TI-84 Plus CE lessons: calculator skills in 12 lessons
A free series of 12 lessons that teach one thing: how to use the TI-84 Plus CE quickly and accurately in a maths exam. No new maths in any of them. Each lesson is about 55 minutes, with the exact key presses, a picture of the screen after every step, a worked exam-style example, practice tasks with answers, the common mistakes and a 1-minute quick check.
The lessons
- Lesson 1: Setup, the mode screen, angle mode and Ans
Set up the TI-84 Plus CE for an exam and move around it without getting lost: the mode screen, angle mode, fractions or decimals, Ans, entry recall and the IB's reset rules.
Suits: IB AA and AI (SL and HL), A Level
- Lesson 2: The home screen: storing values and avoiding rounding errors
Store any value in a letter, use the letters in later calculations and formulas, and explain why rounding too early can change the final answer.
Suits: IB AA and AI (SL and HL), A Level
- Lesson 3: Graphs and changing the view: Y=, WINDOW, ZOOM and TRACE
Draw any function, then change the view with WINDOW and ZOOM until the graph shows every feature the question needs, and read values with TRACE.
Suits: IB AA and AI (SL and HL), A Level
- Lesson 4: The CALC menu: value, zero, maximum, minimum and intersect
Find values, zeros, maximum and minimum points and intersections of graphs with the CALC menu, answer its prompts quickly, and keep the full result for later parts.
Suits: IB AA and AI (SL and HL), A Level
- Lesson 5: PlySmlt2: polynomials and simultaneous equations
Solve any polynomial equation up to degree 10, and 2×2 or 3×3 linear systems, with the PlySmlt2 app, then pick out the solutions the question allows.
Suits: IB AA and AI (SL and HL), A Level
- Lesson 6: The Solver: any equation, and finding a parameter
Solve any equation in one unknown with the numeric Solver, find every root with guesses, bounds or a graph, and find an unknown constant in a formula.
Suits: IB AA and AI (SL and HL), A Level
- Lesson 7: Tables: checking, sign changes and sequences
Use TBLSET and TABLE to read values of one or two functions, zoom the step in to locate a root, and answer "smallest n such that …" questions.
Suits: IB AA and AI (SL and HL), A Level
- Lesson 8: Derivatives, integrals and the derivative graph
Find derivatives at a point and definite integrals, draw the graph of y = f′(x) and read it, and find areas and distances, all in Rad mode.
Suits: IB AA and AI (SL and HL), A Level
- Lesson 9: Sequences, series and the TVM Solver
Add up the terms of a sequence with Σ( or sum(seq(, and use the TVM Solver to find a future value, a repayment, a number of periods or an interest rate.
Suits: IB AI (SL and HL); IB AA and A Level for the series part
- Lesson 10: Statistics: lists, 1-Var Stats and LinReg
Enter data in lists, get the summary statistics (with frequencies), find a regression line with r, and use the stored line to predict.
Suits: IB AA and AI (SL and HL), A Level
- Lesson 11: DISTR: normal, binomial, Poisson, tests and intervals
Find normal, binomial and Poisson probabilities and inverse normal values from the DISTR menu, and run a χ² goodness of fit test and a t-interval.
Suits: IB AA and AI (SL and HL), A Level; tests and intervals for AI HL
- Lesson 12: Matrices, Markov chains and complex numbers
Enter and use matrices (determinant, inverse, powers, solving AX = B) and work with complex numbers in a+bi mode, including modulus, argument and polar form.
Suits: IB AI HL (matrices, Markov chains, complex numbers); IB AA HL (complex numbers, checking systems)
How to use the series
- In order, early in the course. Lessons 1 to 4 (setup, the home screen, graphs, the CALC menu) are used in almost every calculator question, so teach them first. The rest can go next to the topic they support.
- One calculator each. Students follow the key presses on their own TI-84 Plus CE while you model them. Every step has a picture of the screen they should see, so a student who is lost can find their place.
- Exam habits every time. Each lesson says what to write down, how to keep full accuracy, and the setting that most often costs marks (degrees or radians, the window, the order of the inputs in normalcdf).
- Print or project. Every page prints cleanly, with the answers in boxes you can open or leave closed.
Which courses
The IB allows one approved graphic display calculator in AA Papers 2 and 3 and in every AI paper. On the TI-84 Plus CE the IB says not to use Press-to-Test, because it blocks apps such as PlySmlt2: the RAM and Archive Vars are reset before the exam instead. UK A Level and Edexcel IAL allow a graphic calculator without CAS in every paper. Each lesson lists the courses it suits; lesson 9 (finance) is mainly for AI, and the tests in lesson 11 are AI HL.
Each lesson has
- A short objective and what students can do by the end.
- “Your turn” tasks straight after the key presses, so students check their own understanding.
- The key presses with the real key labels and menu numbers, and a screen picture for each step.
- Exam efficiency tips: checking, storing values, what to write.
- A worked exam-style example, 4 to 6 practice tasks with answers, the common mistakes and a 1-minute quick check.
- A 55-minute teaching plan.
Every number in the lessons, on the screen pictures as well as in the answers, is worked out again independently before the page is published. The screens are our own drawings, not photos.