Calculus recommendations are based on ALEKS profile
What did you think of your time with the ALEKS? We hope you found it interesting. After your session, you will receive a number. Based on that ALEKS profile, we will recommend one of our calculus courses, Precalculus (Math 9), or some additional preparation. We will enforce the following recommendations.
Score range 76-100: You have the preparation you need to enter one of our calculus courses automatically. Here’s a page to help you decide which one to enroll in.
Score range 72-75: We think that ALEKS might be able to help you get ready for calculus. Do 15 hours of preparation and learning in ALEKS and contact our Directors of Assessment, Professors Mary Long and Luvreet Sangha before July 31. We will confirm your hours and allow you one more ALEKS session. If this does not increase your score to the calculus range, then Math 9 is the right course for you. Remember, it’s not about what you might have known once, it’s about what you know now.
Score range: 68-71: Maybe it’s a longshot, but if you will do 25 hours of preparation and learning in ALEKS by July 31, you can try a second ALEKS session. This option is for very motivated learners!
Score range 61-75: Your work in ALEKS shows that Math 9 is the right course for you without additional preparation. This course is specifically designed to help you prepare to feel good about taking calculus. It includes a required lab component with support for the active learning and non-routine problem-solving skills that may have been missing in your high school work. Some of our best and most motivating teachers work with Math 9 students.
Score range less than 60: ALEKS is telling us that you need some work before entering Math 9. We urge you to complete an Intermediate Algebra course before you take Math 9 at Santa Clara University. Such a course is widely available through community colleges. If you don’t have a community college nearby, you should take an on-line course, for example this one from the University of North Dakota. Once at SCU, you should enroll in MATH 9.
New Math Advance Program
Students who take the CRE by June 15, 2023 will be considered for the Math Advance pilot program. Math Advance is a free 3 week online program offered this August to help a small group of students get off to a strong start in their university math sequence, and to make some human connections with experienced SCU math student partners before the school year begins. There are two sections of Math Advance. Math Advance Calculus is designed for students who are just short of the cutoff for being eligible to take calculus in the fall, and will help bring those students over the threshold. Math Advance Precalculus is designed for students who will be taking Precalculus in the fall, but could benefit from some extra practice and instruction in skills and concepts from high school math. More details can be found at the Math Advance web page.
Want to ask for an exception? Since we trust the scientific validity of ALEKS, we don’t grant many exceptions. That said, here is one:
If you want to try to qualify for calculus, but the CRE tells us that you are not ready, you can take a course equivalent to Math 9 at an accredited college or university. Show our CRE Directors evidence that you have completed such a course with a C or better and we will admit you to Math 11 or Math 30, on a space-available basis. (Not too many students have made a success of this, but it is possible.)
If you missed the deadline for taking the CRE, just ask us how to proceed. Typically, we want you to take it as soon after that as possible. The same applies if you missed the deadline to ask for a second session with ALEKS.
For other cases, we are probably going to tell you that we believe the ALEKS evaluation. When we hear things like, “I didn’t take it seriously the first time!” or “But it’s been a year since I took math!” we will direct you back to this website, where we tried to help you with those issues before you took the assessment. No one will be allowed to take the assessment a second time without doing an appropriate amount of preparation and learning in the ALEKS system. Still need an exception? Talk with our Directors of Assessment, Professors Mary Long and Luvreet Sangha.