Working through Study.Com courses?

[acamp]

Good morning all!
So I completed my first study.com MATH course (besides the required personal finance course).   I scored a 68, and then a 84, 82 on the 3 practice tests I took (granted they were only 50 questions out of the 70 questions).  

I took my proctored final exam last night (which the ID is still showing up blurry??) and by God's GRACE I passed with a 57% (literally one question I believe).  

BUT, in college when I was younger I was always a A/B+ student.  Getting a 57% on my final exam is not an accomplishment to me and shows me that I didn't really learn the material (which I WANT to learn the material - I don't want to just pass the course since that defeats the purpose which is disheartening).

My question to the knowledgeable people out there (as you all are), how do you go about SUCCESSFULLY passing and LEARNING the material in a math course - whether its on study.com/sophia/etc???   I watched EVERY video (all 110 of them!).  I took every quiz (obviously you have to and they give you the right answers so if you don't get a 100 on every quiz thats on you) but still did not really learn the material.

Any help, suggestions, comments, insights, wisdom on this?  I don't want to just BARELY pass (or fail!) the courses for math - I need to actually learn them.

Thank you all in advance!  you have been a TREMENDOUS help to me.

[rachel83az]

I can't offer any help on Study.com specifically, but I know that KhanAcademy is a great resource for difficult concepts. Mainly math, but they do have science and other things there. 

If you have a decent smartphone, go to the App/Play store and search for the type of math that you're working on. For instance, "College Algebra" in the Apple App Store has several free apps to let you learn/practice this particular topic. 

Good luck with your learning! 

[jsh1138]

i recently went back to college after about a 20 year layoff and math is the thing i have the most problem picking back up. I was a year ahead in math in high school too. but i guess if you don't use it, you lose it and I do very little math in my daily life

so far i have coped with it by avoiding all the required math classes, lol. if i find a good way to do it i'll let you know

[davewill]

You do a LOT of problems. That's the only way I know to really learn math and know that you really understand and are not just following cookbook instructions. You have to discover the holes in your understanding by running into problems that illustrate them. You may want to get a real textbook and solutions manual to go with it.

If math is really important to you, you could be better off taking it at community college.

[Ideas]

Yeah, watching someone else do the problems can only help so much. You have to do the problems yourself Problems where you can then see every step worked out, after you're done, so you can check your whole process.

Because if you can't check every step, you might have just gotten lucky with the final answer. That sounds like it would be rare but it's not. I remember in math class that really happened to me sometimes.

REA Problem Solvers seem good.

Also if you pretend you have to teach someone else how to solve it, then you can identify your problem areas like davewill said.

[dfrecore]

I am working my way through Khan Academy for "fun." Really, just to keep my brain going. I do the Mastery Challenges for a grade or subject until they stop giving them to me, then switch to another grade/subject; and with overlapping info between the grades and subjects, I've covered a ton of math (all of the lower, but still working on Pre-Algebra through Geometry (or 5th-8th). I just keep plugging away, and get through chunks when I feel like it, then take a break, then come back to it. I do more over the summer for some reason.

[acamp]

You do a LOT of problems. That's the only way I know to really learn math and know that you really understand and are not just following cookbook instructions. You have to discover the holes in your understanding by running into problems that illustrate them. You may want to get a real textbook and solutions manual to go with it.

If math is really important to you, you could be better off taking it at community college.

Hello again,
Yes I would do better in the classroom setting, but due to my work commitment I can't get to the school during the sections  (or trust me I would - at the community college level).  They offer online courses through the CC but then it becomes the same thing trying to teach it to myself again

[rachel83az]

Hello again,
Yes I would do better in the classroom setting, but due to my work commitment I can't get to the school during the sections  (or trust me I would - at the community college level).  They offer online courses through the CC but then it becomes the same thing trying to teach it to myself again

Have you looked into online tutoring? Some of it can be expensive but there are more affordable options that might give you the sort of classroom interaction that you're looking for.

[davewill]

Hello again,
Yes I would do better in the classroom setting, but due to my work commitment I can't get to the school during the sections  (or trust me I would - at the community college level).  They offer online courses through the CC but then it becomes the same thing trying to teach it to myself again

Not even the night courses? At least their online courses would be taught by an instructor who would presumably grade homework and answer questions either online, or during office hours. It would probably be a better experience than Study.com.

When I took Discrete Math from TESU, I had to turn in homework with problems and the mentor would grade them and provide fully worked out answers back. Between that and having the solutions manual for the text, it was very doable.

[vpassenheim]

Good morning all!
So I completed my first study.com MATH course (besides the required personal finance course).   I scored a 68, and then a 84, 82 on the 3 practice tests I took (granted they were only 50 questions out of the 70 questions).  

I took my proctored final exam last night (which the ID is still showing up blurry??) and by God's GRACE I passed with a 57% (literally one question I believe).  

BUT, in college when I was younger I was always a A/B+ student.  Getting a 57% on my final exam is not an accomplishment to me and shows me that I didn't really learn the material (which I WANT to learn the material - I don't want to just pass the course since that defeats the purpose which is disheartening).

My question to the knowledgeable people out there (as you all are), how do you go about SUCCESSFULLY passing and LEARNING the material in a math course - whether its on study.com/sophia/etc???   I watched EVERY video (all 110 of them!).  I took every quiz (obviously you have to and they give you the right answers so if you don't get a 100 on every quiz thats on you) but still did not really learn the material.

Any help, suggestions, comments, insights, wisdom on this?  I don't want to just BARELY pass (or fail!) the courses for math - I need to actually learn them.

Thank you all in advance!  you have been a TREMENDOUS help to me.

What rachel83az is the best advice on the matter - Khan Academy.

Thankfully, I'm good at math and simply going to do the GRE after a few weeks review to squeeze the 24 credits out of it.

However, if you want to learn Math with understanding, there is no shortcut.  I can vouch for the quality of the instructional videos available at Khan Academy. They are very thorough and they take you step by step (almost too much detail, if you ask me).

davewill's point is also very true.  Math takes a lot of work.  Practice makes perfect and cements the concepts in your mind.