Need school advice

[astrokahn]

From the "what's your job?" thread it seems there are a lot of skoolt-ass people in here and I need some advice. Hopefully someone can help.

I want to go back to college (my boss said he'd pay for it!) but I have to get up to Calculus before I can basically even look at the classroom for the engineering program.

I started taking a pre-algebra course online with Kahn academy but I'm finding it's really slow and tedious and the skill testing isn't so great to keep it at my pace. (I get thrown between "oh fuck I totally forgot how to do this" and "JIMMY ATE FOUR APPLES..."

Also Khan doesn't offer credit.

Does anyone know of an online accredited school or way that I can take ----

Intermediate Algebra
College Algebra
Trig
Calculus

I live in Austin and the community college is BALLS. I looked at the University of Texas and the courses start at $800 gawd dayyyummm.

Helfen!

[Mermaid]

Do you already have to be ready for calculus when you enter the engineering program?

If not, you could just take the prerequisite math courses offered by the university.

I assume if your boss is willing to pay for your education that includes the prerequisites too.

[astrokahn]

Originally Posted by Mermaid

Do you already have to be ready for calculus when you enter the engineering program?

If not, you could just take the prerequisite math courses offered by the university.

I assume if your boss is willing to pay for your education that includes the prerequisites too.

Ya know... that's a great question. I'll find out bc I was wondering that too. I've never colleged before, I assumed I had to enter the program Calculus ready.

[Mermaid]

Originally Posted by astrokahn

Ya know... that's a great question. I'll find out bc I was wondering that too. I've never colleged before, I assumed I had to enter the program Calculus ready.

My university had a course catalog with all the required courses for your major lined out. And under each course there would be a list of required prerequisites needed to enter that course.

The prerequisites could have been taken in high school, community College, at the university, or you could simply test out of them if you know the material with CLEP exams.

[astrokahn]

Well I cleared it up real quicklike with a phone call to the department head. I can get into the program and take the courses I need, it just might take seventy two years to graduate. I mean who cares I'm 40 already anyway.

Today I'm taking a test to determine if I can start with college algebra. I got my GED when I was 17......So a lot of math hasn't happened since then...

I'm actually worried lol
Wish me luck!

[The Girl]

Originally Posted by astrokahn

Well I cleared it up real quicklike with a phone call to the department head. I can get into the program and take the courses I need, it just might take seventy two years to graduate. I mean who cares I'm 40 already anyway.



Today I'm taking a test to determine if I can start with college algebra. I got my GED when I was 17......So a lot of math hasn't happened since then...



I'm actually worried lol

Wish me luck!

This is so great! No matter how you do on that test you already won!

Way to go for it! Keep us posted.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[astrokahn]

ERMERFERGHENGERDDD! I passed! Hahah I never thought I would be happier to take college algebra.

Thanks for the support friennnnds

[astrokahn]

Originally Posted by The Girl

This is so great! No matter how you do on that test you already won!

Way to go for it! Keep us posted.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

http://https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=N6e0j8u10Yw

[astrokahn]

Originally Posted by The Girl

This is so great! No matter how you do on that test you already won!

Way to go for it! Keep us posted.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=N6e0j8u10Yw

[Bucho]

Originally Posted by astrokahn

ERMERFERGHENGERDDD! I passed! Hahah I never thought I would be happier to take college algebra.

Heck yeah you did!

I did a similar thing in 2015, studying university physics and maths at 40 having worked construction for two decades and having forgotten all but the most basic of high school algebra and calculus. Because of the job I had a good head for geometry/trig stuff but the only thing I could differentiate/integrate were polynomials and in terms of linear algebra I couldn't even multiply vectors let alone handle matrices. The resources that helped me the most when it came to ramping back into it were Khan Academy, Paul's Maths and Wolfram Alpha.

I don't know if Khan Academy has changed in the last couple of years but back then you could choose your level. If pre-algebra was too slow for me I'd skip to the algebra section. The fact you kicked ass on your test makes it seem like you underestimated your level of talent by starting with pre-algebra. (And I get that, I was shitting myself about getting into tertiary-level study at 40 too.)

Paul's Math is good for worked examples and worked examples are where it's at for any type of applied math. It's waaaaaaaaaay easier to apply theory when you can see it in action. You can go to the home page and navigate from there but once I'd started to get my head around the terminology I found it was quicker to just use Google like "paul's math double integrals over general regions".

The other thing you can do to try to find worked examples is just google something like "worked examples linear algebra pdf" or "calculus questions and solutions pdf". It takes a bit of sifting through to find the right stuff at the right level, but it worked for me a fair bit of the time.

Wolfram Alpha is basically a free advanced online calculator. It won't tell you how to integrate using partial fractions or whatever, but it will tell you if what you worked out is right. Even the lecturers say you're dumb if you don't use it to check your answers, so it's not cheating. Generally most of the marks for a question will be for method anyway, so checking the answer can also tell you if you used the right method the right way. The one thing to be wary of is that with a lot of answers you can present it in different forms depending on how you factorize or handle radicals or whatever, so if your answer doesn't look EXACTLY like Wolfram Alpha's don't immediately assume you fucked up. It may actually be the same answer in a different form. (If that makes sense.)

Aside from that the key for me has been ganging up with classmates, which is pretty interesting as a 40 year old in a class full of mostly 19 year olds, but having buddies helps a ton when it comes to assignments, especially for comparing answers to find out if you went down the same track as everyone else. I also found that once ice was broken the vast majority of the Millennials I met had no problem teaming up with the Gen Xer who was living among them.

Anyway, the TLDR is use Paul's Maths and Wolfram Alpha, and gang up with a classmate or three if possible. And of course don't hesitate to approach your lecturers/tutors with questions. The worst thing you can do is probably letting any kind of embarrassment at feeling dumb hold you back.