08-25-2020, 10:04 AM
Provider: ASU EA
Course: MAT 170 - Precalculus (Self paced)
Course content: Aleks plataform, and i think also videos but i didn't use them. The aleks is great to practice and if you do not understand how to solve the exercise you can see the solution explained.
Final exam format: RPNOW proctored exam, 25 question, only multiple choise for graphics, most of the question involve to type the solution in a field, for example "2*pi/7". It is important to know that the final exam shows you the trigonometric ecuations at the top of the page, so you don't need to remember several ecuations in order to solve some problems.
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: Extremely similar, you are not surprised with new content, practice tests help a lot to see the type of problems that will be used in the final exam. (probably the exam is more easy that some of the Aleks problems).
Time taken on course: about 14 days
Familiarity with subject before course: Strong, I had already done calculus I for engineers at my local university 10 years ago.
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: The only pitfall could be the problem that most of people have with maths. Short exam (just 25 problems) could also being a problem, in math as much more problems in the exam the factor "un-luck" is reduced. In the other hand, the Aleks plataform is amazing by training you to solve the problems. Something interesting in the final exam is that once you submit que question reply you get the grade for this question instantly (if it is correct or wrong), this is good for reducing anxiety during exam (at least for me), but also means that once you send a relpy you have no chance to recheck and change it. Another thing, maybe it's my brain, maybe it's the type of fonts they used, but on more than one occasion I was simply getting the problems wrong by not seeing that the equations started with a minus sign, by rechecking it the minus sign was always there... pay attention to this.
1-10 Difficulty level: 3 for me, about 7-9 for those who have a hard time with math.
Final grade: B (85%)
This is feedback from someone who really loves math and also has a strong background in math. In particular the feedback is incomplete, I did not use the explanatory videos and therefore I cannot talk about them.
The course took me much longer than I imagined, I expected to finish it in 5-7 days, they force you to complete 90% of the Aleks content in order to take the practice tests and then the final exam; this 90% is about 350 topics of which you must solve at least 3 exercises each (if you make a mistake in one you must solve more), and if the system understands it so, you must do a couple of exercises on topics that you had already passed. So you will need to solve 1000+ problems in aleks in order to take the final exam.
Anyway I am happy to see a math course this challenging, if you like math go for it; If you don't like it and it hurts you, try to avoid it or invest between 3 and 6 months in the course.
Course: MAT 170 - Precalculus (Self paced)
Course content: Aleks plataform, and i think also videos but i didn't use them. The aleks is great to practice and if you do not understand how to solve the exercise you can see the solution explained.
Final exam format: RPNOW proctored exam, 25 question, only multiple choise for graphics, most of the question involve to type the solution in a field, for example "2*pi/7". It is important to know that the final exam shows you the trigonometric ecuations at the top of the page, so you don't need to remember several ecuations in order to solve some problems.
Final exam content vs course content/practice exams: Extremely similar, you are not surprised with new content, practice tests help a lot to see the type of problems that will be used in the final exam. (probably the exam is more easy that some of the Aleks problems).
Time taken on course: about 14 days
Familiarity with subject before course: Strong, I had already done calculus I for engineers at my local university 10 years ago.
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: The only pitfall could be the problem that most of people have with maths. Short exam (just 25 problems) could also being a problem, in math as much more problems in the exam the factor "un-luck" is reduced. In the other hand, the Aleks plataform is amazing by training you to solve the problems. Something interesting in the final exam is that once you submit que question reply you get the grade for this question instantly (if it is correct or wrong), this is good for reducing anxiety during exam (at least for me), but also means that once you send a relpy you have no chance to recheck and change it. Another thing, maybe it's my brain, maybe it's the type of fonts they used, but on more than one occasion I was simply getting the problems wrong by not seeing that the equations started with a minus sign, by rechecking it the minus sign was always there... pay attention to this.
1-10 Difficulty level: 3 for me, about 7-9 for those who have a hard time with math.
Final grade: B (85%)
This is feedback from someone who really loves math and also has a strong background in math. In particular the feedback is incomplete, I did not use the explanatory videos and therefore I cannot talk about them.
The course took me much longer than I imagined, I expected to finish it in 5-7 days, they force you to complete 90% of the Aleks content in order to take the practice tests and then the final exam; this 90% is about 350 topics of which you must solve at least 3 exercises each (if you make a mistake in one you must solve more), and if the system understands it so, you must do a couple of exercises on topics that you had already passed. So you will need to solve 1000+ problems in aleks in order to take the final exam.
Anyway I am happy to see a math course this challenging, if you like math go for it; If you don't like it and it hurts you, try to avoid it or invest between 3 and 6 months in the course.
BSBA: 70% completed (84 credits of 120)
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