I’m fortunate to have found ALEKS math classes.
I’m horrible at Math. It doesn’t click for me, it doesn’t click for my sisters. I don’t know if it’s genetics. My dad’s good at math; my mom’s not. Or it could be a self-defeating attitude. I remember my fifth grade teacher doing subtraction problems on the board, randomly calling on students to solve them. The pressure I felt, the dread when she called on me, my face flushing red, classmates snickering — it must have scarred me. I can clearly recall the feeling. It didn’t matter if I made or avoided eye contact with her, she liked to call on me, and I know she only thought she was helping. Even now, even with basic everyday math, my brain wants to shut down. It screams, “you can’t do this!” and “don’t make a fool of yourself!”
I twice failed intermediate algebra in high school. It wasn’t until the third time something clicked, and the classmates of my math dummy class were asking to copy my papers. That felt good, for once being the smarter kid in class. I never did make it to algebra, though. Intermediate algebra was the highest math requirement to graduate high school. Algebra and the more advanced maths were needed to enter university. I had no goals, no clear direction in my life, so I didn’t care about academics.
Fast forward to me being twenty-five. I’m pursing a four-year degree at Thomas Edison State College to meet the working visa requirement in Japan. I chose the liberal arts path because it only requires intermediate algebra. I put the math off until the very end. I tested out of every class with CLEP and DSST exams, but I didn’t trust myself to pass the College Mathematics CLEP exam. No faith in myself whatsoever. If I was to attempt testing out of math, I knew it would take me forever, and I didn’t have forever.
Luckily, I learned about ALEKS from the degreeforum.
What is ALEKS Math?
Assessment and LEarning in Knowledge Spaces is a Web-based, artificially intelligent assessment and learning system. ALEKS uses adaptive questioning to quickly and accurately determine exactly what a student knows and doesn’t know in a course. ALEKS then instructs the student on the topics she is most ready to learn.
ALEKS is self-paced learning. It only costs $20 a month. You can sign up for a three-hour trial to see how it works for yourself, but I’ll go over it and a little about my experience.
First, know that ALEKS is accepted at the Big 3 schools — Thomas Edison, Excelsior, Charter Oak. Their policies may differ, so make sure your ALEKS course will be accepted before jumping in. Not only the Big 3, but many other institutions will accept ALEKS as well. One mother, inquiring for her sons, called several colleges in Oklahoma to see if ALEKS was accepted — all said yes but one.
How it works
After you sign up, choose a course. Intermediate Algebra meets the requirement for almost every degree except science, business, and math degrees. You have several other choices, but some are considered duplicates; for example, College Algebra and College Algebra with Trigonometry. Only one or the other will be accepted for credit, but not both. Some other classes include College Math, PreCalc, Trig, Intro Stats and Business Stats.
Upon choosing a course, there is an initial assessment. Treat it like a real test and do your best. The better you do, the faster you will complete the course. Set aside a ton of scratch paper, you’ll need it.
You need to score a minimum of 70% on an assessment to be awarded credit. It is possible to score that high from the very beginning, in which case you’d be done! Three quick credits! If only so many of us were that good at math.
But don’t worry, like me, you’ll get there. After the assessment, you click on any math topic in your course you want. You’ll be given a practice problem first to see how it’s done, then your own problems. Get it right and you’ll move on to the next. If you get it wrong or don’t know how to do it, you can click on a tab for an explanation. You should print out these explanations or copy them down because every so often, you’ll have to complete a new, random assessment. And in the case which you answer a problem incorrectly, it will be added back to your class. So you can lose your progress as you advance; each assessment can frustratingly set you back: hours, even.
Once you master 70%, not 70% mastered and studied, you’ll know because there is a pie chart, you can add it to your ACE transcript and then have it sent to your school. On ACE, search for ALEKS and your course and choose to submit it, and then the ACE will contact ALEKS to confirm completion. It’s very important you don’t close your ALEKS account during this, or you might lose everything! Personally, I left my ALEKS account open until I confirmed my school had received the transcript. It’s free to sign up with ACE, but it costs $15 to send the transcript, so complete as many course as you want before sending to save money.
It took me around 15 grueling hours to complete intermediate algebra, and every bit of it I wanted to tear my hair out, even with the calculator. If I can do it you can do it. I’m now looking into completing a business management degree, which will require more advanced math from me.
I hope this introduced you to an efficient way to learn math or knock out those credits.
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