ALEKS Intro to Statistics

[owner66]

Done. Finally done.

[KayV]

Congratulations! Well done you!

[JohnnyHeck]

There is recurring bad press on this forum concerning ALEKS Stats, but you obviously have overcome all objections. Could you please provide feedback concerning the following: 1) Do you consider yourself comfortable with math? 2) How long did it take you in hours to achieve your acceptable level which was? 3) Were you just punching a ticket, or were you actually interested in the subject for current or future use? 4) What made your achievement hard or easy for you? Thanks

[smf6824]

Done. Finally done.

Congrats. Three more credits out of the way.

[JTP]

cheersmate
ALEKS stats is definitely one of the more miserable things I've completed for school.

[SwaggyP]

cheersmate
ALEKS stats is definitely one of the more miserable things I've completed for school.

I'm not ashamed to say I gave up and completed SL Business Stats instead. I greatly admire anybody who does complete Aleks Stats, especially if done within the initial month.

[owner66]

There is recurring bad press on this forum concerning ALEKS Stats, but you obviously have overcome all objections. Could you please provide feedback concerning the following: 1) Do you consider yourself comfortable with math? 2) How long did it take you in hours to achieve your acceptable level which was? 3) Were you just punching a ticket, or were you actually interested in the subject for current or future use? 4) What made your achievement hard or easy for you? Thanks

I think this will help with why this course may get bad press.

In general, there are 2 parts to the Statistics math. The 1st part involves basic math such as summing numbers, calculating mean, median, mode. Also interpreting graphs, some basic probability and statistics etc. I thought it was gravy at this point. The second part is the statistics portion, which on the solving side is easy since involves algebraically solving equations and using the ALEKS stats calculator. You are hit with some key concepts and formulas early on. This is where I had trouble making progress since I did not take the time to learn the key concepts.

The problem I had was that having gone through all of the ALEKS algebra in 78 hrs (95,99,98), I became accustomed to plugging numbers into formulas and moving on. With the statistics portion of the statistics class, you HAVE TO take time to read through the explanations to understand the concept ALEKS is trying to teach before moving on to the next section. If you don't you will be struggling because in the explanations ALEKS may assume you know how to get a value that it uses in that example and does not explain how it arrived at that value. I got deep into the 2nd half and was floundering with only a basic understanding of the concepts. My saving grace was that I finally got to an assessment and TOOK MY TIME with it to make sure all of my answers were perfect. I got a 72 and that was that.

1. Comfortable with math: Having gone through the Algebra, there are no parts of Statistics that you can not solve once the equation is set up properly. It is all basic stuff and inequalities. The issue is that if you don't have a good understanding of the concepts, you may not know what it is you are solving for or what formula to use.
2. Time: My acceptable level was anything over a 70. It took 30 hrs total from initial assessment to final.
3. Interest: This is 2 sided. Academically I am interested to see what statistics is about. I have always heard people using terms like 'standard deviation', 'bell curve', probability etc and now I have a basic understanding of what those are. However, my goal is to get a degree. I already have a career, and that career does not involve using statistics. I say does not, but now that I have learned something about it I may find some uses. So sadly, yes, I was basically punching a ticket.
4. What made it difficult: ALEKS DOES fail in that the help for the advanced portions of the calculator is non existent, except where it happens to mention how to use it in the explanation of the problem itself. I had a very hard time and had to resort to creating formulas in Excel for many of the lower-level calculations. The higher end calculations are done using ALEKS calculator which is helpful here. Also, not taking time with the key concepts early on in the 2nd half really set me back. Oh, and the wife starting a new job, son getting the flu, daughter needing homework help, busy work schedule etc.
What made it easy: Being able to take the course at my own pace. I did not have to buy study materials, sit a class, or go to a testing center. The value can not be beat. I paid ($40) (had to create 2 student accts over Christmas since ACE closed) and got from Beginning Algebra through statistics in a month and 3 days.

[JohnnyHeck]

The problem I had was that having gone through all of the ALEKS algebra in 78 hrs (95,99,98), I became accustomed to plugging numbers into formulas and moving on. With the statistics portion of the statistics class, you HAVE TO take time to read through the explanations to understand the concept ALEKS is trying to teach before moving on to the next section. If you don't you will be struggling because in the explanations ALEKS may assume you know how to get a value that it uses in that example and does not explain how it arrived at that value. I got deep into the 2nd half and was floundering with only a basic understanding of the concepts. My saving grace was that I finally got to an assessment and TOOK MY TIME with it to make sure all of my answers were perfect.... there are no parts of Statistics that you can not solve once the equation is set up properly. It is all basic stuff and inequalities. The issue is that if you don't have a good understanding of the concepts, you may not know what it is you are solving for or what formula to use....It took 30 hrs total from initial assessment to final.... ALEKS DOES fail in that the help for the advanced portions of the calculator is non existent, except where it happens to mention how to use it in the explanation of the problem itself....not taking time with the key concepts early on in the 2nd half really set me back....mde it easy being able to take the course at my own pace. I did not have to buy study materials, sit a class, or go to a testing center. The value can not be beat...

Thanks so much owner66 for you detailed reply. In other threads I have been harping on the same issues that you bring up here. But you have added an important new detail for me, i.e. he exact source of weakness in the ALEKS approach for stats: "...in the explanations ALEKS may assume you know how to get a value that it uses in that example and does not explain how it arrived at that value."

[HotDiggityDogs]

Congrats on finishing.

I came here hunting to see if someone knew how to use summation in the calculator! I think I'm going to just use Excel, because they have no instructions that I can find in the Help, and I'm already Excel-fluent. I think I am going to pop them a note (ALEKS, that is) asking for them to add that information to their Calculator help for Stats.

Will you be taking an Exam for credit now that you've finished the course, or was this through a school that gives you credit for the ALEKS course itself?

[owner66]

Congrats on finishing.

I came here hunting to see if someone knew how to use summation in the calculator! I think I'm going to just use Excel, because they have no instructions that I can find in the Help, and I'm already Excel-fluent. I think I am going to pop them a note (ALEKS, that is) asking for them to add that information to their Calculator help for Stats.

Will you be taking an Exam for credit now that you've finished the course, or was this through a school that gives you credit for the ALEKS course itself?

The only thing I could figure out with summation was you can click and drag over a list of numbers like '1,3,4,5,6,8,2' and the calculator will pop up and give you a sum. I could not copy and paste into a csv, so I typed them in manually. This is NOT useful for much. The summation problems don't have sequential numbers, so a summing calculator was out too. Just use Excel. You can get creative and have it to the box and whisker calcs, standard deviation, expectation and variance of random variable, etc. You'll know if it is Excel-worthy if you are used to Excel.

I am using it for credit at TESC.