08-03-2009, 08:59 PM
by popular request...
This exam was a cakewalk because I went off the deep end and studied the crap out of math. I'm continuing to study the crap out of math because it has always been a stumbling block for me and is for the first time, *GASP*, enjoyable for me. I did the college algebra practice peterson's and scored a respectable 37 out of 60 so I'll let you all know how that exam and the DSST fundamentals of algebra go when I take these two in a week or two.
Without any further ado:
1. IC, IC, IC, and then IC some more. I found this set of flash cards to be especially useful. Just go through them, work the problems, learn the concepts. They are structured well and the progression for each topic is spot on.
2. Petersons, REA, and whatever other practice tests you can get your paws on. Take a test, it doesn't matter from what vendor. Answer what you can, guess what you can't, and don't get discouraged. Afterwords when you do your test postmortem there will be an explanation of how to solve the absolutely mindbending and arcane problem 19. Taking many practice exams and doing proper postmortems also builds pattern recognition skills which are oh-so-important in math. Also, the real CLEP is far easier than anybody's practices. If you can crack 40/60 on an REA you're going to break 70 on the real deal.
3. Cliff's Math for Standardized Tests. This little gem, listed for an MSRP of only 10.99, packs tons of math concepts, examples, and practice problems into one compact and useful little volume. My favorite part is the index. Lets say you are solid in set theory but you can't get your head around a logarithm. Hit the index up on logs, check out the examples, the practice problems, and work it out until you can stands it no more.
4. Math dummies books. If your still gasping for air these things are priceless. It's math in narrative form. Mathematical notation is elegant in it's brevity but let's face it; sometimes all the Greek letters, identities, property names, symbols, and notation look scary to the uninitiated. The dummies books use humor and narrative to make it easy to pick up for those of us who aren't Euler. They take a statement like "A U B" and explain that it simply means you take Set A, Set B, write them as one big 'ole set and then get rid of any duplicates from your one big set. Dummies books are the closest thing to that one special math teacher we all had who made it fun and got through to us at some point with out actually shelling out lots of coin to maybe get that teacher at the local b & m (10 to 1 you get a TA with an accent).
5. Wikipedia some really hard math. Take 15 minutes and read about complex logs instead of playing free cell while your at work goofing off. After you've scrambled your mind sufficiently it'll make college math a cinch by virtue of comparison. Also, doing venn diagram problems for the umpteenth time is boring. Reading about an unsolved problem or three livened things up for me considerably.
6. Always know how the math you are learning ties into the real world. Nothing in the world sucks more than learning pure math for math's sake if you're not a mathematician. When you're doing a topic give it a quick wiki to see its real world applications so that you don't develop the negative "I'll never use this, hell NOBODY ever uses this" attitude.
7. If all else fails put yourself on a token economy. hilarious I passed psych over the weekend too...
This exam was a cakewalk because I went off the deep end and studied the crap out of math. I'm continuing to study the crap out of math because it has always been a stumbling block for me and is for the first time, *GASP*, enjoyable for me. I did the college algebra practice peterson's and scored a respectable 37 out of 60 so I'll let you all know how that exam and the DSST fundamentals of algebra go when I take these two in a week or two.
Without any further ado:
1. IC, IC, IC, and then IC some more. I found this set of flash cards to be especially useful. Just go through them, work the problems, learn the concepts. They are structured well and the progression for each topic is spot on.
2. Petersons, REA, and whatever other practice tests you can get your paws on. Take a test, it doesn't matter from what vendor. Answer what you can, guess what you can't, and don't get discouraged. Afterwords when you do your test postmortem there will be an explanation of how to solve the absolutely mindbending and arcane problem 19. Taking many practice exams and doing proper postmortems also builds pattern recognition skills which are oh-so-important in math. Also, the real CLEP is far easier than anybody's practices. If you can crack 40/60 on an REA you're going to break 70 on the real deal.
3. Cliff's Math for Standardized Tests. This little gem, listed for an MSRP of only 10.99, packs tons of math concepts, examples, and practice problems into one compact and useful little volume. My favorite part is the index. Lets say you are solid in set theory but you can't get your head around a logarithm. Hit the index up on logs, check out the examples, the practice problems, and work it out until you can stands it no more.
4. Math dummies books. If your still gasping for air these things are priceless. It's math in narrative form. Mathematical notation is elegant in it's brevity but let's face it; sometimes all the Greek letters, identities, property names, symbols, and notation look scary to the uninitiated. The dummies books use humor and narrative to make it easy to pick up for those of us who aren't Euler. They take a statement like "A U B" and explain that it simply means you take Set A, Set B, write them as one big 'ole set and then get rid of any duplicates from your one big set. Dummies books are the closest thing to that one special math teacher we all had who made it fun and got through to us at some point with out actually shelling out lots of coin to maybe get that teacher at the local b & m (10 to 1 you get a TA with an accent).
5. Wikipedia some really hard math. Take 15 minutes and read about complex logs instead of playing free cell while your at work goofing off. After you've scrambled your mind sufficiently it'll make college math a cinch by virtue of comparison. Also, doing venn diagram problems for the umpteenth time is boring. Reading about an unsolved problem or three livened things up for me considerably.
6. Always know how the math you are learning ties into the real world. Nothing in the world sucks more than learning pure math for math's sake if you're not a mathematician. When you're doing a topic give it a quick wiki to see its real world applications so that you don't develop the negative "I'll never use this, hell NOBODY ever uses this" attitude.
7. If all else fails put yourself on a token economy. hilarious I passed psych over the weekend too...
DEGREES EARNED: [SIZE="1"]
BA, History, TESC '10
AAS, Mechanics and Maintenance, TESC '10
[/size]
TESTS PASSED:[SIZE="1"]
CLEP Social Sciences & History - 70/50
CLEP American Government - 65/50
CLEP English Composition General - 68/50
CLEP A & I Literature 70/50
CLEP Sociology 73/50
CLEP College Math 74/50
CLEP Intro Psychology 72/50
CLEP College Algebra 65/50
CLEP Macroeconomics 73/50
CLEP Microeconomics 70/50
CLEP Western Civ. I 79/50
CLEP Western Civ. II 70/50
CLEP US History I 79/50
CLEP US History II 78/50
DSST Technical Writing 63/46
DSST Intro to Computing 463/400
DSST Substance Abuse 463/400
DSST Fundamentals of Algebra 433/400
DSST World Religions 467/400
DSST The Civil War and Reconstruction 68/47
DSST A History of the Vietnam War 78/44
DSST An Introduction to the Modern Middle East 80/47
DSST Western Europe since 1945 71/47
DSST Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union 70/45
[SIZE="2"]ON DECK:[/SIZE]
A B.E. or an MBA
[/SIZE]
BA, History, TESC '10
AAS, Mechanics and Maintenance, TESC '10
[/size]
TESTS PASSED:[SIZE="1"]
CLEP Social Sciences & History - 70/50
CLEP American Government - 65/50
CLEP English Composition General - 68/50
CLEP A & I Literature 70/50
CLEP Sociology 73/50
CLEP College Math 74/50
CLEP Intro Psychology 72/50
CLEP College Algebra 65/50
CLEP Macroeconomics 73/50
CLEP Microeconomics 70/50
CLEP Western Civ. I 79/50
CLEP Western Civ. II 70/50
CLEP US History I 79/50
CLEP US History II 78/50
DSST Technical Writing 63/46
DSST Intro to Computing 463/400
DSST Substance Abuse 463/400
DSST Fundamentals of Algebra 433/400
DSST World Religions 467/400
DSST The Civil War and Reconstruction 68/47
DSST A History of the Vietnam War 78/44
DSST An Introduction to the Modern Middle East 80/47
DSST Western Europe since 1945 71/47
DSST Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union 70/45
[SIZE="2"]ON DECK:[/SIZE]
A B.E. or an MBA
[/SIZE]
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