ALEKS Free Trial - Are Results Saved?

[dcan]

I was ridiculously rusty on my math as well. What I found when I went through ALEKS was an initial period of frustration followed by a much easier progress. Well, "easier" is probably a misnomer. The material wasn't necessary any easier, but my understanding had come up to a point where I was able to put together the concepts more easily in my head.

My learning curve looked somewhat like this for each course I took: (hint: it's logarithmic growth)



Something I found particularly helpful (again, considering I'd been away from "math" for a couple decades) was this textbook, cheap on Amazon. It's designed to teach some basic college algebra concepts, not as a "pipeline to calculus" like most curricula, but rather as foundational math for those working in bio sciences, basic economics, etc. It focuses on interpreting multi-variate data via graphs, and helps you for example see why understanding the logarithmic growth function is important (Ex: bacteria reproduces at a logarithmic rate, so it can help you predict the spread of an infection). Same with exponential growth, etc. It really helps take the more abstract "math" you get in ALEKS and elsewhere and tie it to everyday life.

I'm a computer guy, but my background in math was anemic to start with, so I found this helpful to "bridge the gap."