failed college alg 4 times

Cory,

I am no math LD expert, but what I suspect is that you have some foundational skills missing and that is why you can’t pass the college Algebra. Did you have to take a placement test to get in this class? What did you make in Alg. I and II in high school?

Janis

I agree with Janis. See my post above about what not to do in basic algebra — quick tricks and magic and games — bet your teachers did all of that and didn’t teach much real math.

If you want to be in a technical career, you really need basic math skills; not just for the skills themselves, but also for the logic involved and the habit of exactitude.
Some people who are in arts careers get excused from a college math requirement because of dyscalculia, but I really can’t see how this could be justified for a technical diploma.

You need intensive tutoring in the basic skills. I have worked for many years tutoring college math students, and 99 times out of 100 the problem lies several years back.
I will predict at 9 to 1 odds that you never learned fractions really well; that’s one of the huge problems teachers face in teaching algebra. You probably get hung up on so-called “word problems”; unfortunately, as you must have found out in your other subjects, the world communicates in words and so this is the central problem, not simply a chapter you can skip over and ignore. You probably make a lot of what are called “careless” mistakes; you weren’t deliberately being careless, but you never learned to do work with accuracy and detail, in fact you were probably encouraged in fast guessing at school (NOT a good job skill.) You probably get lost in multi-step problems; again, you were most likely trained in fast guesses for multiple-choice and never taught how to go through math by logical stages — but as you must have learned in your other technical classes, this is a very important skill, analyzing and breaking down a problem into its components.

Some colleges have good tutoring centers with professional tutors; I worked in two for five years, and they do exist.
Many others try to go the cheap way with peer tutors who will teach you their own shortcuts and mistakes, or with computer programs to avoid paying human beings; these are to be avoided.
Check out your colleges student services and see if you can hook up with someone good, someone who really knows math and has tutoring experience.
If not, try a priovate tutor. It’s worth the cost to get it right.

Email me with any questions, math or otherwise.

>If you want to be in a technical career,
not really, I own my own computer and Internet consulting company (7 years now) with 12 employees in 4 countries. I just want to complete the task I started.

>Some people who are in arts careers get excused from a college math
That’s what I heard and that’s why I went for the AA in photography.

>You need intensive tutoring in the basic skills.
tried that but something in the very basic level of mathematical education is missing

>99 times out of 100 the problem lies several years back.
Never took algebra high school
I was placed in a “remedial” math class which was mostly a room of us, non math’ers, to keep us out of trouble.

>I will predict at 9 to 1 odds that you never learned fractions really well;
I never learned them until I took them in college 20 years after high school.

>probably get hung up on so-called “word problems”;
you mean the problems of death?
for sure
I was able to work out some but never got credit for the equation. The answers were correct on a few but the way I worked the problem was not algebra.

>the world communicates in words and so this is the central problem,
it’s strange that I was able to teach myself German but can’t teach myself algebra, also a strange language of people on another planet

>probably encouraged in fast guessing at school (NOT a good job skill.)
Were you in my class?
I can zip through a test like no one and get a score above average.
all guessing

>You probably get lost in multi-step problems;
correct

>most likely trained in fast guesses for multiple-choice
correct

>you must have learned in your other technical classes,
I use it everyday when I build computers or troubleshoot a problem with a server.

>Some colleges have good tutoring centers with professional tutors;
I’ve been through 3 tutors and think they all drove off a cliff because I never saw them again.

>Many others try to go the cheap way with peer tutors
ditto

>or with computer programs to avoid paying human beings;
got them all here

>Check out your colleges student services
did that
They just want to test my IQ, have me repeat the same class with more test time which will do nothing.

I will probably take a few logic type classes like debate or something of that nature and request they give me a pass on the algebra class so I can move on and take the other classes I enjoy.
Attending College has become my hobby.

Thanks for the input.

Cory,

You need to find a Victoria…although I think they are hard to find!!! That college should have never put someone in College Algebra who hadn’t even had Algebra in high school. No one could pass it under those circumstances!

I hope they let you exempt it as it sounds like you have a successful career without it. I have a Masters and never had to take College Algebra (took a general math) and I do just fine in life, too! Never missed it! Good luck!

Janis

Cory, On homeschooling boards I see a lot of enthusiasm for a program called Videotext Algebra. It is a video course that runs several hundred for the complete set. You can buy the sections separately for, as I recall just under $100. The homeschoolers enthusiasm for this product appears to be that it does the teaching for the homeschooling parent, many of whom do not feel up to instructing their dear adolescents this topic. You may wish to look at the website and if interested, put a post on a homeschooling board to solicit views on using it for someone in your position. Possibly, you could do the first video set or two yourself and then be prepared to tackle college algebra. I would recommend the boards on vegsource.com. Go way down to click into the homeschooling forums, then choose reading and math board. Also, if fractions are still not solidly down, I would do a search on this board for past posts to see if you can pick up anything helpful. (I recall seeing a book by Marilyn Burns on this topic being praised.)

Cory,

I’m sure you’ve been given numerous responses to your frustration with Algebra. We tend to advise based on our successes so I’ll tell you how I went from fearing Algebra to teaching Algebra.

I was talked into giving up my high school seat in Algebra to a girl who supposedly couldn’t advance to her post high school carerr. I was assured that I couuld make it without Algebra. Well, the teacher’s pet got my seat.

It never mattered until the day I realized that I needed college Algebra to get my B.S. I had the night-marish experience of taking my Algebra course in Korea - from a professor who was a Korean National and spoke poor English! I didn’t pass because I learned how to do the Algebra. I passed (with a C) because I spent 3-4 hours every day memorizing what the professor said the day before.

Today I teach middle school math to grades 6-8. My students have specific learning disabilities (LD) and get their instruction either through my resource room or I coop with another teacher. These are students that struggle with such things as multiplication facts and fractions at the beginning of the year. Although not mandatory, my yearly goal is to teach them enough math to pass a state-mandated end-of-grade test.

I don’t claim to be an expert in math or the best teacher around, I just do the best I can for my students. What I learned as a teacher is that I’m not really teaching if they aren’t learning. I go through each day trying to find ways to master new strategies - strategies that will work for students today who didn’t learn from the strategy yesterday.

I would suggest that what will help you most won’t come from a college math professor. Ideally, you should find a person who can assess your answers instead of totalling your score. When I review the work of a student having difficulties with the math objectives I can see what they’re doing wrong with each problem. From that point I know how to reteach that objective so the student understands the concept.

You don’t learn and retain math ability by memorizing mnemonics, steps and operations. You must also understand the concept behind the math with as many multi-learning experiences as possible and maybe relate it to a model or real life situation. Short example: A student is given a problem with a rectangular figure and told to find the area and the perimeter. He understands the solution once he sees the formulas; however, he’s given another area/perimeter problem but this time he’s shown a triangle or square and is confused. He doesn’t associate the formula for the rectangle as being the same for a square or triangle.

The first learning experience was hearing me teach and reading the problem; that didn’t work. I take my students outside to several areas of the school and show them what area is - the ground inside the fence - no matter what the shape of the arae is. Then we walk along the fence (perimeter) and do several measurements. The students have visually seen exactly what area and perimeter are in real life. The next time they see a polygon of any shape, they visualize the fence on the outside and the grass covering the ground on the inside.

It may seem like I’ve taken the long way around to explain this to you. My point is that someone, somehow, can work with you and understand how you think when you see an Algebra problem and see how you learn to understand it. If there is a piece of the past missing then we put that piece together first. I would suggest that you find someone to help you before you use time and money on such things as games, math tricks, and software programs to try to teach yourself.

Who is that person? It’s the person (or teacher) who understands your problem and has the patience to discover how you learn and what you missed before that’s causing you problems now. It may be a middle school math teacher or a high school math teacher. I don’t suggest by my explanation that you have a learning disability. Someone failed to make sure you were learning what they were teaching. There are plenty of good teachers out there that can recognize your difficulties and help you. Good Luck and keep up the good work.

Robert