The calculator section of the test contains two types of questions - multiple choice and open-ended. The multiple-choice items have four choices. Each item is stated as a question or as a completion statement.

The calculator section also includes open-ended items. There are three open-ended items for Grade 3 and five open-ended problems for Grade 4. These are designed to give students the opportunity to explain their responses and show how they arrived at their answers. Students can use diagrams, charts, pictures, and/or words to explain their thinking.

The non-calculator section contains questions regarding exact values and estimation based upon paper-pencil procedures. There are six non-calculator items for Grade 3 and eight non-calculator items for Grade 4.

Note: The majority of the test allows students to use a calculator. The basic four-function calculator (i.e., multiplication, division, addition and subtraction) will be sufficient. Students taking any of the New Jersey tests in mathematics should be prepared to use calculators by regularly using those calculators in their instructional programs. Calculators that have been given to students only on the day of the assessment may actually cause them to perform less well than they would have performed without such calculators. Students must be comfortable with, and have practice with calculators, or they will be of little benefit during the assessment. Students should be permitted to use their calculators, rather than the School's, if they choose to do so.

GEPA and HSPA (Grade 8 and Grade 11)

The eighth-grade and eleventh-grade mathematics assessment committees recommended that numerical calculations be embedded in problem-solving situations, and that students be given the opportunity to choose the appropriate way to perform those operations. Moreover, the committees recommended that the mathematics sections of the eighth-grade and eleventh-grade assessments be constructed to allow for the use of either graphing or scientific calculators.

Students taking any of the New Jersey tests in mathematics should be prepared to use calculators by regularly using those calculators in their instructional programs. Calculators which have been given to students only on the day of the assessment may actually cause them to perform less well than they would have performed without such calculators. Students must be comfortable with and have practice with calculators, or they will be of little benefit during the assessment. Students should be permitted to use their own calculators, rather than the School's, if they choose to do so.

For the eleventh-grade mathematics assessment, use of graphing calculators is strongly recommended; however, not required. For both the eighth-grade and the eleventh-grade mathematics assessments, calculators which manipulate fractions without converting them to decimals are permitted. Students taking these tests will be allowed to use graphing or other hand-held calculators which have at least these functionalities:

• Algebraic logic (i.e., automatically follows the standard order of mathematical operations)
• The ability to do powers and roots of any degree, and
• At least one memory cell.

Note that any device commonly accepted as a hand-held calculator and having at least the functionality specified above is acceptable. However, computers (laptops, palmtops, etc.), pocket organizers, and calculators with QWERTY (i.e., typewriter) keyboards are not acceptable under the current guidelines.