for everyone, I don't know, but it was/is for me.) I can recite the "law of cosines" or the quadratic equation, or calculation for an arc-length, or some statistical formulae, without thinking a lot about it.
I believe the primary concern is having calculators that you can input alpha-numeric data (such as typing in the questions), or can share information such as like the hp48 infrared transfer).
The programs that are useful are not for the PS exam, they are for the FS exam. Having a program to quickly calc horizontal and vertical curves can save you huge time.
> The programs that are useful are not for the PS exam, they are for the FS exam. Having a program to quickly calc horizontal and vertical curves can save you huge time.
I agree. I feel comfortable in calculating any aspect of a horizontal curve quickly with a non-programmable calculator. I almost never deal with calculating a "vertical" curve and that is the only one that I programmed for my calculator when I took my test some time ago.
(However) I have no problems with people using those kinds of programs to deal with it quicker or even if they don't like to memorize them. It's certainly a good idea to go into the exam with all the tools you might need to pass it. I just like the idea of being able to do it with speed and ease without the use of a calculator (for myself).
When I first went to Austin in 85, the calculator could be programmable, but could NOT retain ANYTHING in memory when you turned it off. It was not unusual to have a proctor make you turn your calculator off and then back on to prove it didn't have a constant memory. The HP 33c and 34c were not allowed. I took a 32e and a TI-36 solar. When I passed the analytical I only needed the TI.B-)
Make sure all the batteries are fresh, its easier the 2nd time you program it, but still takes an afternoon or longer.
Same thing here - 1985, Arizona - NO PROGRAMMABLE calculators of any sort allowed. I had several HP-41's at the time and had to buy a non-programmable one for the exam.
I am participating in a rewrite of the Arizona exam tomorrow. I'm sure this topic is going to raise eyebrows!!!
