When does ALEKS give you a calculator?
Only on topics where ALEKS allows one. ALEKS’s user guides say “To access the online ALEKS Calculator, use the Calculator button,” and that the button “will be inactive for material where the use of a calculator is not appropriate.” The higher-education instructor’s manual says “A calculator is included in ALEKS when needed.”
Look at the right-hand side of the problem page. ALEKS’s student guide says those resources “may include tools such as a calculator, an eBook link, the ALEKS dictionary, and the Message Center.” A grayed-out calculator means that topic is meant to be done without one.
The topic name often tells you in advance. ALEKS’s current PreCalculus topic list names the tool in the title of many topics:
| Topic name says | Example from ALEKS’s PreCalculus list | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| “Using a calculator to…” | “Using a calculator to evaluate natural and common logarithmic expressions” | The calculator step is part of the skill being practiced. |
| “Using a graphing calculator to…” | “Using a graphing calculator to find the zeros of a quadratic function” | The topic needs the graphing calculator, which your instructor can switch off for the class. |
| “…without a calculator” | “Finding simple interest without a calculator” | The topic is meant to be worked by hand. |
The right-hand column is our reading of the topic names, not ALEKS’s wording.
Is the ALEKS calculator basic, scientific or graphing?
ALEKS’s guides describe a basic calculator plus a separate graphing calculator. The Business Math user’s guide says “A basic calculator is part of ALEKS,” and the Business Statistics guide says “A basic calculator with some statistical functions is part of ALEKS.”
Some topics go past basic arithmetic, such as “Using a calculator to approximate sine, cosine, and tangent values.” We found no current ALEKS page listing which keys the calculator shows on those topics, so open it on your own topic to see.
Does ALEKS have a graphing calculator?
Yes, as a setting your instructor controls. McGraw Hill’s support article on class settings in the new ALEKS view says the Class Options section is where teachers “turn on/off the Graphing Calculator access.” Checking the box lets students use the tool “while completing certain ALEKS topics,” and the article goes on:
“Checking this box makes additional topics that require the use of a graphing calculator available. If this setting is unchecked, topics that require graphic calculators will be removed from the class.”
That article and its Classic ALEKS twin are written for K-12 teachers. The higher-education instructor’s manual lists the same choice among a class’s course-specific settings, “such as providing ALEKS graphing calculator functionality.” Either way the setting is the instructor’s, so if you expected graphing-calculator topics and see none, ask your instructor.
The graphing calculator is separate from the graph answer tool, the coordinate plane where you plot an answer, which the manual says comes with “a selection of other tools for graphing lines and regions of the plane.” ALEKS for Calculus 1 adds what McGraw Hill’s release page calls “our powerful new graphing tool.”
Can you use your own calculator on ALEKS?
ALEKS’s guides say no, unless you are told to. The General Chemistry user’s guide says “External calculators should not be used; the ALEKS Calculator button will become active when calculator use is appropriate.” The Business Math guide says “Basic calculators should be used only when you are instructed to do so.” Your instructor’s syllabus can set its own rule, and that is the rule for your class.
There is a practical cost too. The instructor’s manual warns that a student who “inappropriately used a calculator on an unsupervised assessment” can end up with skewed results and “inappropriate material in the Learning Mode,” which “can be corrected by requesting a new assessment for the student.” So an outside calculator can put you on topics you aren’t ready for, and your instructor can send you back through a new check.
Can you use a calculator on an ALEKS Knowledge Check?
Only the ALEKS calculator, and only when it appears. The higher-education manual says of knowledge checks that “The ALEKS calculator button will become active when use of a calculator is permitted.” McGraw Hill’s 2016 student module guide shows the same rule as a quick tip before the Initial Knowledge Check: “You can use the ALEKS Calculator when it appears.”
Your instructor can also proctor a check. McGraw Hill’s ALEKS proctoring page says Respondus LockDown Browser is there to “Prevent students from accessing other applications, copying, printing or visiting other sites.”
ALEKS PPL placement is a separate case: your school sets its testing rules, and this guide does not cover placement testing, so ask your school’s testing office. For how Knowledge Checks work inside a course, see How do ALEKS Knowledge Checks work?
Why can’t I see the ALEKS calculator?
McGraw Hill’s pages point to three reasons:
- The topic doesn’t allow one. The button stays inactive on material where a calculator is not appropriate.
- The graphing calculator is turned off. If your instructor unchecked it, McGraw Hill says topics that need it are removed from the class.
- Your class uses accessibility options. McGraw Hill says changing them “may impact the number of topics students see in their Pie,” and its 2016 student module guide listed the ALEKS Calculator among features removed from accessible classes. That may have changed since.
If you are stuck on a topic, ALEKS has its own help. The Explain page shows a worked solution for your problem (more in Is there an ALEKS answer key?), and the student section of the higher-education manual says “While working in the Learning Mode, you can send a specific problem to your instructor for assistance.”
Where Silent Student fits
We make Silent Student, a desktop app for Mac and Windows from El Dorado Ignition LLC. On ALEKS it uses its general screen-reading agent, not a solver written for ALEKS, so it is less predictable than on our dedicated platforms. It follows the ALEKS link from your Canvas course, works Learning Mode topics in the ALEKS answer editor, and reads each entry back before it presses Check.
- It does not take the Initial Knowledge Check, Knowledge Checks, PPL placement or proctored exams. It does not recognize a Knowledge Check, and ALEKS can start one during a long session, so queue Learning Mode topics only.
- Graphing topics, where you plot on the ALEKS graph tool, are its weakest type. Its working time in ALEKS is recorded the same way yours is.
- Our published benchmark has no ALEKS replica, so we publish no ALEKS accuracy figure. AI can be wrong, and no plan promises a grade.
- Plans are $11.99, $24.99 and $49.99 a month, with no free plan. It runs on a Mac with Apple Silicon (macOS 13 or later) or Windows 10 or later, 64-bit.
McGraw Hill’s Terms. McGraw Hill’s Terms of Use, last updated October 16, 2026, bar you from using or enabling a third-party “AI agent” or “browser extension” to act within its services, including “to view, complete, answer, or submit any assessment, assignment, or other activity”, unless McGraw Hill authorizes it in writing. They also say McGraw Hill may suspend or terminate access for violations and “may, but is not obligated to, report any such violation of these Terms of Use to your educational institution.” In our reading, that reaches Silent Student. We are not lawyers, so read the Terms yourself. Your school’s academic-integrity policy applies too, and under Silent Student’s Terms (section 5) you are responsible for both.
More detail: Silent Student on ALEKS and Best AI for ALEKS, compared.
Questions people ask
Does ALEKS have a calculator?
Yes, on some topics. ALEKS has a built-in calculator, and its Calculator button is active only where ALEKS permits a calculator. When the button is inactive, ALEKS’s guides say not to use any calculator.
Does ALEKS have a graphing calculator?
Yes, if your instructor turns it on. McGraw Hill says checking the Graphing Calculator class setting adds topics that need one, and unchecking it removes those topics from the class.
Can I use my own calculator on ALEKS?
ALEKS’s guides say external calculators should not be used and that basic calculators should be used only when you are instructed to. Your instructor’s syllabus has the final word for your class.
Why is the ALEKS calculator button grayed out?
Because that topic is meant to be done without one. ALEKS’s guides say the button is inactive for material where the use of a calculator is not appropriate.
Can you use a calculator on the ALEKS Initial Knowledge Check?
Only the ALEKS calculator, when it appears. McGraw Hill’s student module guide tells students “You can use the ALEKS Calculator when it appears.”
Can you use a calculator on the ALEKS placement test?
Your school sets the rules for ALEKS PPL placement, so ask its placement or testing office. This guide does not cover placement testing.
Sources
All fetched and checked October 20, 2026. Dates in brackets are the documents’ own revision dates.
- Find Your ALEKS K-12 Course (McGraw Hill)
- Customize the New ALEKS Class Settings (McGraw Hill support, PreK-12)
- Customize the Classic ALEKS Class Summary Page (McGraw Hill support, PreK-12)
- ALEKS PreCalculus topic list (aleks.com PDF, © 2026)
- ALEKS new releases (McGraw Hill)
- ALEKS Math & Chemistry Remote Proctoring (McGraw Hill)
- ALEKS User’s Guide for Students, version 3.18 (revised March 15, 2017)
- ALEKS User’s Guide for Business Math, version 3.18 (revised March 15, 2017)
- ALEKS User’s Guide for Business Statistics, version 3.18 (revised March 15, 2017)
- ALEKS User’s Guide for General Chemistry, version 3.18 (revised June 14, 2013)
- ALEKS Instructor’s Manual for Higher Education Mathematics, version 3.18 (revised March 15, 2017)
- New ALEKS Student Module Reference Guide (McGraw Hill, K-12; last updated December 21, 2016)
- McGraw Hill Terms of Use, last updated October 16, 2026
How this guide was made. We read each ALEKS and McGraw Hill document listed above on October 20, 2026 and quote them directly. Several ALEKS user guides are older, so we give each one’s date and use current McGraw Hill pages where they exist. The notes in the topic-name table are our reading of ALEKS’s topic titles. We did not open a live ALEKS course for this guide. We wrote it with AI assistance and checked each quote against its source.
Related guides: Is there an ALEKS answer key? · How do ALEKS Knowledge Checks work? · How to finish SmartBook assignments faster · All guides · ALEKS · Does ALEKS use AI?
Written by the company that makes Silent Student. Silent Student is not affiliated with or endorsed by McGraw Hill or ALEKS Corporation. ALEKS and McGraw Hill are trademarks of their owners.