Crippling self doubt! (aka starting college at 40!)

[Merlin]

Just to clarify - I don't think you can switch to another course and then come back to it - I think it remembers your progress in every course, if I remember correctly.  It's been a while, so they may have changed that, but I wouldn't count on it before doing it.
[...]

Well, when I took my original ALEKS courses back in 2011, ALEKS would reset your course progress whenever you switched. This is why you couldn't move to another course after you finished it until it was confirmed by ACE to have been added to your transcript.

Now that you mention it, I believe I recall reading that this may no longer be the case and ALEKS saves your progress in each course separately... possibly because of that very issue. I know they have made a lot of changes since 2011.

When I came back most recently, I waited until ACE had transcribed stats before I started on trigonometry, so I didn't test it.

[Mil0]

I'm pretty sure had I taken the ACE knowledge check when I opened it, I would have been fine and passed. When I redid the comprehensive knowledge check again, I dropped to a 58%. The material had gotten dramatically more difficult. I'm just going to put it on hold for now, because it's frustrating me to no end. I went through the khan academy material and was doing pretty well. When I got to questions that were stumping me, the resources that were available to solve that particular problem were all in the pre-calc sections so I'm not sure if it saved my progress and was throwing more difficult subjects to me. Either way, math is going towards the end of the list.

One my current deployment, my host is a college math teacher and I was joking with her about trading my services for developing and streamlining her volunteer management process in exchange for her helping me pass algebra.

I started english comp I yesterday on study.com and have finished all of the quizzes with 100%. I have to write the 3 required papers and then take the proctored exam. It was really easy and the only thing I'll need help with would be remembering how to cite sources.

I'm sure this is something I missed but is there an option for credit where you don't have to write a bunch of papers? I know it's english so I'd assume that's a no but I thought there was a CLEP that didn't include writing essays.

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I could still use help with a degree plan if anyone out there has the time. I'm still trying to figure out the most efficient way to do all of this. I am pretty sure I should have done one of the english comp CLEPs instead but I also wanted to brush up on a few things and the practice writing papers wouldn't hurt. I have to write technical papers all the time but I still feel like it wasn't a bad idea to try out study.com. So far I like the way it's set up.

[dfrecore]

Here's the BALS plan you requested via PM.

[Mil0]

Here's the BALS plan you requested via PM.

Thank you! I think I'm going to take a break from my second essay and work on my degree plan for a little bit. I thought I was done with the essay until I realized that my reference page was included in the word count and I'm pretty sure that's not supposed to be! 80 more words to go! 

[rvm]

I'm not sure what this is supposed to do or how it is beneficial? If you just want to learn the material before using ALEKS for the credit, then use Khan Academy or one of the other free options first. That's what I did when I was reviewing precalc and studying Statistics. Then I signed up at ALEKS and took the initial assessment and scored well enough to pass. That was before the ACE Knowledge Check system was put in place of course.

If you want to delete your current progress in ALEKS you can just withdraw from the course and move to another and then move back, or if you want a full reset and a clean slate, just cancel the student account and create another student account under the same parent account. I had to do the latter after coming back to ALEKS after a long hiatus and my student account was in a weird state. You can use the same name on both accounts, but just to make sure there wasn't any confusion, I renamed my original student account to "BROKEN ACCOUNT" so I would know not to use it and ALEKS would know not to use it for any course validations.

I'm sorry you derived no benefit from my post, Merlin.  Someone having your depth of knowledge probably wouldn't gain much from someone who doesn't have thousands of posts but hopefully Mil0 was helped.

Since Mil0 had already paid for an Aleks subscription for this month but is having difficulties with the site, why not use the time to figure how to work through those issues?  And while working through those issues, wouldn't be helpful to scroll through some of the content for college algebra and statistics?  I wish I had done this because perhaps I would have figured out my problem with the graphing tool and scored much higher on my Trig eval.  

Isn't it great to know there is more than one option to solve the Aleks situation?

I'm sorry if you thought I was being critical of your suggestion, that wasn't my intention. I'm trying to understand why you're suggesting it. Creating a whole different account with a different name or credit card seems rather drastic. I can understand taking some time to learn how to use the ALEKS system, and paying for two months is a perfectly reasonable way to do that. However, there is no reason to start a completely different second account... and it would probably just add confusion when trying to get course credit. Now, if the first month was free or something, then I could understand the benefit, but if you have to pay either way, why start a second account and lose progress?

In my case, I ended up paying for my original ALEKS subscription for many months when I was first starting out. Initially to see how the system worked, and later because I was starting at the earliest math and working my way up and that took time. Eventually I started jumping around a bit to "test drive" some of the different math topics. Had I realized then what I do now (and if Khan Academy had been a thing) I would have saved myself some money and done things differently. When I came back to complete stats and precalc, this time I spent a month reviewing using Khan Academy and then jumped into ALEKS so I only had to pay for a single month.

In any case, my point is that you can use the same account to learn how the system works and then continue on to work on any courses you want. If you really want to reset a course, you can just switch to another course and then come back. If you truly want to start fresh, you can just add a second student account and close the first one while keeping the same master account. Though unless there are technical issues, I don't recommend the latter approach.

@Merlin, please accept my deepest apologies.  I definitely misinterpreted your post.  Based on your previous post, I should have known your intentions were not degrading.

[Mil0]

Just an update. I turned in my Expository and Narrative essays for College Composition I last night and woke up to grades this morning even though it had said to expect results in a week! For the expository, I got a 19/25 (C+). For the narrative, I received a 22/25(B+). I really appreciate the feedback that they included.

I'm going to fix the expository and submit it again because that will be an easy fix (the main suggestion was including numbers to back up some of the information I had included). The narrative also needs one or two sentences fixed and I'll get a much higher grade.

I'm honest pretty happy with the grades considering this is the first time I've had to write papers from a prompt in 25+ years!

I can't remember if it's been said or not but when these are transferred to my college of choice, will they come with grades attache d for my GPA or are they more of a pass/fail? I just want to make sure that I don't waste time worrying about grades if it's just going to be a pass/fail.

[dfrecore]

Just an update. I turned in my Expository and Narrative essays for College Composition I last night and woke up to grades this morning even though it had said to expect results in a week! For the expository, I got a 19/25 (C+). For the narrative, I received a 22/25(B+). I really appreciate the feedback that they included.

I'm going to fix the expository and submit it again because that will be an easy fix (the main suggestion was including numbers to back up some of the information I had included). The narrative also needs one or two sentences fixed and I'll get a much higher grade.

I'm honest pretty happy with the grades considering this is the first time I've had to write papers from a prompt in 25+ years!  

I can't remember if it's been said or not but when these are transferred to my college of choice, will they come with grades attache d for my GPA or are they more of a pass/fail? I just want to make sure that I don't waste time worrying about grades if it's just going to be a pass/fail.

Everything you transfer to TESU that is ACE/NCCRS is CR (pass).  Doesn't affect your GPA at all.

[Mil0]

Thanks dfrecore!!

I started intro to sociology this morning and just finished my proctored exam. Got an 82/100, the questions I got wrong were the ones I knew I’d miss because I just can’t remember who came up with each theory. Not bad considering I started the course this morning!

I still need to write my final essay for English comp but I’d rather take another course and exam tonight. I had read that the Vietnam history course was pretty short and sweet, so I may do that one. Who knew school would be so fun! ?

[Merlin]

@Merlin, please accept my deepest apologies.  I definitely misinterpreted your post.  Based on your previous post, I should have known your intentions were not degrading.

No worries. I know I can sometimes come across as authoritative when responding, as can some of the other regular posters, but it isn't intentional. We're all volunteering our time here to try and help our fellow degree seekers, so I usually try not to degrade other people's perspectives. I will point out where I see the opportunity to avoid making a mistake (particularly if it will add time or cost to someone who reads the forum later), but I try not to be mean about it. That said, I know I can be (and often am) wrong, so I'm also fine with people calling me out on it.

[...]
Who knew school would be so fun! ?

I was surprised to discover this myself. It took me a while to get into the groove of things, but once I did, I really started to enjoy the process, and now that I'm done, I'm missing it! This is also why I've decided to continue my education. I have plans for at least one master's degree, perhaps more. I might even pursue a doctorate eventually–assuming I find a program I'm excited about and I can get someone else to pay for it.

[allvia]

Thanks dfrecore!!

I started intro to sociology this morning and just finished my proctored exam. Got an 82/100, the questions I got wrong were the ones I knew I’d miss because I just can’t remember who came up with each theory. Not bad considering I started the course this morning!

I still need to write my final essay for English comp but I’d rather take another course and exam tonight. I had read that the Vietnam history course was pretty short and sweet, so I may do that one. Who knew school would be so fun! ?

If you do the Study Vietnam Wat History 108 (LL), remember there is a History 308 (UL) with much overlap - you could earn both quite easily, and get one of your UL AOS courses out of the way at the same time (for the TESU BALS)