ALEKS... so far

Well, we have officially had both children "assessed" with ALEKS.... One thing I didn't like was that I had to decide a level to assess them at... I felt that I was a bit unprepared for this. What if I was underestimating their ability, what if I was overestimating it? so stressful! In the end I decided to go for Pre-Algebra for both children, figuring if they rocked, the program would move them ahead, and if they bombed, it would regress them... or I WOULD :) They scored dead center within 4 points of one another. What that means is, they are half way through the Pre-Algebra level, and my best "guess" was a pretty good one...

What I really liked about the assessment...

It did NOT tell the student if the answer to the question was right or wrong... ever. It gave them a pie in the end showing them in a rich color all they knew and in the fair color the information they would "get to learn" ! :) This made it fun, like it just didn't matter if something was right, or if something was wrong, because ALEKS just wanted to know them, and to know what they knew, so ALEKS could be a good tutor. It was a relief...

I also liked that the test WAS NOT timed, and they had as much time as they needed to work out the problems.

I also thought the tutorial explaining HOW TO use ALEKS was very neat, and each of my children were very excited about starting the assessment afterwards.

My children took between 1 1/2 -2 hours to complete there assessment... they have some testing anxiety, and a rowdy 4 yr old in the house. Things like phone calls and other distractions could not be helped. I think with a quieter atmosphere it would have taken much less time.

So far they have each begun to work on their fair colored sections of their pie with great enthusiasm, and like the program very much. But then, we HAVE only begun... so more information on ALEKS as they progress..... :) but so far... so good... we may have our solution for FRANCE :)

oh ... to check out ALEKS you too can get a free one month subscription @ http://www.aleks.com/