Precalculus CLEP, any help IC

[irnbru]

Maths sucks. The tests are the type which start out requiring breadth of knowledge and rapidly become about depth (on breadth on depth).

Probably the most useful thing which got my head around the maths is being told that it is something you do not so much a bunch of stuff you remember. It's just not something that can be crammed for, it's something which needs to be practiced.

When we do something like Analyzing and Interpreting Literature or Intro to Psychology, we get a question and we can normally recognise the answer immediately, or use a process of elimination to narrow our options.


But, when we get a maths CLEP/DSST/UEXCEL question there are a number of steps to arrive at a possible solution (usually). We can still apply a process of elimination to narrow our options, but deciding between two answers which 'look right' isn't enough - we have to actually work it out.

I hated maths and I love the idea of testing out with CLEPs now.

As maths is something we do, it's like playing a musical instrument, baking a cake or working with tools. We need to practice to be able to do it in a test situation.

So, for all the awesomeness that are flashcards and videos, the best way to get good enough at maths to pass a test is to get a book and practice the problems. That will mean understanding the problems first so we can recognise the problem later so we know which tools to use. But at least once it's done it's done

edit: An exception to this and the single best application of computers for providing a good learning environment is ALEKS. This is awesome.

Other than that, it's a case of get something like 'Teach yourself Algebra' and 'Teach yourself Trigonometry' and start putting the hours down