Don't sweat it... speaking as a person who majored in math and works in the math field now: You don't need a calculator on an algebra test.

You'll always have to do all of the actual algebra yourself (even the fanciest graphing calculators can't do the intermediate steps for you) and the calculator could only be useful for plugging in the numbers and doing the basic arithmetic at the end. And because of this, your instructor will write the test to make the arithmetic straightforward enough to do quickly by hand. And even in those cases, every professor I had who didn't allow calculators still gave generous partial credit if you did the algebra right but flaked on the arithmetic.

Don't sweat it... speaking as a person who majored in math and works in the math field now: You don't need a calculator on an algebra test.

 

You'll always have to do all of the actual algebra yourself (even the fanciest graphing calculators can't do the intermediate steps for you) and the calculator could only be useful for plugging in the numbers and doing the basic arithmetic at the end. And because of this, your instructor will write the test to make the arithmetic straightforward enough to do quickly by hand. And even in those cases, every professor I had who didn't allow calculators still gave generous partial credit if you did the algebra right but flaked on the arithmetic.

I did get into another class with a much more relaxed environment- my issue with no calculators is that if I need to know what 9 cubed is or the square root of 1728, I want a calculator so I can practice the steps I need to know. Maybe I won't need one on higher levels of algebra, but I've always needed one in my prior two quarters of this.

He just didn't mesh with me, and I have a feeling his arithmatic would not have been simple- he came across as the teacher who tries to trip everybody up, and I can't deal with that; I need someone who really wants me to succeed.

I do appreciate the reassurance, though! If it had been anyone but this guy, I might've stuck with it, but he just came off as... awful.