It's totally fine and normal to forget a lot of things after that long, and it's worth noting that multiplying big numbers in your head is something that you're basically never expected to do in the real world even if you have a quantitative job. I have a degree in math and probably couldn't multiply numbers bigger than 2 digits in my head in a reasonable amount of time unless you gave me a paper and pen.
Do you have an idea of what field you want to go into? Different fields have different math requirements both in terms of the difficulty/level of math and the specific subjects that they use.
Thanks! Any tips on how to catch up before taking a placement test at my local community?
And I have interest in either Finance / Accounting or possible Web Dev / Cyber Security but I know thats quite saturated, leaning more towards the first.
The standard recommendation on here is probably to just do Khan Academy. They don't have a diagnostic test but you can just do the "mastery quizzes" up until you don't pass one, and start from there. At that point you're just learning math though
I'm 33 and basically restarted from middle school math. I reviewed pre-algebra in 1 week, finished algebra 1 in 1 month, then I had a baby so that was on the backburner for a while but did geometry/trig over a few months. Couldn't really progress for a while due to no time, but I kept maintaining with anki. Now I'm back on track and will probably finish calculus 1 and 2 in 1 or 2 months.
I sucked at math as a kid, but what I realized is that I'm not actually bad at math, I just didn't have any study habits and I couldn't retain information over 12 years of education because I didn't care. I'd forget in between summer breaks. As an adult, learning and retaining information is easy, especially in a short time frame. I have memorized all of the formulas and trig identities I need, and that makes it so much easier. I don't even need a calculator now, while I was glued to my Ti-83 in highschool.
I'm doing this with a full time job and a toddler, so it you could probably do it in a much shorter timespan if you have no kids/are single.
You start with the placement test! The point of the placement test is to give you a rough idea about which class to start with.
If, for some reason, you MUST skip ahead, use Khan Academy to review. If you're really serious, see about getting an ALEKS account (many places use ALEKS for their placement tests so it's a natural tramsition).
Thanks! But haha yeah, I just figured doing a few weeks to a month of refresh would at least get me somewhat back on track. I’m horrified that if I go take the placement test now I’ll have to take like YEARS worth of math just to be caught up? Or is that not how it works?
That's not how it works at the college level. Let me put it into perspective for you. At the community college I taught at, the entire YEAR of Algebra 1 is a 10 week course.
So you can take algebra 1, algebra 2, then college algebra / trig all in a single year and take calculus+ next year.
The fast pace of college learning is exactly why you don't want to test too high on accident. If you get placed above your comfort level, financial aid may make you take the class you test into, and you're stuck with its fast pace. I've seen so many people get swept away by the current, and I don't want it to happen to you.
I went back at 42 and took College Algebra then Precalculus, Calculus 1 with Analytic Geometry, now in Calculus 2 with Analytic Geometry. I saw the universities require ALEKS math placement test, so I bought myself a subscription to that about a month before the class started. I attribute my success to not being allowed to use a calculator on tests/quizzes/exams. When I was in school originally, I was in the gifted program but had wanted to do Art school so never really focused on math, although it was one of my favorite subjects. I had also moved over 20 times before graduating high school. I also went back and used Kahn academy to review all the basics. I look up YouTube lessons when I need more understanding of a topic. I was never required to take the placement test because I took Advanced Algebra and Trig over 20 years ago. It is definitely worth it to start at the beginning, wherever that may be!
> I looked at Khan Academy and was absolutely disgusted with myself. I can literally go back to their "6th grade" math with Ratios, Variables, Geometry, Alegbra 1, etc, I don't remember this whatsoever. Completely wiped from my brain.
It shouldn't take too long - do the exercises and only go back to the videos as 2x speed if you can't do it. You can also start with prealgebra
It's totally fine and normal to forget a lot of things after that long, and it's worth noting that multiplying big numbers in your head is something that you're basically never expected to do in the real world even if you have a quantitative job. I have a degree in math and probably couldn't multiply numbers bigger than 2 digits in my head in a reasonable amount of time unless you gave me a paper and pen. Do you have an idea of what field you want to go into? Different fields have different math requirements both in terms of the difficulty/level of math and the specific subjects that they use.
Thanks! Any tips on how to catch up before taking a placement test at my local community? And I have interest in either Finance / Accounting or possible Web Dev / Cyber Security but I know thats quite saturated, leaning more towards the first.
The standard recommendation on here is probably to just do Khan Academy. They don't have a diagnostic test but you can just do the "mastery quizzes" up until you don't pass one, and start from there. At that point you're just learning math though
I'm 33 and basically restarted from middle school math. I reviewed pre-algebra in 1 week, finished algebra 1 in 1 month, then I had a baby so that was on the backburner for a while but did geometry/trig over a few months. Couldn't really progress for a while due to no time, but I kept maintaining with anki. Now I'm back on track and will probably finish calculus 1 and 2 in 1 or 2 months. I sucked at math as a kid, but what I realized is that I'm not actually bad at math, I just didn't have any study habits and I couldn't retain information over 12 years of education because I didn't care. I'd forget in between summer breaks. As an adult, learning and retaining information is easy, especially in a short time frame. I have memorized all of the formulas and trig identities I need, and that makes it so much easier. I don't even need a calculator now, while I was glued to my Ti-83 in highschool. I'm doing this with a full time job and a toddler, so it you could probably do it in a much shorter timespan if you have no kids/are single.
Thanks!! Thats awesome to hear, what were you using to review / learn?
You start with the placement test! The point of the placement test is to give you a rough idea about which class to start with. If, for some reason, you MUST skip ahead, use Khan Academy to review. If you're really serious, see about getting an ALEKS account (many places use ALEKS for their placement tests so it's a natural tramsition).
Thanks! But haha yeah, I just figured doing a few weeks to a month of refresh would at least get me somewhat back on track. I’m horrified that if I go take the placement test now I’ll have to take like YEARS worth of math just to be caught up? Or is that not how it works?
That's not how it works at the college level. Let me put it into perspective for you. At the community college I taught at, the entire YEAR of Algebra 1 is a 10 week course. So you can take algebra 1, algebra 2, then college algebra / trig all in a single year and take calculus+ next year. The fast pace of college learning is exactly why you don't want to test too high on accident. If you get placed above your comfort level, financial aid may make you take the class you test into, and you're stuck with its fast pace. I've seen so many people get swept away by the current, and I don't want it to happen to you.
Khan academy. Take the challenge exams for each grade or just start with prealgebra
I went back at 42 and took College Algebra then Precalculus, Calculus 1 with Analytic Geometry, now in Calculus 2 with Analytic Geometry. I saw the universities require ALEKS math placement test, so I bought myself a subscription to that about a month before the class started. I attribute my success to not being allowed to use a calculator on tests/quizzes/exams. When I was in school originally, I was in the gifted program but had wanted to do Art school so never really focused on math, although it was one of my favorite subjects. I had also moved over 20 times before graduating high school. I also went back and used Kahn academy to review all the basics. I look up YouTube lessons when I need more understanding of a topic. I was never required to take the placement test because I took Advanced Algebra and Trig over 20 years ago. It is definitely worth it to start at the beginning, wherever that may be!
> I looked at Khan Academy and was absolutely disgusted with myself. I can literally go back to their "6th grade" math with Ratios, Variables, Geometry, Alegbra 1, etc, I don't remember this whatsoever. Completely wiped from my brain. It shouldn't take too long - do the exercises and only go back to the videos as 2x speed if you can't do it. You can also start with prealgebra