Using ALEKS to prep for CLEPs

[cookderosa]

My 17 year old son has taken high school Algebra I & II, Geometry and Math for Business.

I'm thinking about signing him up for ALEKS to prep for College Algebra. He has been doing really well just parked in front of the computer for hours but not so much a good test taker yet. I'm thinking that ALEKS would be good test prep for him.

Opinions?

Yes, BUT, there are some potential problems I've found. It all boils down to the assessments. I'm sure 99% of the people I've known to use ALEKS print out the explanations, use calculators, etc. In other words they take the assessments "open book." There are some sites, I won't name, that even let you input your question to get an answer. These "tools" help pass an assessment at 70% or greater, but don't necessarily promise enough understanding to take the CLEP.

So, the point is, that getting through an assessment and through ALEKS will work for ACE credit- but in order for it to be good preparation for CLEP, it needs to be stored in the child's brain too. So, just keep an eye on how their assessments go, and you should be able to use it for college algebra.