Is a TI-84 Allowed on the ACT or SAT? Calculator Rules Explained

Short answer: yes, a TI-84 (any version, including the Plus CE) and a TI-30XS are both allowed on the ACT and the SAT. The rules that actually matter aren’t about the TI-84 family at all — they’re about a specific set of features neither of these calculators has.

What both tests actually ban

The ACT and the College Board (SAT) restrict calculators on the same three grounds:

• Computer algebra systems (CAS). Any calculator that can symbolically solve equations, factor expressions, or do algebra with variables instead of numbers is banned. This is the big one.
• QWERTY keyboards. A calculator with a full letter keyboard laid out like a computer’s is banned, regardless of what it can otherwise do.
• Pen input, internet access, or phone/tablet functionality. Anything that can connect to the internet, take handwritten input, or double as a phone is out.

Neither the TI-84 Plus CE nor the TI-30XS trips any of these — the TI-84 Plus CE graphs and solves equations numerically, but it can’t manipulate algebra symbolically, and the TI-30XS doesn’t graph at all.

Which specific TI models are actually banned

By name, both exams ban:

• TI-89 and TI-92 (all model numbers starting with either)
• TI-Nspire CAS and TI-Nspire CX II CAS

The plain TI-Nspire (without “CAS” in the name) is explicitly allowed on both exams — the CAS suffix is what disqualifies it, not the Nspire line itself. Every TI-84 variant (original, Plus, Plus Silver Edition, Plus CE) and the TI-30XS are unaffected either way, since CAS was never a feature Texas Instruments built into either of them.

What changes on the digital versions

Both tests now have digital formats, and both ship a built-in calculator inside the testing software:

• The online/digital ACT includes a built-in Desmos graphing calculator.
• The digital SAT (delivered through the Bluebook app) also embeds Desmos, toggleable between scientific and graphing modes.

On both, you’re still allowed to bring and use your own approved physical calculator instead of — or alongside — the built-in one. Nothing about the digital format removes the TI-84 or TI-30XS from the approved list; it just means Desmos is available as a fallback if you don’t have or prefer a physical calculator.

Practice before test day

The rules are permissive, but exam day is the wrong time to fumble through an unfamiliar menu. If your class uses a TI-84 Plus CE, the TI-84 calculator here runs the same STAT tests, matrix operations, and graphing workflow in your browser. If your test only allows (or your class only issues) a basic non-graphing scientific calculator, the TI-30XS calculator covers the same fraction, trig, and memory functions as the physical device — both free, no install.