My eyes already hurt from taking a computer based exam this morning.
In order to get involved in the WIOA program I had to take the Work Keys exam at my local testing center.
You can click that link to get more deets on Work Keys, but essentially it's a test to see what you are capable of in today's workforce environment.
I was honestly terrified to take it, I sucked in high-school and my very brief stint at Community College only made me want to punch everyone. I don't believe I have any kind of true learning dis-order, but learning and testing have never been in the upper ranks of my limited skill set.
So I took some practice tests online, surprise surprise, math is hard.
MATH IS HARD!
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Nerd tools |
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I want Ice Cream |
Who the fuck really needs to know how to calculate the volume of a cone in day to day life?
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Now I want Cranberry Sauce |
When was the last time you fit 7oz cranberries into 3x5x12 foot cube and had to figure out how much godamn cranberry sauce you need to add to make three #10 cans?
Fortunately you are allowed to use a calculator for the Work Keys exam. There are obvious restrictions, such as no cell phone calcs or anything that can access the web.
But I didn't have any such calculator. Honestly, why would I? But I put out a call on the social media and got some pretty quick and amazing responses.
First I gotta thank my buddy James for the little white calc. That would ultimately make it to the exam.
Second I gotta thank my buddy Daniel for the little black calc. That too would ultimately make it to the exam.
But, and holy shit this still kills me, I really gotta thank my buddy Bleels (or Bleeps if you know him as such) for starting a Go Fund Me to get me this monster of a Calculator:
I don't know anything about fancy calculators. I didn't need them when I took "Business" Math in high school. I didn't need them while I had a job in the Printing Industry. All the calculations I use as a trainer I do in my head or with charts.
I have no idea what an Engineering Calculator actually does.
But I'm going to review it anyway.
Listen to Mastadon.
As you probably saw in the picture above, this calculator has plenty of buttons.
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My wifey is cuter than all these buttons. |
It has Parentheses buttons, so if you want to do some algebra stuff, you can.
It has a Shift Key. Which means you've essentially just doubled your functionable buttons.
It has a Sin button. I don't see a Repent button...
There's a Hyp button, but I don't believe it.
For some reason, there is a Quotation Mark " button. What the hell is that for?
I did try to read the instructions. But they were so damn small, they should have sold this calculator with a stupid magnifying glass.
However, I got enough out of the instructions to learn how to enter fractions as fractions, not as decimals. That is pretty damn handy.
This calc has an Auto Off feature which I used to its full extent, while staring slack jawed at a computer screen trying to comprehend what the hell was asked of me.
This Helect has a hard case with a cover. If you need to take a calculator into a combat zone, this could be a redeeming feature.
Those are all the things I noticed about this calculator. I don't really have any other calculators to use as a point of reference, but dollars to Doughnuts, I would recommend this machine in a second. With this calculator and not a little luck, I scored a 6 out of 7 on the Math portion. Hey, not as dumb as I thought!
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Whoohoo! Not a retard!! |
Obviously I can't guarantee this, or any, calculator will make you smarter, but if you need a calculator, especially if you're planning on treating it rough, get this one.
If you need any more information on this puppy, go somewhere else. I can't help you.
However, if you have questions about the Work Keys exam, I may be able to help.
Thanks for reading, expect either a new Fod Bloog or Race Report soon.
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