College Algebra CLEP PASSED!!!

[icemanimal]

Well I just passed the beast. It was scary for a guy like me, twenty years removed from my last high school math class. I basically had to teach myself Algebra from scratch. I used the college algebra – instantcert, which took a long long time to go through all 9 sections. Theres no real way to rush through it. I also used the REA book which was good for the 210 practice questions. I skimmed through the material for about 2 months before I did a mega cram session over one week. I probably studied 4-6 hours every day for a week.

I found myself pretty strong in some areas and weaker in others. But I felt I had a decent grasp on everything.

The test….I began the test. I was given 58 questions and 93 minutes. I thought it would start off easy but it jumped right into a fairly complex question that required the quadratic formula to solve. Took between 2-3 minutes to find an answer I was confident about. The next 10 or so questions went about the same. I was able to solve them but it was taking time. By question 12, I was down to an hour. The time panic set in. The rest of the test was just a race against time.

Overall I made educated guesses on about 15 questions. I felt I could have solved them given more time but I just didn’t have it. By the time I had 17 minutes left, I had 19 questions to go. Yikes. Panic really set in at that point.

On my particular test, there were virtually no gimmes. i.e. x-2=10, solve for x. My test had no such questions. The easiest ones were probably 2x2 matrices questions using AD-BC.

There were about 4 fill in the blanks. Also there are 5 choices for multiple choice. Not 4. I probably had 5 where I just had no idea.

By the time I was done, I was pretty scared to see the score. Although I was confident about the questions I spent time answering, I felt I was forced to guess on too many. I almost fell out of my seat when I saw my passing score of 54.

The number one thing about this test is time. You not only need to know how to answer the questions, you need to be able to do them very very quickly. Time is your largest nemesis on this test. With unlimited time, I’m confident I would’ve scored much higher. But I’m happy with a pass. Time to go celebrate. This test completed my AA requirements. Good luck, hope this helps.

[Getiton1]

Nicely done! Algebra is not my strong suit either. Teaching yourself algebra is no easy feat! You deserve to celebrate!

WELL DONE CONGRATULATIONS!
Tara

Well I just passed the beast. It was scary for a guy like me, twenty years removed from my last high school math class. I basically had to teach myself Algebra from scratch. I used the college algebra – instantcert, which took a long long time to go through all 9 sections. Theres no real way to rush through it. I also used the REA book which was good for the 210 practice questions. I skimmed through the material for about 2 months before I did a mega cram session over one week. I probably studied 4-6 hours every day for a week.

I found myself pretty strong in some areas and weaker in others. But I felt I had a decent grasp on everything.

The test….I began the test. I was given 58 questions and 93 minutes. I thought it would start off easy but it jumped right into a fairly complex question that required the quadratic formula to solve. Took between 2-3 minutes to find an answer I was confident about. The next 10 or so questions went about the same. I was able to solve them but it was taking time. By question 12, I was down to an hour. The time panic set in. The rest of the test was just a race against time.

Overall I made educated guesses on about 15 questions. I felt I could have solved them given more time but I just didn’t have it. By the time I had 17 minutes left, I had 19 questions to go. Yikes. Panic really set in at that point.

On my particular test, there were virtually no gimmes. i.e. x-2=10, solve for x. My test had no such questions. The easiest ones were probably 2x2 matrices questions using AD-BC.

There were about 4 fill in the blanks. Also there are 5 choices for multiple choice. Not 4. I probably had 5 where I just had no idea.

By the time I was done, I was pretty scared to see the score. Although I was confident about the questions I spent time answering, I felt I was forced to guess on too many. I almost fell out of my seat when I saw my passing score of 54.

The number one thing about this test is time. You not only need to know how to answer the questions, you need to be able to do them very very quickly. Time is your largest nemesis on this test. With unlimited time, I’m confident I would’ve scored much higher. But I’m happy with a pass. Time to go celebrate. This test completed my AA requirements. Good luck, hope this helps.

[soliloquy]

You sound EXACTLY like me. LOL Congrats. I almost fainted when I passed this CLEP as well.

[avenger]

Awesome and congrats. You answered a couple of questions I just came here looking for so thanks!!

I'm also in the same situation, except it's been more like 25 years since I had HS Algebra.
My test is in a few weeks and I'm really sweating this.

A couple of questions:

How many word problems did you have out of the 60?

Did you have the new REA book that just came out in June, 2013 (Stu Schwartz) or an older version?

The old version doesn't have the best reviews on Amazon and the 2013 version is un-reviewed.

[Lindagerr]

Congratulations!! I took Algebra over 25 years ago in college and worked hard but only got a B, while going for my BA I did ALEKS Beginning and intermediate algebra they were not considered duplicates and were both worth credit back when I did them. I don't think I could have taught myself Algebra like you did that was some accomplishment.

The only thing I would suggest to others is go through the test and do all the problems you are sure of and know won't take to long, that way you know you at least have that many right. Then go back and do the ones you have marked that you think you know but will take longer, again that gives you more chance for correct answers. Then use what remaining time you have to work on the ones that you are not sure of or don't have time for. Remember there is never a penalty for wrong answers so if you are down to the last minute and haven't finished the questions guess at the rest you still have a one in 5 chance of guessing right and you will already have all the points for the ones you did know.

If you spend too much time suffering through questions you are not sure of you might miss the chance to get the ones you know right.