Clearing TVM on the BA II Plus

The BA II Plus does not auto-clear Time Value of Money (TVM) registers between problems. Every value you typed into N, I/Y, PV, PMT, or FV stays there until you press 2nd then CLR TVM or override the value by typing a new one. Candidates who only clear the registers they think they touched leave the others stale, and the next compute pulls the stale value into the answer.

This page covers every clear command the BA II Plus exposes, what each one resets, and which one to run between CFA Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) problems. Charterly's free BA II Plus calculator catches leftover TVM under rule M3.

The clear commands

The two commands a candidate uses every problem are 2nd CLR TVM and (when applicable) 2nd CLR WORK inside the CF worksheet.

The habit

Every TVM problem starts with 2nd CLR TVM. Every cash-flow problem starts with CF, then 2nd CLR WORK. Doing this consistently during practice means the keystrokes are reflexive on exam day, and the cost is two extra keystrokes per problem (less than one second).

The keystrokes do not flash anything special on the display. 2nd CLR TVM shows a brief 0.00 flash and the home screen returns. That is the success state. If the screen still shows a value after the keystroke, the calculator received only the 2nd press; press CLR TVM again.

A worked example

Problem A. A candidate solves a five-year, 6 percent, 1,000 deposit problem for FV.

1. 5 then N. 6 then I/Y. 1000 then +/- then PV. 0 then PMT.
2. CPT then FV. Expected: 1,338.2256.

Problem B (without clearing). Same candidate moves to a three-year, 5 percent, 2,000 problem for FV.

1. 3 then N. 5 then I/Y. 2000 then +/- then PV. (PMT not touched.)
2. CPT then FV.

The expected answer for a clean run with PMT = 0 is 2,315.2500. The candidate's actual answer here depends on whether they remember PMT was zero in problem A. If they assume it carries, it does, and the answer matches. If problem A had used a non-zero PMT, the leftover would silently corrupt the result.

Problem B (with `2nd CLR TVM` between).

1. 2nd then CLR TVM.
2. 3 then N. 5 then I/Y. 2000 then +/- then PV. 0 then PMT.
3. CPT then FV. Expected: 2,315.2500.

The second run is unambiguous. The clear is the cheap insurance.

How Charterly catches this

Rule M3 records a lastTVMTouchAt timestamp and looks at it on every TVM compute. In a drill context, any TVM touch before the drill started flags as leftover. In free-solve mode (the standalone calculator with no active drill), any TVM touch more than 60 seconds before a compute flags as leftover. The 60-second floor keeps the warning below Charterly's false-positive target.

For HP 12C candidates, the parallel rule is H3 ("Prior HP TVM values may still be loaded"), and the fix is f FIN or f CLX. See the HP 12C guide.

Related pages

• Cash-flow worksheet on the BA II Plus covers CF and 2nd CLR WORK for NPV and IRR.
• The twelve CFA calculator mistakes lists every named rule across both devices.

Frequently asked questions

Does `2nd RESET` clear everything I would ever care about? It clears every default. That includes P/Y, decimal places, format mode, BGN, TVM, CF, AMORT, and bond worksheet state. It does not clear the memory registers; those need 2nd MEM then 2nd CLR WORK separately. The trade-off is that RESET also wipes your preferred decimal places and AOS mode.

Can I assign `2nd CLR TVM` to a single key? No. The BA II Plus does not have programmable keys. 2nd then CLR TVM is the shortest path.

Does clearing TVM also clear the BGN mode? No. BGN persists. To switch back to END, use 2nd BGN then 2nd SET then 2nd QUIT. See BGN mode on the BA II Plus.

Does Charterly auto-clear TVM between drills? The Charterly drill UI clears the engine's TVM registers between drills automatically, so warnings only surface on the user's free-solve sessions or on a drill the user explicitly chose to keep open across problems. The user's physical calculator is, of course, untouched; the habit transfers to the device, not the other way around.