08-19-2011, 11:27 AM
Actually my first question was regarding ALEKS. I'm slogging away at College Algebra right now. Next is trig for my TESC requirement and then stats. I was considering avoiding pre-cal and definitely planned to avoid calculus, but with this I will certainly do pre-cal and may consider calculus I and II after all.
What was bugging me w/ ALEKS was this problem that I finally had to just vent about on that thread. Basically ALEKS would require me to fully factor a problem in one question, and then when I went back to the pie and proceeded to the next level question and factored fully it would tell me I was wrong and say the right answer was to stop before factoring.
I talked w/ the tutor and confirmed that yes, mathematically I was correct, and ALEKS was just being a little snot about it for no apparent reason. The tutor was trying to find the pattern behind why ALEKS would suddenly change the rules and he also couldn't figure it out. But that's OK, as I told him I can deal with that. I can learn the pattern after getting a couple of problem "wrong" and then try to leave it un-factored to "pass" that problem. But I couldn't deal with the idea that the Rules of Math had suddenly shifted on me with no explanation. The tutor helped restore my sanity.
I also used it later in the evening to resolve an issue I had with raising negatives to a power when parens are involved but it's still ambiguous whether to include the negative or not. Even the "Dr Math" website said "be careful" and that a lot of times it comes down to how different teachers interpret the problem. Since ALEKS is a system and not a teacher, I couldn't figure out what the "interpretation" would be and needed "the real rule" rather than BS. By the time I was done the second time the second tutor said she really had to think hard through the fundamental principles involved (raising negatives, factoring out -1 infinitely, etc) in order to determine the correct way forward. I actually learned quite a bit in the process.
This really is an awesome service for us AND our families.
What was bugging me w/ ALEKS was this problem that I finally had to just vent about on that thread. Basically ALEKS would require me to fully factor a problem in one question, and then when I went back to the pie and proceeded to the next level question and factored fully it would tell me I was wrong and say the right answer was to stop before factoring.
I talked w/ the tutor and confirmed that yes, mathematically I was correct, and ALEKS was just being a little snot about it for no apparent reason. The tutor was trying to find the pattern behind why ALEKS would suddenly change the rules and he also couldn't figure it out. But that's OK, as I told him I can deal with that. I can learn the pattern after getting a couple of problem "wrong" and then try to leave it un-factored to "pass" that problem. But I couldn't deal with the idea that the Rules of Math had suddenly shifted on me with no explanation. The tutor helped restore my sanity.
I also used it later in the evening to resolve an issue I had with raising negatives to a power when parens are involved but it's still ambiguous whether to include the negative or not. Even the "Dr Math" website said "be careful" and that a lot of times it comes down to how different teachers interpret the problem. Since ALEKS is a system and not a teacher, I couldn't figure out what the "interpretation" would be and needed "the real rule" rather than BS. By the time I was done the second time the second tutor said she really had to think hard through the fundamental principles involved (raising negatives, factoring out -1 infinitely, etc) in order to determine the correct way forward. I actually learned quite a bit in the process.
This really is an awesome service for us AND our families.
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Complete: TESU BA Computer Science
2011-2013 completed all BSBA CIS requirements except 4 gen eds.
2013 switched major to CS, then took a couple years off suddenly.
2015-2017 finished the CS.
CCAF: AAS Comp Sci
CLEP (10): A&I Lit, College Composition Modular, College Math, Financial Accounting, Marketing, Management, Microecon, Sociology, Psychology, Info Systems
DSST (4): Public Speaking, Business Ethics, Finance, MIS
ALEKS (3): College Algebra, Trig, Stats
UMUC (3): Comparative programming languages, Signal & Image Processing, Analysis of Algorithms
TESU (11): English Comp, Business Law, Macroecon, Managerial Accounting, Strategic Mgmt (BSBA Capstone), C++, Data Structures, Calc I/II, Discrete Math, BA Capstone
Warning: BA Capstone is a thesis, mine was 72 pages about a cryptography topic
Wife pursuing Public Admin cert via CSU.
Complete: TESU BA Computer Science
2011-2013 completed all BSBA CIS requirements except 4 gen eds.
2013 switched major to CS, then took a couple years off suddenly.
2015-2017 finished the CS.
CCAF: AAS Comp Sci
CLEP (10): A&I Lit, College Composition Modular, College Math, Financial Accounting, Marketing, Management, Microecon, Sociology, Psychology, Info Systems
DSST (4): Public Speaking, Business Ethics, Finance, MIS
ALEKS (3): College Algebra, Trig, Stats
UMUC (3): Comparative programming languages, Signal & Image Processing, Analysis of Algorithms
TESU (11): English Comp, Business Law, Macroecon, Managerial Accounting, Strategic Mgmt (BSBA Capstone), C++, Data Structures, Calc I/II, Discrete Math, BA Capstone
Warning: BA Capstone is a thesis, mine was 72 pages about a cryptography topic
Wife pursuing Public Admin cert via CSU.
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