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

[ChilliDawg]

I am late to this thread, but let me echo some of the others here. You need to put the anxiety and self doubt to the side.

If I can do it, you can do it.

I started pursuing my first degree in 2007, at age 38, AFTER working in the IT field for 20 years without a degree. I am now 49 and still chasing credits and degrees, with almost three degrees under my belt right now. I have no plan to quit. I am moving along with a second Bachelor and then my Masters after this Capstone is complete for my first Bachelor. I am addicted to the process. I would rather learn and earn credit that sit in front of the TV, any day. This process helped me set an example for my 19 year old son who is presently working towards his Mechanical Engineering degree at the University of North Florida. He is a traditional brick and mortar student, but he has been shocked that his dear old dad has been able to help him with courses and help him fill some credit requirements with alternative sources.

All of this is coming from a guy with an Attention Deficit issue, and I barely graduated High School, due mainly to attention and focus issues.

You are in the right place. There are some people in this forum that I feel I owe a huge debt of gratitude, thanks to their advice. They probably don't even know it.

[Mil0]

I am late to this thread, but let me echo some of the others here.  You need to put the anxiety and self doubt to the side.  

If I can do it, you can do it.

I started pursuing my first degree in 2007, at age 38, AFTER working in the IT field for 20 years without a degree.  I am now 49 and still chasing credits and degrees, with almost three degrees under my belt right now.  I have no plan to quit.  I am moving along with a second Bachelor and then my Masters after this Capstone is complete for my first Bachelor.  I am addicted to the process.  I would rather learn and earn credit that sit in front of the TV, any day.  This process helped me set an example for my 19 year old son who is presently working towards his Mechanical Engineering degree at the University of North Florida.  He is a traditional brick and mortar student, but he has been shocked that his dear old dad has been able to help him with courses and help him fill some credit requirements with alternative sources.  

All of this is coming from a guy with an Attention Deficit issue, and I barely graduated High School, due mainly to attention and focus issues.  

You are in the right place.  There are some people in this forum that I feel I owe a huge debt of gratitude, thanks to their advice.  They probably don't even know it.

Thank you. I really appreciate the words of encouragement. I totally agree that this place is amazing and the support from fellow students is phenomenal!

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Ugh. Total facepalm moment. I started on my college algebra credit last night with aleks. I took the initial knowledge check and scored a 72%. I clicked on the ACE knowledge check to see what it looked like, knowing it was way too late at night to actually go through it. It had said that the browser would remember where you'd left off if you logged out. I quickly decided it was too late and that I was too tired to do the knowledge check, as I wanted to make sure I had enough time and energy to complete it, and pass.

What I didn't realize is the timer would keep counting down despite being logged out. When I woke up this morning it said that I had failed the knowledge check and would have to repeat it once I got to 70% again. I went from a 72% to a 6% which is pretty frustrating. I can't find a way to delete that knowledge check attempt or reset it.

Just a heads up to anyone else who does something dumb like thinking they will "just take a look at it". I don't know why but I just read the "don't worry if you log out, we'll remember where you left off!" to mean that it would pause the test. RVM had said you could reset the knowledge check but I'm not seeing where/how to do that.

Any advice would be great!

[rvm]

Mil0, Aleks has changed a bit since I used it last year.  Before you reset anything, you may want to contact Aleks support to see if there is any way they can help you return to your 72%.   If you reset, I think you MIGHT wipe out everything you've done so far - though you may want to do that and completely start over.... but then again, you may not.  

To request another knowledge check, logout of your student account and log back into your master account - that login info is located in your initial welcome email from Aleks.  Then follow these instructions:  https://mhedu.force.com/aleks/s/article/...Student?dc=

I'm sorry that happened!  Keep us posted.

[Mil0]

Mil0, Aleks has changed a bit since I used it last year.  Before you reset anything, you may want to contact Aleks support to see if there is any way they can help you return to your 72%.   If you reset, I think you MIGHT wipe out everything you've done so far - though you may want to do that and completely start over.... but then again, you may not.  

To request another knowledge check, logout of your student account and log back into your master account - that login info is located in your initial welcome email from Aleks.  Then follow these instructions:  https://mhedu.force.com/aleks/s/article/...Student?dc=

I'm sorry that happened!  Keep us posted.

I tried assigning myself a new knowledge check but that was a progress knowledge check and it was extremely difficult compared to the comprehensive knowledge check. Everything that I was getting were pre-calc questions, which was confusing at best. 

Aleks support staff replied to my inquiry and said that they couldn't delete my initial ACE check but that they could create a new comprehensive knowledge check, which is what I needed. It is really annoying to have to redo that but I should have known better than to think the ACE knowledge check really would let me log out and pause it. I'm still not sure how I only got 72% on the original one considering I took my time and worked through all of the problems. I don't like that it doesn't seem to tell you which answers you specifically got wrong because I'd like to know if I'm really getting it wrong, or if I'm just inputting my answers incorrectly since it's knew to me to format equations this way. 

Here is to hoping I'm able to start over and get through everything today! At least I'm snowed in and have no where to go!

[rvm]

Mil0, Aleks has changed a bit since I used it last year.  Before you reset anything, you may want to contact Aleks support to see if there is any way they can help you return to your 72%.   If you reset, I think you MIGHT wipe out everything you've done so far - though you may want to do that and completely start over.... but then again, you may not.  

To request another knowledge check, logout of your student account and log back into your master account - that login info is located in your initial welcome email from Aleks.  Then follow these instructions:  https://mhedu.force.com/aleks/s/article/...Student?dc=

I'm sorry that happened!  Keep us posted.

I tried assigning myself a new knowledge check but that was a progress knowledge check and it was extremely difficult compared to the comprehensive knowledge check. Everything that I was getting were pre-calc questions, which was confusing at best. 

Aleks support staff replied to my inquiry and said that they couldn't delete my initial ACE check but that they could create a new comprehensive knowledge check, which is what I needed. It is really annoying to have to redo that but I should have known better than to think the ACE knowledge check really would let me log out and pause it. I'm still not sure how I only got 72% on the original one considering I took my time and worked through all of the problems. I don't like that it doesn't seem to tell you which answers you specifically got wrong because I'd like to know if I'm really getting it wrong, or if I'm just inputting my answers incorrectly since it's knew to me to format equations this way. 

Here is to hoping I'm able to start over and get through everything today! At least I'm snowed in and have no where to go!

The issues you are having are the reasons many people skip Aleks for an alternative solutions.  

Even though I understand how to use it, and was careful to check for typos and negative signs, I scored in the 90s on college algebra & precalc (you cannot get credit for both college & precalc) & statistics, then I scored in the upper 70s on trig - something I know more about than precalc.  Sometimes, I think Aleks' graphing tool doesn't record everything correctly.  They have good tutorials on the basics of their tool but they have terrible tutorials when it comes to the finer details of using their tool.  I learned by trial and error when the tool would not record some data I entered ... over and over.   

As well as the graphing tool problem, you will lose points if you have a question with multiple parts and you make one tiny mistake on any part. You must answer each part of the question correctly in order to get any credit for that question.  

Here's a potential way to beat Aleks at their own game.  You paid for Aleks for the month, correct?  Use it as much as possible for one month for everything you want to get credit for:  college algebra, trig, stats.  Go through as many problems as you can in courses you want credit for and work through anything you are having problems with:  see the pie chart for your weak areas.   Before your monthly subscription is over, cancel your subscription (check Aleks cancellation rules as they may have changed).   Then... get a new subscription using another email address and perhaps another credit card.  You will have taken a month to figure out how Aleks works and now you can start over fresh with new initial knowledge checks for the courses you want.  If you're prepared, you can knock 3 math courses in one month and gain 9 credits!

[Mil0]

I just redid my comprehensive knowledge check and somehow dropped to a 58% when I was like "oh cool, I actually know this!" and double checked all of my work. I'm pretty sure I was having an issue with the formatting of my answers but there is no way to check your answers so I don't know for sure if that's the issue. I went through some of the modules and I kept getting "try again" and it would turn out that it was my formatting. I don't know if it's a mac issue or what but I use the keyboard shortcuts for everything. I think I'll leave this algebra credit until the end. I've spent so much time on it the last few days, I feel like I could have finished a couple other courses in the meantime. I'm pretty aggravated with myself though because I could have most likely gotten the ACE credit for it had I just completed it last night or not opened it at all.

[Merlin]

Here's a potential way to beat Aleks at their own game.  You paid for Aleks for the month, correct?  Use it as much as possible for one month for everything you want to get credit for:  college algebra, trig, stats.  Go through as many problems as you can in courses you want credit for and work through anything you are having problems with:  see the pie chart for your weak areas.   Before your monthly subscription is over, cancel your subscription (check Aleks cancellation rules as they may have changed).   Then... get a new subscription using another email address and perhaps another credit card.  You will have taken a month to figure out how Aleks works and now you can start over fresh with new initial knowledge checks for the courses you want.  If you're prepared, you can knock 3 math courses in one month and gain 9 credits!

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.

[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?

[Merlin]

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.

[dfrecore]

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.

Also, I agree with Merlin that if you can't pass your ALEKS courses right off the bat (or close to it), then you are MUCH better off using Khan Academy and other free online resources to learn the material. THEN, sign up for ALEKS and see if you can pass quickly and get all your credit right away. There are also other options - namely College Algebra and Precalc CLEP exams which you can get for free through Modern States. And Saylor for College Algebra and Stats, which are only $25 each, and you can take a free practice test to see how you do before paying for the exams.

All that to say that ALEKS isn't for everyone (it certainly wasn't for me), and with the free and inexpensive options available to us, it's not even always the best option - it certainly can't beat free.