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How to earn college credit with ALEKS.com


Sandra in NC
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Did you know some of the ALEKS.com courses are recommended by the American Council on Education (ACE) for college credit? Once your student scores 70% or better in the ACE-approved courses, you can have ACE transcript it. There are colleges that accept ACE credit. Some colleges state ACE acceptance on their websites. At others, you need to ask the registrar (admissions folks often don't know anything about ACE, so the registrar's office is the one to ask about it.)

 

Check to see if the course you're taking is approved (http://www2.acenet.edu/nationalguide/) and if it is, get it transcripted by ACE at 70%+. Why not? You might be able to use those credits in the future.

 

Here is an efficient way to build college credit while studying math in middle/high school:

 

* Take ALEKS beginning algebra to get an idea how this program works. This class is often evaluated for remedial college credit, so it won't help toward your degree.

 

* Take ALEKS intermediate algebra and score 70% or better...transcript with ACE before switching to another ALEKS course....3 credits.

 

* Take College Mathematics CLEP after studying the REA prep book (algebra on the test is similar to ALEKS intermediate algebra) .... 6 credits.

 

* Take ALEKS college algebra and score 70% or better...transcript with ACE before switching to another ALEKS course...3 credits.

 

* Take CLEP college algebra (just in case you go to a school that accepts CLEP but not ACE)

 

* Take ALEKS pre-calculus and score 70% or better...transcript with ACE before switching to another ALEKS course...3 credits

 

* Take CLEP pre-calculus (just in case you go to a school that accepts CLEP but not ACE).

 

* Take an ALEKs statistics course and add it to your ACE transcript for 3 more credits!

 

 

You can start this plan at any age. It's important to earn credit for math classes in a logical pattern. Some schools won't give credit for lower-level math if you've already proved mastery at a higher level. For instance, students who have passed the AP Calculus test might not be able to earn college math and algebra credit with ALEKS/CLEP.

 

Using the plan above, you can earn up to 18 college credits at schools that accept ACE and CLEP. A side benefit is that you be well prepared for the math portion of the SAT or ACT, and you will place into a higher section of math in college. Who knows, you might need Calculus for your major. (FYI, there is Calculus CLEP, too.)

 

For more information see http://www.degreeplanners.com/?About_ACE%AE%2C_FEMA%2C_%26amp%3B_NFA.

 

Here is a link to a 3-month free trial of ALEKS for homeschoolers: http://www.aleks.com/webform/hsm_203 . The link is valid until 1-27-11.

Edited by Sandra in NC
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  • 6 months later...

Yes. Thomas Edison State College in NJ is a college that takes ALEKs credit transcripted by ACE.

 

Search the college website for ACE - For example, here is a state school in NC that accepts ACE credit ...I don't know if they specifically accept ALEKS, but their policy is encouraging. http://www.wcu.edu/24232.asp

Edited by Sandra in NC
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Yes. Thomas Edison State College in NJ is a college that takes ALEKs credit transcripted by ACE.

 

Search the college website for ACE - For example, here is a state school in NC that accepts ACE credit ...I don't know if they specifically accept ALEKS, but their policy is encouraging. http://www.wcu.edu/24232.asp

 

Don't you have to be in the military to earn ACE credits? Correct me if I am wrong, please.

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One of the private LACs we looked at in OK uses Aleks for their students who cannot move directly into College Algebra as freshmen.

 

Around here anything below College Algebra that is earned concurrently is not credited. In fact students applying for concurrent admission are not allowed to take any math below College Algebra. it seems to me that earning credit through Aleks would not be of any advantage for students going to OK state colleges.

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Don't you have to be in the military to earn ACE credits? Correct me if I am wrong, please.

 

No, you don't have to be in the military. I'm amazed at the varied list of courses and certifications recommended by ACE (including some IT certs). As with AP, CLEP, etc., it's up to individual colleges whether or not they'll accept the credit. http://www2.acenet.edu/credit/?fuseaction=browse.main&firstLetter=A

 

Sandra

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  • 2 months later...
  • 3 years later...

This is really interesting!

 

How do the college classes compare with the typical high school sequence?  We're using Aleks for math right now, and I had figured that we'd follow the same sequence that our PS does (Alg 1, Geo, Alg 2, PreCalc or Statistics), but this makes me wonder if it makes more sense to do the college level classes.  Does anyone know how they compare, and where the transition points might be?  

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Beginning algebra = algebra 1.

Intermediate algebra = a non-honors algebra 2.

College algebra = first half of precalc.

Precalc = second half of precalc.

 

I don't believe you'd get 18 transferrable hours most places. 

 

Intermediate algebra is rarely a transferrable course. A few quickie online schools count it. You can always place out of it through a placement test or completion of a higher course. If you cannot pass the college's placement test you really should not be trying to place out of the class. Thus there is no point in doing the ACE certification.

 

It might be useful for non-STEM majors to get the college algebra and the precalculus. It is very unlikely that doing the college mathematics exam as well as the other two would be useful. It is possible that you might talk a college into giving you a few math credits for it, but at that point they'd only count as general electives, and very few students are short of general electives at graduation time. Too many credits is far more common than too few. The only point at which I'd study for the CLEP test in college mathematics is if my student were trying to get a quickie degree from an online school while taking as few actual credits as possible, or if my student were a struggling math student who just couldn't hack college algebra and I knew their future school accepted this test. 

 

For students aiming at majors which require calculus there is no point whatsoever to taking these. The placement test will put them in calculus if they deserve to be there, and you do not want your child placed into calculus on the basis of an ALEKS course if they would fail the placement test. Trust me -- that would be setting them up to fail calculus. 

 

Statistics is probably worthwhile although if possible I'd study for and take the AP test rather than just relying on the ALEKS transcript. Many schools (including the one I work for) do not accept ACE credit but do accept AP. Again this is moot if the student is a senior who is already certain of their college. 

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Thanks!

 

It seems like this might be a good solution for our unique situation.  We're taking a year off from the traditional math sequence between Geometry and Algebra 2 to solidify my son's skills, so maybe doing the beginning and intermediate algebra classes would give him a way to demonstrate that he did meaningful math work, without having him feel like he's repeating Algebra 1, or making it look like he's repeating Algebra 2 when he goes back to PS next year.  

 

I agree with everything else you say about the wisdom of being cautious about how you use the ACE, but it seems like it might work for our situation.  

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