How can I do HS math and eng. all over again?

Ok, quick scenario. I am a male, late 20s. Most people say I am "above average" or "quite intelligent." Medical doctors said I could be a doctor. Lawyers have said I could be a lawyer.

But, I have never studied hard in high school math and english grammar, even with the ability to do it.

Now, as I would like to return to college, I find my math skills very low and english below par for well written, college level papers. Especially if I'd ever like to get into graduate school!!

I also need MAJOR work on my reading comprehension, if I expect to do any real college level reading.

Does anyone have any recommendation on how to do math (and english) the right way, the way I should have done in HS? I thought of buying the software "Math Advantage 2000" but am worried it is just a test-prep refresher rather than a full length process of working my math skills back into the level a university student should be (say maybe at least advanced algebra, if not trigonometry, calculus, or statistics).

And I need to perfect my english grammar skills again too, but I want to do it a bit slower than just taking "english composition" offered by most universities, because english comp. classes expect you are already up to par.
Any suggestions? Any excellent books, or software? Or any online classes offered to us just-a-bit-behind that need some rather serious catching-up? Thanks.

Very seriously appreciated.

[email protected]

 

Just a thought, but if you want to go back to the beginning, several universities offer High School level correspondence courses. These courses are usually a lot cheaper (under $100) than college-credit courses, so it might be worth it to "go back" and brush up on your basic skills. If you find that these courses are easy, then you know you can move onto college level work. Two of my favorite correspondence programs that offer HS courses;

Louisiana State; http://is.lsu.edu/highschool/courses/

Brigham Young; http://ce.byu.edu/is/hscatalog.htm

Best of luck,

Bruce

 

Mike,

Community colleges offer remedial math and English courses, sometimes with course numbers starting with '0' (versus '100' or '200' level courses). These are aimed at the adult learner in a situation just like yours: someone who did not receive sufficient grounding in these subjects before entering college and needs a reintroduction to the basics before continuing onto the '100' level courses.

Good luck,
Mark

 

I am starting out my degree program with Penn State by taking the "remedial" classes first for the same reasons you state. Although they can't be used to fulfill General Studies requirements, the credits can be placed in the "elective" category so its not a waste of money. Im learning the very basics and still earning credits so it works out really well.

Vex

 

The North Daota Department of Public Instruction offers a broad range of high school courses online and through independent study. http://www.dis.dpi.state.nd.us/

John

 

All good choices so far. There are several interesting prospects at http://distancelearn.about.com/education/distancelearn/cs/highschool/

This list includes a link to a complete, accredited program at the Univ. of Nebraska Lincoln: http://www.unl.edu/ishs/about.htm

Good luck.

 

I think that you may be selling yourself short unnecessarily. Simply judging from what you have written here, you fall within the normal range for university undergraduates in writing ability. Keep in mind that American universities, particularly distance education programs, are filled with foreign students whose first language isn't English and whose writing ability is far worse than your own.

So my suggestion is to simply start out with a university level introductory writing class. Many universities will require something similar as a general education requirement anyway, so you might as well get it out of the way. Helping people get up to speed is why the course is required in the first place, so you might as well take advantage of it.

Your university courses will all require you to read extensively. So you will get plenty of practice. Again my suggestion is not to waste time with a remedial reading class, but simply to jump in and learn by doing. You might feel best taking your first courses in subjects you like and where you feel confident. Practice your reading on real course material for real assignments.

Mathematics can be real problem. From what I've seen, many students fail in introductory university-level mathematics because of poor high school background. That basically means algebra. You just gotta know algebra if you want to major in a tech subject. For example, calculus is actually rather easy and obvious, but it is impossible unless you have a confident intuitive grasp of high school algebra. I think that 90% of those of fail or drop their first calculus class do so because of the algebra, not the calculus.

So if I were you I wouldn't worry about my English and would concentrate on my math. That would mean a solid review of high school algebra and trig. Luckily, most universities are well aware of the substandard preparation of most of their incoming students. You certainly aren't alone. Almost all universities have courses in what they call "college algebra", which is really just a compressed high school algebra class. They also have what they call "pre-calculus" classes that combine the high school algebra with trig. If you never studied your math seriously in high school, even these classes can be challenging. So that means that reviewing before you enroll in them helps a lot.

What I would do is get my hands on an old college algebra or pre-calculus textbook. You can buy older editions for almost nothing at used bookstores. Then start working your way through it. Make sure that the book has answers in the back for at least some of the problem sets. Then read the chapters and do the problems. If you get an answer wrong, try to see where you screwed up. Practice factoring polynomials and stuff. Get so you can easily multiply and divide polynomials. Practice it over and over, in lots of different problems that all look a little different, until you feel comfortable and confident with it.

Then take the college algebra class. You will be one of the stars in the class since you already know a lot of the stuff, and you can concentrate on mastering the hard parts.

 

I would second the suggestion to do remedial work at a local community college.

Of course, a lot will depend on where you're planning to do your college work. If you choose a "bricks and mortar" program that's selective, you will definitely have a hard time with even a part-time load of rigorous classes if your reading comprehension is low... but a bit of remedial work should fix that pretty easily.

If you choose a not-terribly-rigorous local or DL program, you might slip by, but I'd still recommend that you make use of a local community college. There are some excellent basic skills development people at just about every community college, and they can test you, help you figure out exactly where your skills need building, and give you the necessary texts/assignments to bring you up to speed.

I also echo Bill's comments regarding math. Even a typical college precalculus course will befuddle you if you don't have a pretty solid grasp of the algebra that underlies it. And although even selective schools usually have some sort of developmental mathematics class, I'd again recommend the community college over the selective school, for the simple reason that the community college *specializes* in skill development, so they tend to be really good at it, whereas a selective school will probably have one person who handles developmental work, since in theory, their students are better prepared and there is less need.

Also, one other thing to keep in mind: even among people whose native language is English, the quality of writing among first year college students is often deplorably bad. A few years ago, I taught a course at a very selective school. One of the requirements was a five-page paper, and although it wasn't an English class, I was floored at the poor quality of the papers... loads of spelling errors, grammatical sloppiness, often incomplete or incoherent thoughts. My suspicion is that your English abilities are probably equal or superior to the typical college student.

One other thought: Even though you're probably not consciously aware of it, your comprehension, grammar, and other language skills have probably improved considerably since high school just from the work that you've done in whatever job you hold.


Best of luck!

 

Hey thanks alot to all seven of you and your replies. Thanks for the links, as it could take a person a long time to dig those up individually.

Chip and BillDayson, thanks for your various perspectives and and knowledge based on experience with other college level students.
By the way, I was already able to get my hands on a textbook titled "College Algebra," by Stewart - Redlin - Watson, 1992. It will take alot of work and persistance.

See you.

 

If you were originally pretty decent at math, think that you "got it" the first around and are simply looking for a refresher, I would suggest that you look at using Schaum's Outlines available at any bookstore. They're a pretty decent way to relearn forgotten math and they have the additional advantage of being cheap and self-paced.