Calculator Policies for National and State-Specific Examinations

UPDATED INFORMATION REGARDING THE
CALCULATOR POLICIES FOR THE
NATIONAL AND STATE-SPECIFIC 2012 EXAMINATIONS

The National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES) has updated its calculator policy for the 2012 examinations. Further information about the NCEES calculator policy may be obtained from the NCEES web site.

NCEES will enforce its calculator policy during the administration of the exams listed below:

April and October	October Only
Fundamentals of Engineering	Agricultural Engineer
Fundamentals of Surveying	Control Systems Engineer
Land Surveyor	Fire Protection Engineer
Chemical Engineer	Industrial Engineer
Civil Engineer	Metallurgical Engineer
Electrical Engineer	Nuclear Engineer
Mechanical Engineer	Petroleum Engineer
Structural Engineer

The Board's Current Calculator Policy
The Board will continue to enforce its current calculator policy, which is described below, for all state-specific examinations. In April, the Board's calculator policy will be enforced for the California State-Specific Professional Land Surveyor and the Special Civil Engineer (Seismic Principles and Engineering Surveying) examinations. In October, the Board's calculator policy will be enforced for the Special Civil Engineer (Seismic Principles and Engineering Surveying), Geotechnical Engineer, and Traffic Engineer examinations.

The use of any calculating/computing device having a QWERTY keypad arrangement similar to a typewriter or a keyboard during the exam is strictly prohibited. The following devices are also prohibited, whether or not they have a QWERTY keypad function: palmtop, laptop, handheld or desktop computers, data banks, data collectors, personal data assistants (PDA), and organizers. Calculators with other alphanumeric keypads are acceptable.

One Example of a QWERTY Keypad

It should be noted that the Board's calculator policy for its state-specific examinations varies significantly from the NCEES calculator policy for the national examinations. For its state-specific examinations, the Board does allow the use of some calculators that NCEES prohibits for its national examinations. The calculators allowed to be used for the Board's state-specific examinations that are prohibited for the NCEES national examinations include (but are not limited to) the HP 39 series; the HP 41 series; the HP42S; the HP 48 series; the HP 49 series; the HP 50 series; the TI 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 89 series; the Casio CFX 9850; the Casio FX 7400; the Casio FX 9750; and the Casio FX 2.0.

Notwithstanding the above, the Board or its designees have the right to prohibit the use of any device which, in the opinion of the Board, may pose a threat to exam security.