(Reduce O/Level STRESS continued)
Sri Lankan GCE O/Level students are 40 years behind their counterparts in the UK vis-a-vis the use of calculators, which were introduced into secondary schools in the UK around 1980. These ordinary scientific calculators had arithmetic functions, squares, square roots, reciprocals, trigonometrical, exponential and logarithmic functions and their Inverses, etc. They were not graphic display calculators (i. e. calculators that can display graphs, statistical functions, answers to definite integrals,etc. on a small screen at the press of a few buttons).
Cambridge O/L Exams were replaced by the GCSE/IGCSE (General/International General Certificate of Secondary Education) exams about 35 years ago. Use of Graphic display Calculators are allowed in some maths papers in the GCSE / IGCSE Exams. Cambridge IGCSE Maths Exam has 6 Papers. Papers 1, 3 and 5 constitute the Core Exam and Papers 2, 4 and 6 constitute the Extended Exam. Graphic display Calculators are allowed in Papers 3, 4, 5 and 6. In the London O/Level Maths Exam, calculators are not allowed in Paper 1. In Paper 2, ordinary scientific calculators are allowed.