Math: BAC1/GAC1/HHT1/QLT1

As someone who hasn't had a math class in 12 years (and did terrible at it back then), I was very intimidated by these courses. However, I felt that the learning resources that were provided were fantastic and I cruised through these ahead of schedule (except QLT1, haven't taken that yet).

BAC1: This is your basic college math course. I spent a lot of time reading each chapter and taking notes but those of you who have taken a math course more recently should have no problems here (if you even have to take it). The book explained everything pretty clearly and I was able to complete this course in about 2 weeks.

GAC1: I tried a different technique for this course. In fact, I don't think I read any of the book to do it. Here is what I did to prepare for this course:

• Log into the Thinking Mathematically website (learning resource for course)
• Navigate to the 'Skills Checks' quizes. You will see 4 of them (one is a comprehensive pre-assessment)
• Drill the 3 (non-pre-assessment ones) quizes multiple times. After each attempt, review the question missed. You will see a button in the upper right side that walks you though the problem (I think it's labled "Explain"). This will guide you step by step in solving the problem. Take notes if necessary.
• Repeat this process until you are getting 100% on all three.
• Take the 4th quiz (pre-assessment) a couple of times. This will be the same material from the other 3.
• Finally, take the official pre-assessment accessed from your Degree Plan, not the learning resource.

That last pre-assessment is formatted just like the exam. If you do well on this, you will have no problems with the exam.

HHT1: This is the performance portion of GAC1 and only requires one task. The only issue with this course is it is a recycled class from the Teacher's College. You have to turn in a paper from the perspective of a middle school math teacher. I would have liked to see something more geared towards the IT career field instead but it is an easy 3 CUs so I wouldn't stress too much over this.

I submitted my first entry in a day and received feedback on what needed revision the next morning. I spent another hour revising the paper and had it accepted.


QLT1: This is another performance assessment. This one focuses more on graphing. I am going to try and squeeze this class in next month. I will update this post when I do. From what I have heard, it is pretty much just a couple of graphing problems and it can be knocked out pretty quickly.