I hate you ALEKS!!!

[taylor]

Try not to get too frustrated and just stick with it. ALEKS is great tool, however it is extremely difficult and it allows for zero mistakes. (as in some of the problems have multiple pieces and while a teacher may give you partial credit if you get most the problem correct, ALEKS will not)

The course was supposed to take about 60 hours, I however took longer than most. I originally assessed at 10 out of 200 and just hit 140 after 103 hours and 45 minutes. I did this in about 4 weeks, but aside from work Algebra was about all I have done.

Some tips I wish I had known when I started....

1. Notes notes and more notes. I ended up with 3 legal pads filled out on both sides, plus 57 index cards. What I wished I had done was to file them in a way I could get to topic without thumbing through all the cards and flipping through paper. I like the OneNote idea...
2. Assessments can be triggered in two ways, number of pie earned and also the total amount of time you have on the system. I found them to be about 10 hours system time or 15 pieces of pie.
3. If you are going to take a day or two off, request an assessment so you can hit the topics that are fresh in your mind. I found it better to work 8 hours straight and get assessed then to work in short blocks.

I spent most of my time earning about 10 pies then getting busted back 4-6. It was very frustrating, especially the closer you get to 140. I hit 134, then assessed at 131. Then got to 138, then got busted back to 135. Finally I hit the magic number of 140. After 100 hours it was like hitting the lottery.

Good luck.

103 hours??? I'm doing College Algebra now and I'm at 62 and been doing it for 23 hours but seems much longer. I thought I'd have an easier time especially since I completed the 2 previous Algebra courses through Aleks. I think the key to it is like others have mentioned is to take it real slow during your initial assessment so you can pass with a 70 right off the bat. I pray on my next ALEKS course I can pass on the first try, although, I haven't had any success on my first attempt thus far.