02-01-2014, 03:31 PM
Hi everyone. Thanks a million for all the encouragement and information and tips and suggestions you've shared directly with me or with others in this forum. After being MIA for over 10 years from all educational pursuits, ALEKS was just what I needed to get back in the drivers seat. If you've been on the fence and scared of the assessment like I was, don't be! You can definitely do it. I admittedly have had math up to Calculus but I felt a bit lost so I jumped in with a trial account first since it's all been so long and that seemed to help me get back in the flow really well. Some of you might find these tips helpful. This might not work if you've never had any math like Algebra in high school. Here's what worked for me...
1. I created a trial account to get the hang of how everything would work. There's no cost and you can do the assessment at your own pace! You can even abandon the assessment to review the dusty areas where cobwebs may have morphed into a 1/4 inch thick tapestry on your brain.
2. Take your time to read each question carefully! The assessment is not timed so what's the rush? Get yourself at least 1500 pages of scrap paper so you can work out these problems.
3. If you are getting stuck on a question during the trial assessment, exit it for a while like they encourage you to do since the assessment will open up to the exact same page for you when you sign back in. No reason to lose your precious 3 hours banging your head against the wall on something you can't remember in a 3 hour trial account.
4. Just in case someone may be confused by the 3 hour trial and the fact that the assessment is not timed, you have 3 hours only in the trial account. The actual assessment has no time limit once you've signed up for a monthly subscription.
5. Consider treating the assessment like a CLEP. Study and review as much as possible before you sit down for the actual assessment in your real account. It'll really help with finishing faster.
6. You will see more than the easy stuff in the first few chapters of an Algebra book so be prepared for logarithms and circle formulas and the dreaded polynomials and a few bits of imaginary numbers as well. And ALEKS loves the number line and inequalities so be prepared for that... Also looked like they have a preference for rounding things off to hundredths so keep that in mind.
7. It felt like the test started out easily and then got increasingly more difficult and then became easy again. Might just have been my imagination though.
These tips can't and won't apply to everyone, but some of you may find it helpful.
1. I created a trial account to get the hang of how everything would work. There's no cost and you can do the assessment at your own pace! You can even abandon the assessment to review the dusty areas where cobwebs may have morphed into a 1/4 inch thick tapestry on your brain.
2. Take your time to read each question carefully! The assessment is not timed so what's the rush? Get yourself at least 1500 pages of scrap paper so you can work out these problems.
3. If you are getting stuck on a question during the trial assessment, exit it for a while like they encourage you to do since the assessment will open up to the exact same page for you when you sign back in. No reason to lose your precious 3 hours banging your head against the wall on something you can't remember in a 3 hour trial account.
4. Just in case someone may be confused by the 3 hour trial and the fact that the assessment is not timed, you have 3 hours only in the trial account. The actual assessment has no time limit once you've signed up for a monthly subscription.
5. Consider treating the assessment like a CLEP. Study and review as much as possible before you sit down for the actual assessment in your real account. It'll really help with finishing faster.
6. You will see more than the easy stuff in the first few chapters of an Algebra book so be prepared for logarithms and circle formulas and the dreaded polynomials and a few bits of imaginary numbers as well. And ALEKS loves the number line and inequalities so be prepared for that... Also looked like they have a preference for rounding things off to hundredths so keep that in mind.
7. It felt like the test started out easily and then got increasingly more difficult and then became easy again. Might just have been my imagination though.
These tips can't and won't apply to everyone, but some of you may find it helpful.
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