Why is this required?
A high level of mastery of prerequisite material is necessary to successfully completed the College Algebra course you are taking. Even students who have received an A or B in the prerequisite course generally forget quite a bit and are helped by reviewing key concepts. Historically, students do not review prerequisite information unless it is required; therefore, in order to give you the best possible opportunity to pass this course, this review is required. In this course we will use ALEKS to review prerequisite material for College Algebra.

What is ALEKS?
ALEKS is a web-based, artificially intelligent assessment and learning system. ALEKS uses adaptive questioning to quickly and accurately determine exactly what you know and don't know – ALEKS will then instruct you on the topics you are most ready to learn. As you work through the prerequisite material, ALEKS periodically reassesses you to ensure that topics learned are also retained. ALEKS is very complete in its topic coverage and ALEKS avoids multiple choice questions. If you have any questions about how this program works please talk to your instructor.

What students say about ALEKS as a review

How to begin:

Read through the ALEKS Information that includes detailed instruction on how to register as well as provide general information about the program.

Important Dates:

• January 24: Initial assessment taken on Tuesday, January 24th
• February 7: Completed a second assessment by midnight of Tuesday, February 7th.
• February 20: Completed a third assessment by midnight of Monday, February 20th.
• March 2: Final assessment taken on Friday March 2nd.

How to work through your review of intermediate algebra: You will have purchased a 6 weeklicense to use the ALEKS review sftware and so we have specified the review period to fit within that time frame.

Initial Assessment: On Tuesday, January 24th, you will first log and will be given a 20 - 24 question assessment. This should take no longer than an hour. After your initial assessment you will be presented with a "pie" chart that indicates what your answers say about what you know and what you are ready to review. Click on one of the topics of the pie and you will be presented with a question to try to answer. An explanation is always available if you want one.

Second Assessment: After the initial assessment you will need to work on ALEKS and show mastery of topics in order for ALEKS to schedule you for the 2nd assessment - this will take 5 or more hours of work. Please refer to the deadlines for assessments given in red above. The 2nd assessment is automatically scheduled after you have worked on ALEKS for 5 hours AND have mastered approximately 20 additional topics (counted since your last assessment) OR after you have worked for 10 hours on ALEKS, regardless of the number of new topics you have mastered. If you master 25 additional topics in fewer than 5 hours, you may go see your instructor who can schedule an assessment for you.

Third Assessment: After the second assessment you again will need to work on ALEKS and show mastery of topics in order for ALEKS to schedule you for the 3rd assessment - this will again require 5 or more hours of work. Please refer to the deadlines for assessments given in red above. This 3rd assessment will be automatically after you have worked on ALEKS for 5 additional hours AND have mastered approximately 20 more topics (counted since your last assessment). If you master 25 additional topics in fewer than 5 hours, you may go see your instructor who can schedule an assessment for you.

Final Assessment: The final assessment will be scheduled for you by your instructor according to the schedule given above. It will only be avalable on the day specified and must be competed on that day. This final assessment will count as one exam grade.

The ALEKS assessment mechanism ensures that you make maximum progress in learning and retaining the subject matter in your ALEKS course. More information about ALEKS can be found at http://www.aleks.com/faqs/general

You may take as long as you wish on any of the assessments – you may even log off and come back to it later - as long as you meet the stated deadline for completion. You will save yourself time in the long run if you answer the questions to the best of your ability – each time you miss a problem ALEKS will direct you to simpler material and you will have to work your way back to the concept you missed. For the assessment and personal tutorial to work best for you it is extremely important that you follow the Assessment Directions that will be given to you. I have included them here so that you can review them beforehand and know what to expect. This program can only prepare a learning activity specifically for you if you follow these directions.