yutzyj Wrote:This test is not as scary as I thought it would be. I scored a 69. I do have to admit that Algebra was my favorite subject in high school when I took it for 2 years over 30 years ago. For studying I used the REA College Algebra book, the Peterson's tests, and the CLEP practice test. I Googled logarithms to remind myself of the basics. For once, the Peterson's tests were too easy. The REA tests were harder than they needed to be to pass. Know how to work almost all the questions. I believe if you know how to do the basics (how to add, subtract, multiply and divide polynomial fractions), you will pass. For me, time was my enemy. There were 57 questions in 90 minutes. It's very easy to get caught up in one problem. If you can't get it after a reasonable amount of time, like 2 minutes, make an educated guess, mark it, and move on to the next. Don't let it freak you out if you get 2 of these in a row. I had to practice working the problems much quicker than I originally was able. I used the Peterson's tests and the REA book which had 6 tests. I took each one at least 2 to 3 times. The first time I just worked the problems and learned from my mistakes. The second time I practiced doing them quickly. I learned how to write the problem on my scrap paper with hardly looking at it. This speeded things up considerably. Pattern recognition is important, like ‘a squared’ minus ‘b squared’ and it's factoring. Know the formula for a line. Know which is the slope and which is the y-intercept. Know what a line would look like on a graph if using x, x squared, x to a power, or y squared. Know how to figure compounded interest. Know when to multiply a power to a power and when the powers get added. Know about ‘i’ and ‘i squared’. The biggest thing working against you in this test is time, pace yourself well.

yutzyj Wrote:This test is not as scary as I thought it would be. I scored a 69. I do have to admit that Algebra was my favorite subject in high school when I took it for 2 years over 30 years ago. For studying I used the REA College Algebra book, the Peterson's tests, and the CLEP practice test. I Googled logarithms to remind myself of the basics. For once, the Peterson's tests were too easy. The REA tests were harder than they needed to be to pass. Know how to work almost all the questions. I believe if you know how to do the basics (how to add, subtract, multiply and divide polynomial fractions), you will pass. For me, time was my enemy. There were 57 questions in 90 minutes. It's very easy to get caught up in one problem. If you can't get it after a reasonable amount of time, like 2 minutes, make an educated guess, mark it, and move on to the next. Don't let it freak you out if you get 2 of these in a row. I had to practice working the problems much quicker than I originally was able. I used the Peterson's tests and the REA book which had 6 tests. I took each one at least 2 to 3 times. The first time I just worked the problems and learned from my mistakes. The second time I practiced doing them quickly. I learned how to write the problem on my scrap paper with hardly looking at it. This speeded things up considerably. Pattern recognition is important, like ‘a squared’ minus ‘b squared’ and it's factoring. Know the formula for a line. Know which is the slope and which is the y-intercept. Know what a line would look like on a graph if using x, x squared, x to a power, or y squared. Know how to figure compounded interest. Know when to multiply a power to a power and when the powers get added. Know about ‘i’ and ‘i squared’. The biggest thing working against you in this test is time, pace yourself well.