02-07-2024, 06:22 PM
Provider: SeeMore Impact Labs
Course: CSM Learn
Course content: A mathematics course based primarily on conceptual reasoning, with some arithmetic and geometry problems. Functionally one very long exam, with natural chapters/breakpoints. Not conventionally proctored. Virtually all free-answers (not multiple choice).
Time taken on course: ~9 hours absolute time, according to the test itself. This was done over the course of a few spurts spaced weeks apart. The course is a one-off payment with no time limit, so you can do it on whatever schedule. Note that SMLI themselves imply 9 hours is an unusually short period; it seems typical of this forum, but they apparently expect most people to take well over 15 hours.
Familiarity with subject before course: In actual "subject familiarity terms", you know this if you're familiar with middle school mathematics and its day-to-day applications. I have very strong conceptual reasoning skills, but mild dyscalculia, so conventional maths classes are hit-or-miss for me. CSM is unusually well-suited to my pattern of skills.
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: This is a fascinating little program. So far as I can tell, it's responsive -- it tries to predict "how much maths you know" based on how you do on questions, and gives or skips particular units based on your performance. This makes it difficult to say "what CSM will be like" for someone, because there isn't a single standardized test. Even more interesting is that it estimates population percentiles ("only x% of people can do this"); I'm not sure what their norming sample is or how representative it is of the real world, but it's fascinating from a range restriction point of view.
It's mastery-based to an extreme degree. You need to ace every single unit to get the certificate. Considering you have infinite retakes and no time limit, this is more lenient than it sounds...but you still need to do it. If you have a fairly average pattern of maths strengths and weaknesses, you shouldn't assume CSM is the "easy option" compared to an algebra class. If you're the kind of person who freaked out about "word problems" in school, you will hate this. Opinions on CSM seem to occupy an unusually wide spectrum from my "it's great, one of the best maths classes I've ever done" stance to "it was awful, a bunch of riddles and trick questions"; I bet that correlates with numerical vs conceptual reasoning.
The unit conversion questions assume you're American. If you're not, you'll have a much sharper learning curve than the test anticipates. I have a decent intuitive sense of feet and inches (common for people in the metric Anglosphere) and pounds (less common but not unheard of), but units like yards and gallons are pretty US-exclusive. The unit questions assume you're familiar with working in imperial but not metric, and ask to translate from the former to the latter, which will trip you up if you're coming from the other way around.
Course: CSM Learn
Course content: A mathematics course based primarily on conceptual reasoning, with some arithmetic and geometry problems. Functionally one very long exam, with natural chapters/breakpoints. Not conventionally proctored. Virtually all free-answers (not multiple choice).
Time taken on course: ~9 hours absolute time, according to the test itself. This was done over the course of a few spurts spaced weeks apart. The course is a one-off payment with no time limit, so you can do it on whatever schedule. Note that SMLI themselves imply 9 hours is an unusually short period; it seems typical of this forum, but they apparently expect most people to take well over 15 hours.
Familiarity with subject before course: In actual "subject familiarity terms", you know this if you're familiar with middle school mathematics and its day-to-day applications. I have very strong conceptual reasoning skills, but mild dyscalculia, so conventional maths classes are hit-or-miss for me. CSM is unusually well-suited to my pattern of skills.
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: This is a fascinating little program. So far as I can tell, it's responsive -- it tries to predict "how much maths you know" based on how you do on questions, and gives or skips particular units based on your performance. This makes it difficult to say "what CSM will be like" for someone, because there isn't a single standardized test. Even more interesting is that it estimates population percentiles ("only x% of people can do this"); I'm not sure what their norming sample is or how representative it is of the real world, but it's fascinating from a range restriction point of view.
It's mastery-based to an extreme degree. You need to ace every single unit to get the certificate. Considering you have infinite retakes and no time limit, this is more lenient than it sounds...but you still need to do it. If you have a fairly average pattern of maths strengths and weaknesses, you shouldn't assume CSM is the "easy option" compared to an algebra class. If you're the kind of person who freaked out about "word problems" in school, you will hate this. Opinions on CSM seem to occupy an unusually wide spectrum from my "it's great, one of the best maths classes I've ever done" stance to "it was awful, a bunch of riddles and trick questions"; I bet that correlates with numerical vs conceptual reasoning.
The unit conversion questions assume you're American. If you're not, you'll have a much sharper learning curve than the test anticipates. I have a decent intuitive sense of feet and inches (common for people in the metric Anglosphere) and pounds (less common but not unheard of), but units like yards and gallons are pretty US-exclusive. The unit questions assume you're familiar with working in imperial but not metric, and ask to translate from the former to the latter, which will trip you up if you're coming from the other way around.
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