Should I use the GRE on-screen calculator? How much should I rely on it?

It depends on where you are in your prep and what score you're aiming for.

Up to about 155: use the calculator as much as you need. For many students at this level, the calculator is genuinely helpful and there is no reason to avoid it. Just be smart about using it efficiently — don't pull it up for basic arithmetic you should know cold. If using the calculator helps you get answers right, use it.

Above 155: this is where you need to start phasing it out. As you work toward 160 and beyond, the math can increasingly be done faster by hand than by navigating the on-screen calculator, and strong mental math skills become a meaningful advantage. By the time you're above 160, calculator usage should be rare and surgical — occasional, strategic use on specific problems where it clearly helps, not a default tool you reach for on every question.

Regardless of your score level: memorize your multiplication tables up to 12 × 12. Even if you use the calculator for everything else, pulling it up for basic arithmetic like 7 × 8 wastes time that adds up over the course of a section.

The reality is that some questions benefit from the calculator and some don't, and learning which is which is a skill in itself. There are questions where punching in numbers is clearly the right move, and others where it leads you into a slow, brute-force approach when a conceptual or estimation strategy would be faster and more accurate.

ETS's own research found that calculator use is not strongly associated with better overall performance, though there are individual questions where it clearly helps. The highest-scoring students tend to use the calculator the least — but that doesn't mean avoiding it makes you score higher. It means that strong math skills reduce the need for it. Build those skills, and the calculator becomes a tool you use strategically rather than a crutch you depend on.