Shelsi Posted April 13, 2013 Share Posted April 13, 2013 Since my kids are 5 & 8 this stuff has not been on my radar. I have no idea what's out there. I'm going back to college to finally finish my degree. Problem is that it's been over 10 yrs. Not only do I need to re-take chem & calculus but I need biology as well which I never received any foundation on in elementary or high school (nor did I take any bio classes in college). I'd like to be able to start classes again at the level of "previously had high school AP level chem, bio, calc." I want to skip over the very basic classes, kwim? My understanding of chem is shaky at best. I had a horrible chem teacher in high school. I did manage to pass 2 semesters of chem for science majors in college but it took me 4 semesters to do so :/ Due to switching schools I never had biology in junior high and in high school my bio teacher had a stroke & we had a rotation of subs for the entire year. Basically I received no biology instruction at all. Calculus I think I just need a refresher on. I'm strong in math but I don't remember any of it at all anymore. I know it's not cheap but I do use MUS with my ds & I was thinking of purchasing the pre-calc & calc levels. Thoughts? I've been looking at Khan academy stuff but I think I need more than that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5LittleMonkeys Posted April 13, 2013 Share Posted April 13, 2013 Ck12 offers free highschool student texts. Miller Levine texts are inexpensive on amazon and I've found the Biology text to be thorough when adding Khan videos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted April 13, 2013 Share Posted April 13, 2013 In your shoes, I would study for and take the CLEP exams in biology, chemistry, and calculus. You may not get credit awarded for them depending on your school's policy, but you could use them to petition the various departments to let you skip the intro courses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stripe Posted April 13, 2013 Share Posted April 13, 2013 Some libraries have texts you can borrow, DVDs and other tutorial material, and old texts in the book sale. I have also seen older editions of texts online for cheap (betterworldbooks.com, etc). Like a couple bucks, cheap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kim in Appalachia Posted April 13, 2013 Share Posted April 13, 2013 Khan Academy. Here's the link. It's free. https://www.khanacademy.org/ You can go through the courses on the site and get yourself up to speed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TraceyS/FL Posted April 13, 2013 Share Posted April 13, 2013 Good luck!! BUT, if if helps, I took College Algebra last summer, and just the 1 hour a week live lecture was enough to refresh my mind and I never ended up needing to use the book to get a 98%. I was shocked at how much came back to me - I mean, i was 43 at the time.... and had had 3 kids that sucked my brains out!! :D (I do credit it to my amazing high school Algebra teacher... I had a crappy chem experience in high school, worse in college and I also had no issue recalling and making sense of the various bits and pieces i've needed in my Pharm Tech classes). You can do it!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngieW in Texas Posted April 13, 2013 Share Posted April 13, 2013 Since what you are looking for is primarily a refresher, I would look into free videos to watch and then work through something like the Easy Way series from Barron's. chemistry and biology here, but the chemistry is still being produced and only has 8 videos so far http://www.youtube.com/user/crashcourse Georgia PBS chemistry http://www.gpb.org/chemistry-physics/students/chemistry Bozeman science - biology and chemistry https://www.youtube.com/user/bozemanbiology MIT open courseware - calculus http://ocw.mit.edu/resources/res-18-001-calculus-online-textbook-spring-2005/textbook/ For calculus, I would highly recommend just working through Calculus the Easy Way. The book is only about $20 new and it is actually fun and engaging, not something you can typically say about a math textbook. Look for videos on particular topics that you have difficulty with by doing a search on youtube. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumto2 Posted April 13, 2013 Share Posted April 13, 2013 I found some great textbooks on the shelf at our library. We have been able to try them then order the same edition used. Great savings.;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klmama Posted April 13, 2013 Share Posted April 13, 2013 These videos might be helpful for all of those subjects: http://www.youtube.com/user/brightstorm2?feature=watch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiana Posted April 13, 2013 Share Posted April 13, 2013 For calculus, bio, and chem I would pick up the textbook and syllabus that the university uses (you should be able to find this info, if not, call the department) and work through it. You could also ask the department for their policy on testing out of courses if you intend to do so -- if you're just building background you don't need to worry about this. You could also get older versions of the same textbooks very cheaply on amazon. Alternatively (if you go with the university textbook) since the semester's nearly over you could post on craigslist that you wtb books A, B, and C, will pay $10 over bookstore buyback price, and probably get a taker. I found at MY undergrad that if you wanted to test out of math/science courses you talked to the department and made arrangements to take the comprehensive final exam. They did honor AP but not CLEP. For someone who has had trig and did well in it I have heard rave reviews of Life of Fred's Trig. One of my friends bought it and zipped through it in one week. He then retook the placement test at his university (he had placed into trig), placed into calc and had no issues with the calculus class. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelsi Posted April 13, 2013 Author Share Posted April 13, 2013 In your shoes, I would study for and take the CLEP exams in biology, chemistry, and calculus. You may not get credit awarded for them depending on your school's policy, but you could use them to petition the various departments to let you skip the intro courses. Except for biology I actually passed 2 semesters each of chem & calc in college. They are giving me credit for those. However I need more chem & calculus classes for my major and there's no way I can do those next levels without re-taking the previous levels. I'm pretty sure I won't be able to step into those upper levels but I would like to at least just start at level 1 without having to do the intro classes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelsi Posted April 13, 2013 Author Share Posted April 13, 2013 Thanks everyone! So much great advice - that's why I love these forums :hurray: I'm going to start working through a bunch of the videos and books posted. I'm not starting until spring 2014 so I've got some time thankfully. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alessandra Posted April 13, 2013 Share Posted April 13, 2013 Seconding the CK12 publications. They would be horrendously expensive to print, but very do-able on a tablet. Also, you might want to check out textbooks.com. Older editions are reasonable, and late spring is a good time to buy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TraceyS/FL Posted April 13, 2013 Share Posted April 13, 2013 For someone who has had trig and did well in it I have heard rave reviews of Life of Fred's Trig. One of my friends bought it and zipped through it in one week. He then retook the placement test at his university (he had placed into trig), placed into calc and had no issues with the calculus class. I have to laugh, I tested into Trig at my CC, and so took it, then attempted Calculus (multiple times... I swear I will pass it one day!). When I was transferring stuff, they told me they would not give me credit for Trig, I *had* to have College Algebra. Never mind the fact that you can't take Trig without an Algebra credit (I had Alg 1, 2, Geometry and Pre-Calc in highschool). The teacher I ended up with couldn't figure it out, she thought it was nuts they were making me take it when I had trig. At least I managed to test out of keyboarding last week - like I need to learn to type 25 wpm and how to format letters and memos?? BTDT.... apparently though not many people manage to test out of it. If I hadn't it meant school this summer instead of graduating the end of June. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laughing lioness Posted April 14, 2013 Share Posted April 14, 2013 Does your library carry Great Courses? Have you looked at Bio and Chem 101 series? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelsi Posted April 14, 2013 Author Share Posted April 14, 2013 Are there any resources that start with the complex & work their way out? That's always been an issue for me. I have a very hard time with the way the typical teaching textbook is written. For example, an intro chemistry book is going to talk about atoms & fairly quickly go into protons, electrons, and neutrons. However my mind gets completely hung up on questions like, "what exactly is an electron? What does it look like? How was it discovered? Who determined what it was & how?" I don't just want, "oh an electron is a subatomic particle." No I want/need really intense details. For almost everything I tend to start with the complex & work my way outwards. Dh told me to just read the books backward :glare: lol. But in all seriousness, I have a hard time not letting my mind fixate on all the unknowns and concentrate on the basics that I'm supposed to be learning. ETA: Gotta love google. I'm a global learner. Which, duh, I already knew I was a global thinker but I never put 2 and 2 together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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