It’s quite popular question, and you can sigh with relief – yes, you can use a calculator. But the idea to use calculator for each problem is not that good, cause most of problems do not require a calculator. Actually, using calculator may significantly slow you down, because sometimes you can do the arithmetic faster by yourself either in your head or on a piece of paper. Hence, there’s is always the question when to use the GRE calculator.

Generally, GRE math is testing your ability to deconstruct a problem into logical parts and then do the calculations. So in many situations, the challenge is not the math, but actually the approach to a problem.

So when is it advantageous to use a calculator? Sometimes the numbers are too difficult to multiply on paper, and the question is not asking for an approximation. From other side, if question asks what is the units digit of 2 to the power of 100, then you need to come up with some clever approach to solve this problem, since it will take lots of time to proceed with multiplication, besides GRE calculator will not hold that many digits. By the way, only 8 digits can be displayed on GRE calculator, no more than that. Hence if you are getting the number which contains more than 8 digits before dot you’ll just get an error :(

The best way to determine whether you will benefit from a calculator on your GRE is to have lots of practice with it. If you want you can try our GREatest Prep new GRE test software. Only then you will get a feel for the numbers and types of questions which need the use of calculator.