Taking remedial courses can feel like a waste of money and time for any student who is interested in the cheapest and fastest path to a degree. But students who don’t do well on placement exams may be required to take remedial classes before they can take a for-credit class in English or math.
Community college students are more likely to take remedial courses than their four-year counterparts. One estimate suggests that more than two-thirds of community college students take at least one remedial course, compared with 40 percent of four-year college students.
Remedial classes are courses that are designed to help students learn developmental skills in math, writing and reading so they’re prepared for college-level course work. Students have to pay tuition for the classes, which don’t count for credit and can delay graduation, particularly if the student has to take more than one.
Realistically, students who don’t have basic skills in math, writing or reading might not be able to avoid taking remedial classes entirely. But prospective community college students can take the following steps to reduce the likelihood of needing a remedial math class.
1. Pay attention in high school: Building a strong math foundation is the best way to ensure that students will do well in college math courses. Doing well requires more than just passing tests.
Derek Swierczek, a math teacher at Wheeling High School in Illinois, encourages students to try to gain an understanding of how math works and why instead of just memorizing enough formulas to pass classes.
“They’ll see a retention factor more when they embrace the learning process and have high school not be just about grades,” he says. “That understanding is what’s going allow the brain to access that information in the future.”
[Practice college study skills during high school.]
Confidence can play a role in a student’s math performance. Swierczek encourages students to ask a lot of questions to try to connect the dots, reach out for help when they get frustrated instead of quitting and to remember that their brains are still developing and they’re capable of improving and building skills.
2. Take four years of math in high school, even if it’s not required: “If they’re not taking a math class as a senior, they’re not going to do well on the placement test when they come to Ivy Tech or any college in the fall of their freshman year,” says John Newby, assistant vice president of K-12 initiatives at Indiana’s Ivy Tech Community College.
[Use all four years of high school to prep for college.]
Students who have a gap in their math courses are going to have a harder time recalling information for placement tests and adjusting to college-level math, experts say.
Taking a math class in high school that isn’t required and doesn’t seem relevant to a student’s career aspirations can be frustrating. Newby encourages students to see if dual-credit classes that allow students to earn college credit while in high school are an option. Dual-credit classes can help students get familiar with college-level courses and bypass remedial courses.
[Learn how earning college credit in high school can slash undergrad costs.]
3. Study for the placement exam: Some schools may factor in SAT, ACT or Advanced Placement exam scores to determine whether a student needs to take a remedial course, but placement exams are widely used to determine the level of math appropriate for incoming students.
Community college experts encourage students to take time to study for the exam. Nontraditional students — who may be more than a few years removed from a high school math class — can also benefit from brushing up. In some cases, a quick refresher can be all a student needs to avoid a semester or two of developmental math. Free online resources like the Khan Academy, MyMathLab and MyMathTest allow students to practice math problems in a variety of math subjects and areas. Students can also see what kind of study tools are available on the school’s website.
Amanda Starkey, who recently retired as dean of math and sciences at Southwestern Illinois College, encourages students to take practice tests that are formatted similarly to the type of placement assessment at their local community college.
4. Retake the placement exam if necessary: Don’t wait until the end of the summer before freshman year to take the exam. Starkey encourages students to take the exam as close as possible to their last high school math exam so they can recall information easier. That can be in the junior year if the student doesn’t take a senior math course, though senior math is strongly recommended, or soon after graduation. Students should check with their local institution to find out how long score results are valid.
Exam results may not highlight the exact spots of student weaknesses, but students can reach out to their local community college advisers to find insights on where they weaknesses are.
Students can check out a school’s individual policy on test retakes to see how many opportunities they have to retake the exams if they get less than desirable results the first time.
If you do need to take a remedial math class, see if your community college has a co-requisite program that allows students to take a remedial class and a for-credit math class at the same time. That can help students save time and get better results, Ivy Tech’s Newby says.
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Plan Ahead to Avoid Remedial Math Classes in Community College originally appeared on usnews.com
