BA II Plus calculator questions, answered

Press 2ND then +/− — RESET is the legend printed above that key — and the display asks RST ?. Press ENTER to confirm and it answers RST 0.00. That is a factory reset, not a clear: every register and worksheet is emptied, all ten memories go to zero, and the settings return to their defaults, which means P/Y and C/Y are back to 12 and the display is back to two decimals. Reset before an exam, then set those three things again before your first question. On the emulator here, one press of CE|C does the same job in one keystroke.

Only 2ND +/− ENTER clears everything — registers, all nine worksheets, the ten memories and the settings. The other three clears are deliberately narrower, and knowing which is which saves you re-entering a whole problem: CE|C on its own drops the entry or a displayed error and touches nothing stored; 2ND FV (CLR TVM) empties the five TVM registers but leaves P/Y, C/Y and BGN mode exactly as they were; and 2ND CE|C (CLR WORK) empties only the worksheet you are standing in. Between two ordinary TVM questions, CLR TVM is the one you want.

The ten user memories live in a worksheet of their own, so a TVM clear never touches them. Press 2ND 0 to open MEM at M0, then 2ND CE|C to set M0 through M9 to zero in one stroke; ↓ steps through them if you want to check. To wipe a single memory instead, store a zero into it — 0 STO 3 clears M3 and leaves the rest. A full 2ND +/− reset takes out the memories and everything else together.

In the cash flow worksheet, in two passes. Press CF and clear the old data with 2ND CE|C. Enter the initial outlay as a negative CF0 — press +/− to make it negative — then ENTER and ↓. For each later flow, type the amount at C01, press ENTER and ↓, then type how many consecutive periods share that amount at F01, press ENTER and ↓. Repeat for C02, C03 and so on, up to 24 groups. Now press NPV, type the discount rate as a percentage at the I prompt, press ENTER then ↓, and finish with CPT. The figure on the display is the net present value. The NPV calculator here does the same sum with the working shown, and the worked example runs a full project through the keystrokes.

There is no key marked e — it is the second function of LN. Type the exponent first and then press 2ND LN: entering 0.05 and pressing 2ND LN returns 1.051271, which is e^0.05 — the one-period growth factor at 5% compounded continuously. For the constant on its own, 1 2ND LN gives 2.718281828. LN unpressed by 2ND is the inverse, so LN of a growth factor recovers the continuous rate that produced it. That pair is all continuous compounding needs; the interest conversion calculator handles the same conversions between stated frequencies.

Four extra outputs, and nothing else that changes an answer. The Professional adds net future value, payback and discounted payback to the cash flow worksheet, modified IRR beside IRR, and modified duration to the bond worksheet — plus two French depreciation conventions that have never appeared in an English-language finance curriculum. The TVM row, the amortization worksheet, statistics, interest conversion and date arithmetic are identical, and both models share the same solver and rounding, so a payment or a bond price agrees to every displayed digit. Every one of the Professional’s extra figures is derivable on the standard model in under ten keystrokes, so what you are buying is speed under exam pressure, not capability. Both are approved for the CFA exam. The side-by-side comparison lists the workarounds keystroke by keystroke.

No. There are no program steps, no recordable keystroke macros and no way to load a formula onto it — which is why it passes the calculator check in exam rooms that bar programmable devices. What it does have is ten user memories, M0 to M9: STO followed by a digit parks a number mid-problem and RCL followed by the same digit brings it back, which is enough to carry an intermediate result across worksheets. Worth knowing if you are choosing between the two CFA-approved models: the HP 12C is programmable, with 99 program steps, and it is approved anyway — so programmability is not what that policy turns on.

No — it is a financial calculator that happens to carry a handful of scientific keys. On board you get √x, x², 1/x, yˣ, LN and eˣ, plus one- and two-variable statistics with linear, logarithmic, exponential and power regression. Not on board: graphing, an equation solver, matrices, fraction arithmetic, base conversions or a second display line. So if a maths or physics course asks for a scientific calculator, the BA II Plus will do the arithmetic but is the wrong tool for that syllabus — and the reverse matters more, because no scientific model substitutes for it in a finance course. None of them has a TVM row, so every present-value question becomes an algebra exercise instead of five entries and a CPT.

Two different questions hide in that one. The battery is a single lithium CR2032 that you replace yourself with a small screwdriver, helped by an automatic power-down that switches the calculator off when it sits idle; Texas Instruments publishes no hours figure, so treat it as a consumable and change it the week before an exam rather than during one. CFA Institute permits loose batteries and a screwdriver in the testing room for precisely this reason. The calculator itself has no moving parts, no rechargeable cell and no backlight, so nothing in it wears out on a schedule — what usually retires one is a cracked screen or a lost calculator, not age, and the same unit commonly covers all three CFA levels. After any battery change, check P/Y, C/Y and the decimal setting before you trust the first answer.

Yes. CFA Institute’s calculator policy authorises exactly two models: the Texas Instruments BA II Plus, including the BA II Plus Professional, and the Hewlett Packard 12C, including the 12C Platinum, the Platinum 25th anniversary edition, the 30th anniversary edition and the 12C Prestige. Nothing else may be used, and sitting the exam with an unapproved model voids your result even if a proctor does not spot it. You must bring your own — the test centre will not lend one and candidates may not share. Calculator covers, keystroke cards and loose batteries are allowed in the room; instruction manuals are not. Policies do change, so read the current one on cfainstitute.org rather than a forum post before test day.

Yes, because a BA 2 Plus is a BA II Plus. Texas Instruments prints the model in Roman numerals and the digit spelling is simply what people type from memory, so a TI BA 2 Plus, a Texas BA 2 Plus and a Texas Instruments BA II Plus are one product — approved in both its standard and Professional form. The practical points matter more than the name. Your calculator is inspected before the exam starts, so carry the exact unit you practised on; fit a fresh battery in advance; and rehearse the keystrokes on the hardware, not on a phone or in a browser, because no app, laptop or online calculator is permitted in the room — this emulator included. Use it to drill the sequences for free, then repeat them on the device you will actually carry in.

On the finance exams it was built for, generally yes. Texas Instruments lists it as approved for the CFA exam, GARP’s Financial Risk Manager exam and the Certified Management Accountant exam, and it appears on the CFP Board’s permitted list alongside several HP models. What it is not is automatically covered by a rule that says “scientific calculator allowed” — a financial calculator is a different category, and some maths, engineering and admissions tests either bar it or publish their own narrower list. Some exams add conditions rather than a ban, such as requiring the memory to be cleared before you sit down. There is one reliable way to settle it: read the published calculator policy for your own exam and sitting, not a summary on a page like this one.

For most candidates, the BA II Plus. Both approved models will get you through, so the choice is really about how you want to think under time pressure. The BA II Plus uses ordinary algebraic entry — you type 2 + 3 = and read 5 — and it prompts you through each worksheet field by name, which is why the prep providers teach it and why virtually every published keystroke solution is written for it. The HP 12C uses Reverse Polish Notation, which is quicker once it is second nature and slower while you are learning, on an interface designed in 1981. Take the 12C if you already use RPN daily; otherwise the BA II Plus is the lower-risk option, and you will never have to translate an answer key.

The TI BA II Plus, standard or Professional — the policy narrows it to two models and this is the one the curriculum’s own worked examples and every major prep provider’s keystrokes assume. Between the two variants, the Professional saves a few keystrokes on payback and modified IRR questions and costs more; if you already own the standard model, put the difference into practice questions instead. Buy it at the start of Level I rather than the month before the exam, because what you actually need is muscle memory and that takes a few hundred problems. Drill them free on the emulator first, and read the exam-day calculator tips before your first mock.

A BA II Plus, unless your programme names something else. Core MBA finance runs on the same five variables as the CFA curriculum — present value, future value, rate, term, payment — plus net present value and internal rate of return on uneven flows, and the BA II Plus reaches all of it with dedicated keys instead of nested menus. Accounting and statistics courses are usually served by it too, since it carries standard deviation and four regression models. Check two things before you spend anything: whether your school permits a financial calculator in its exams at all, since some restrict to four-function models, and whether a particular model is mandated. If it is only ever for coursework, spend nothing and use the calculators here instead.

The one your exam room allows, and after that the one built for the arithmetic you actually do. Financial calculators — the BA II Plus, the HP 12C — put the time-value-of-money variables on the keypad and cash flow, bond and amortization work in prompted worksheets, so a mortgage payment is five entries rather than a formula. Scientific calculators cover trigonometry, logs and general statistics for maths and science courses, but have no TVM row, so every finance question becomes an algebra exercise. Graphing calculators add plotting and are barred from most professional finance exams because of it. Four-function models are what restricted test centres hand out. For finance study and the professional finance exams, a financial calculator is not merely the better choice — it is effectively compulsory.