ALEKS free for two months (start by April 30, 2020)

[PrettyFlyforaChiGuy]

I'm in the middle of wrapping up multiple math courses from ALEKS and Sophia to get a feel for the relative strengths of each and figure out how they might help certain students.

I already finished Sophia's College Algebra, then went back down to Foundations and happily saw that its concepts overlap and scaffold up pretty well. There were definitely some long-buried concepts that I needed to review (completing the square? more like completely gone). Personally, I'd argue that Sophia's niche for math courses is a rapid refresher and/or a path to quick credit. Since their exams are multiple choice instead of free-response, and because there aren't really a lot of opportunities for practice, I don't think their structure would be as successful at hammering in the concepts for fresh learners who wanted a strong math foundation for future coursework.

On the other hand, I also worked through the ALEKS Precalculus course. After the initial knowledge check, I immediately saw an option to request an ACE exam in the corner. I haven't tried to do that yet, since I've been going through the pie slices anyway to dig into their approach. I believe that the ALEKS format provides more detailed explanations (along with alternative approaches to solve those same problems), forces a lot more practice through needing to complete 1-3 problems per section, and still doesn't feel like a complete slog thanks to being slightly "gamified." For now, this comes off as better-suited than Sophia for actually retaining and mastering concepts.

I haven't tried comparing their Stats courses yet, and this is all just my perspective anyway. I can definitely agree with what other posters here have stated: no matter which provider you choose, watching lectures, practicing, and using outside material will really help get the concepts down.