Quick Answer: PRC publishes a single announcement listing the non-programmable calculators allowed in licensure examinations, most recently updated on 2 May 2024, covering models from Casio, Canon, Sharp, Hewlett-Packard, Citizen, Aurora, Olympia, Texas Instruments and a handful of smaller brands. Three rules apply on exam day: one calculator per examinee, inspection every examination day, and no borrowing, lending or replacement once the exam is running. Your Professional Regulatory Board may still run its own shorter list, or ban calculators entirely, and that governs over the Commission-wide list. The list is revised, so check PRC's own announcement for your own sitting.
The calculator question is not a trivia question. Every board exam cycle produces the same set of stories: an examinee who brought the model a review centre recommended two years ago, an examinee whose unit sits one character away from something on the list, an examinee who assumed the brand was the point. Inspection happens at the door and there is no substitution once the exam starts.
This guide explains how the list is structured and where the real traps are. It deliberately does not try to be your list. The single most useful thing you can do is open PRC's own announcement for your own exam cycle, because that page changes and this one is a snapshot. If you are still working through the rest of your paperwork, our PRC board exam requirements guide covers the document set, and the PRC board exam schedule covers dates.
What Does PRC's Current Announcement Actually Say?
The governing publication is the PRC announcement "Updated List of Non-Programmable Calculators Allowed to Be Used in the Licensure Examinations," posted on 2 May 2024. It opens by stating that the Commission "informs the public of the updated list of non-programmable calculators allowed to be used in the licensure examinations," then lists models grouped by brand, then sets out the exam-room rules.
Contemporaneous news coverage attributes the update to a PRC resolution numbered 2024-1809, and reports that PRC framed the tightening as a measure against cheating. The web announcement itself does not print a resolution number, so treat the number as reported rather than as text you can read off PRC's page.
Three rules are stated in the announcement itself, and they are quoted here verbatim because they are the ones enforced at the door:
| Rule | PRC's wording |
|---|---|
| How many | "Only one (1) non-programmable calculator per examinee shall be allowed inside the examination room." |
| Inspection | "All calculators shall be thoroughly inspected by the examination personnel every examination day." |
| Sharing and swapping | "Borrowing, lending and substitution/replacement of calculators while the examination is in progress shall not be allowed." |
Note the phrase "every examination day." For multi-day boards, the same unit is inspected again each morning.
Disclaimer: PRC revises this announcement without a fixed schedule and individual Professional Regulatory Boards issue their own resolutions. Verify against PRC's current published announcement and your own programme of examination before your exam date, not against any republished list, including this page.
Which Brands Appear on the Commission-Wide List?
Eight brands are named as their own groups, with a further group covering smaller brands. The table below is illustrative: a handful of examples per brand so you can recognise the shape of the list. It is not the list, and a model missing from this table is not evidence of anything.
| Brand group | Examples that appear on PRC's list |
|---|---|
| Casio | Fx-95MS, Fx-991S, Fx-350ES PLUS, Fx-82EX |
| Canon | F-502, F-718SG, F-789SGA |
| Sharp | EL-500W, EL-531XH, EL-W531TH-WH |
| Hewlett-Packard | HP 9S, HP 10S, HP 30S |
| Citizen | SR-135N, SR-270N, SR-281N |
| Aurora | AX-501, AX-595TV, AX-600S |
| Olympia | LCD 8110, ES-570ES PLUS |
| Texas Instruments | TI-30XA, TI-34, TI-36X PRO |
| Other brands | Karce, Porpo and Taksun models |
Casio dominates the list by volume, which is why most Filipino examinees end up choosing between Casio models. That also makes Casio where the near-miss mistakes cluster.
Why the Model Number Matters More Than the Brand
This is the part that costs people their calculators. PRC's list is enumerated model by model. It is not a rule about brands, and it is not a rule about product families.
Look at what that produces in practice on PRC's published list. Several Casio models in the same numeric family appear while others do not. Suffix conventions that look cosmetic on the box, the difference between an S, a W, an MS, an EX and an ES PLUS, are exactly the characters PRC is enumerating. Two of the models people most commonly ask about, the Casio FX-991ES and FX-991ES PLUS, do not appear on the list at all, even though other calculators in the 991 family do.
The correct procedure is mechanical, and it takes a minute:
- Turn the calculator over and read the model number printed on the case, not the one you remember or the one on the receipt.
- Open PRC's announcement page for your current exam cycle.
- Match the model character for character, including spaces and the word PLUS.
- If it is not there, it is not allowed. Do not reason from a similar model.
Does Your Board Run Its Own List?
Often, yes, and this overrides the general list. Reporting on the 2024 resolution describes three options left with each Professional Regulatory Board: continue using its own existing list under its own resolution, issue a new resolution with its own list, or disallow calculators in its licensure examination entirely, with whichever option applies clearly stated in the licensure examination programme.
Two published examples show how narrow a board-level list can be:
| Board | Issuance | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Professional Regulatory Board of Civil Engineering | Resolution No. 09, series of 2019, approved by the Commission | Allows only eight models across Canon, Casio and Sharp, applied starting the November 2019 Civil Engineering licensure examination |
| Board for Professional Teachers | Resolution No. 25, series of 2019, modifying Commission Memorandum Circular No. 19, s. 2008 | Calculators allowed only for LEPT secondary-level Mathematics majors, restricted to basic arithmetic, trigonometric function, logarithm and x to the power of y; all other examinees prohibited |
If you are sitting the civil engineering board, our civil engineering board exam guide covers the wider preparation picture; if you are sitting the LET, our LET application requirements guide covers the documents. In both cases, the calculator rule you must follow is the one printed in your own programme of examination, which PRC issues with your Notice of Admission.
What Counts as "Non-Programmable"?
PRC's mechanism for answering this is the list itself rather than a functional test you can apply at home. The practical reading is that a calculator qualifies because PRC has enumerated it, not because you judge it to be non-programmable.
That matters because the features that get a calculator excluded are the ones examinees find most attractive: stored formulas and user programs, text or note storage, symbolic algebra, graphing, and any wireless capability. If your unit does any of those, do not expect to argue it through inspection on the basis that you will not use them.
A Pre-Exam Calculator Checklist
- Check the model against PRC's current announcement, not a review centre handout, a forum post, or this article.
- Check your own programme of examination for a board-specific rule, since that is where a narrower list or an outright ban is stated.
- Buy early enough to replace it. Discovering the problem the night before means paying whatever the nearest shop charges, if it has stock.
- Bring no second unit. One calculator per examinee, and a spare in your bag is a conversation you do not want at inspection.
- Fit fresh batteries and test it, because you cannot swap or borrow a replacement once the exam is in progress.
- Clear anything stored. Inspection is physical and it happens every examination day.
- Do not lend yours. The prohibition covers lending as well as borrowing, and it applies to the person handing the calculator over too.
Once you have passed, the paperwork moves to registration. Our guide on how to get a PRC ID covers what happens after results are released.
Ready to find the right school or review centre? Browse schools or compare board exam performance and review centre options across hundreds of Philippine schools on SchoolFinderPH.
Sources
- PRC - Updated List of Non-Programmable Calculators Allowed to Be Used in the Licensure Examinations (posted 2 May 2024)
- PRC - List of Allowed Non-Programmable Calculators for the Civil Engineering Licensure Examination
- PRC - Recommending Modifications to Commission Memorandum Circular No. 19 (s 2008): Updated List on Programmable Calculators Allowed to be Used in the Licensure Examinations
- Manila Bulletin - PRC updates list of non-programmable calculators permitted in licensure exams
- Inquirer POP - Licensure exam takers react to PRC's updated list of approved calculators
