HSC Approved Calculators Checker

How it works

NSW HSC exams restrict which calculators students can bring into the exam room, and NESA (the NSW Education Standards Authority) sets the rules that decide whether a calculator is permitted. Rather than maintaining one fixed list of approved models — which would need constant updates every time a manufacturer released a new device — NESA describes the features that rule a calculator out.

This checker applies NESA’s general, well-documented criteria. A calculator is likely not permitted if it has any of the following:

• A graphics or graphing display — plots the graph of a function on-screen, not just a numeric or text readout.
• Programmability — can store and run programs or formulas, whether pre-loaded by the manufacturer or entered by the student.
• A QWERTY keyboard — a full alphabetic keyboard laid out like a computer’s.
• Wireless, Bluetooth or internet connectivity — can connect to another device, a network, or the internet in any way.
• Computer algebra system (CAS) capability — solves algebra symbolically (for example, factorising an expression or solving an equation for x), rather than only computing with numbers.
• Printing or paper tape capability — can print a paper record of what was calculated.

A standard, non-programmable scientific calculator with none of these six features is generally permitted.

Why these rules exist: the point of the restriction is exam fairness. A programmable, CAS or internet-connected calculator could carry in pre-loaded formulas, worked notes or entire solution methods, or let a student look something up mid-exam — none of which reflects what a student actually knows under exam conditions, and none of which is available to the student sitting next to them with a basic scientific calculator. Ruling out these features keeps every student working with the same tool.

Important: this page is a general-rules guide built from NESA’s publicly documented criteria — it is not the official NESA determination, and it doesn’t check specific calculator models against a database. NESA can update its policy at any time, so always confirm against NESA’s own HSC exam rules before your exam.

Worked example

Aisha is in Year 12 at a high school in Wollongong, revising for her HSC Mathematics Advanced exam. She checks the Casio fx-82AU PLUS II she’s used all through school against the six criteria:

• Graphics or graphing display? No — it’s a standard LCD readout with no graph plotting.
• Programmable? No — it can’t store or run programs or custom formulas.
• QWERTY keyboard? No — number and function keys only.
• Wireless, Bluetooth or internet? No — no connectivity of any kind.
• Computer algebra system (CAS)? No — it calculates numerically only; it can’t solve for x symbolically.
• Printer or paper tape? No — no printing capability.

With every toggle left off, the checker returns Likely approved — consistent with the Casio fx-82AU PLUS II being a standard non-programmable scientific calculator, one of the models widely used in NSW classrooms for exactly this reason.

Her older brother Dev, who sat the HSC a few years earlier, offers to lend her his old graphics calculator instead, since it “does more.” Switching on just the graphics/graphing display toggle, the checker flips to Likely NOT approved, flagged for that one feature — a graphing display alone is enough to rule a calculator out of the exam room, regardless of how useful the rest of its functions are. Aisha decides to stick with the fx-82AU PLUS II, and double-checks NESA’s current policy the week before her exam just to be sure nothing has changed.