College Mathematics – My Approach

[soltran]

For those that may have seen my previous posts, I recently took the CLEP College Mathematics test as my first test having not studied the subject for about 25 years. I gave myself approximately 2 weeks to prepare for this test while simultaneously preparing for the Principles of Marketing, working 40 hours a week, commuting 10 hours a week and trying to maintain a normal family life. I passed both tests, the Math with a 64 and the Marketing with a 71. I found this forum to be an invaluable aid and in an effort to pay back the forum I wanted to share my approach on the off chance that it helps even one other person preparing for the same test. I gained a lot of insight and confidence from the forum before taking the test and I hope this post helps others in some small way.

Resources Used:

InstantCert
CLEP Official Study Guide 18th Edition
Cracking the CLEP 4th edition
REA - CLEP General Exams with CD

With the limited amount of time I had given myself it was important that I ensured that I concentrated on the correct areas of study. This for me was a two step approach, I started by doing a couple of practice tests to determine my stronger and weaker areas and then analyzing the exam content as presented in the CLEP guide. I found that I was stronger in the areas of Sets, Logic, Real Number Systems and Probability and Statistics which corresponded to 65% of the exam content. So this is the area I concentrated on.

My reasoning was quite simple. I had a pretty good handle on these areas and the test was a pass/fail so it didn’t really matter by how much I passed, just as long as I did. The effort required to strengthen my strengths was going to be a lot less than that required to strengthen my weaknesses especially as I’d be almost be starting from scratch in those areas.

The goal was to ensure that I could confidently answer
5/6 questions in Sets
5/6 questions in Logic
10/12 questions in Real Number Systems
13/15 questions in Probability and Statistics

That in itself would give me a pass but without much of a buffer. I did expect that the other two areas; Functions and their Graphs and Additional Topics would contain at least one “gimme” each and I was hoping that of the remaining questions I could successfully guess at least 3.

Now this may seem like a dangerous approach especially considering the number of questions in each area is an approximation and can change from test to test but the goals set for my strength areas were the minimums I was expecting while the goals I set for my weaker areas were the maximums I was expecting. In reality I was expecting 6/6 for sets but allowing for 5/6 to account for “exam stupidity” on my part (misreading questions etc). And I can say the same for my other strength areas so I was feeling quite confident in passing the test.

What I found was that to get to the point where I was confident in my strengths didn’t take as long as I thought it would which did allow me to spend at least some time on my weaknesses which didn’t hurt my confidence or the final result.

When it came to the test itself I answered my strength questions as I came to them, answered my weak questions if I knew the answer almost immediately and guessed the questions I didn’t know but also marked them so that with time permitting I could go back at the end of the test and put some more thought into them.

It took about 45 minutes to complete the test and I felt pretty confident when I was finished. Without knowing exactly how the rated scores work I can only assume that I answered somewhere between 40 and 50 questions correctly to receive a score of 64.

This approach may not work for everyone but it did allow me to enter the exam without anxiety as I never even contemplated failing. My final score wasn’t great but I did achieve what I had set out to do.

I hope this is of some help.

Regards

[ShotoJuku]

What an excellent approach for all those (like me) who just could not or cannot get the hang of even the simplest math concepts; where were you when I need you last year??!!

[Johanna]

This is a great strategy for many other tests as well - and you explained it so well. Thanks for contributing!

[sgloer]

Thanks for taking the time to make such a detailed post! Hoping to see more such feedback on future tests...

[FlowerGirl]

Good tips. Especially what things to focus on. I took the test last fall and I think I got 65 on it. I studied a LOT, and made sure I really understood probabilities, etc. It ended up feeling really easy, which was good. I used Barron's study guide for the general exams. It's what the library had... Their tests were WAY harder than the CLEP one though, so I don't know if I'd recommend it.

Unfortunately... turned out my college didn't accept it even though it was on their list of "accepted CLEPs" I went all the way up to the dean of math to complain, but didn't get anywhere. So, I'm signed up to take College Algebra tomorrow. *crosses fingers* Gotta fulfill that math requirement.

[yutzyj]

I am studying for this test right now. My sincere advice to anyone who is thinking of taking this test AND Algebra is to TAKE THEM BACK TO BACK! First take College Math and then take Algebra. I scored a 69 on my Algebra test in September. At the time I hadn't figured out what tests I was going to take. Now it's January and I have to review much of this again for this test. It is going ok but I could have had an very easy 6 credits by just piggy-backing this with Algebra.

[FlowerGirl]

^ Any tips for the College Algebra test? Looks like I'm going to have to reschedule it due to bad weather. *sigh* Our roads are supposed to ice up tonight and for south Texans, ice = death, basically.

[yutzyj]

Originally Posted by FlowerGirl

^ Any tips for the College Algebra test? Looks like I'm going to have to reschedule it due to bad weather. *sigh* Our roads are supposed to ice up tonight and for south Texans, ice = death, basically.

Hi FlowerGirl- I posted some tips about Algebra on another thread. But the best tip I can give is that be able to work the problems QUICKLY! That was the key for me, oh, and of course, not making any silly errors.

Take care on the roads, here in Ohio ice is a way of life, or death. At least cities are prepared with trucks and salt. I'd bet there aren't too many salt trucks in Texas.

[FlowerGirl]

Ok, I must've read them already then. I did the search thing and read all I could on the College Algebra CLEP. I just didn't notice who wrote what.

[kitanis]

I am back after some extreme problems. moving to a new apartment and other things.

I am still taking courses and been given the academic kick in the butt about College Algebra. So back to InstantCert and College Math and some of the REA books and a few other study guides and DVDs. The goal is.. get math out of the way for a CCAF by Spring... and then work for the rest for a AAS in applied management by fall.

Woot.. school is fun again.