Summer Letter to Fall 2010 Students of MTH 104 Sections 1 & 5

Hello Mr. Ho’s Fall 2010 Prealgebra Students!

I know it’s summer, and you are all probably enjoying it by not thinking about school. However, to help you hit the ground running when the semester begins, I would like to tell you something about the class to prepare you. Make sure that you dedicate time to study, have the special required material, and review basic arithmetic before the semester begins.

Dedicated Study Time

This being a 3-unit class, you are expected to spend at least six hours per week outside of class preparing for it, which includes reviewing notes, doing homework, studying for tests, etc. If math traditionally has not been your strongest subject, you may need to spend more time than that, and only YOU can make that determination. It is best that you schedule appointment with yourself to work on math. Put together your class, work, and STUDY schedule before school begins.

In general, each unit you take requires twice as many hours outside preparation time per week. So if you take 15 units, which means you are in class about 15 hours a week, you are expected to spend 30 hours outside of class on preparation. That’s 45 hours already you should dedicate to school, and that doesn’t even include transportation! Going to school is a job in itself. If you work 40-hour week on top of that, then you are in danger of working yourself too hard. Be realistic of how much time you really have for school as you consider your family and job situation. There are only 24 hours in one day. You can’t fight laws of physics!

Special Required Material

This class REQUIRES the use of internet access to a web-based learning system called ALEKS. At least half of your grade will be based on it. If you don’t have convenience access to the internet outside of class, then you may want to consider signing up for a different section of Math 104. There will be a time later in the summer when students are dropped for non-payment of classes. If you check Class-Web diligently, you can find an open space that way.

Because I am already requiring ALEKS, the listing price of which is $67 when purchased directly online, you will not need to buy additional textbook. However, if you wish to have something for reference, you can pick up any old prealgebra book and use its index to help you find what you need. You can also take or print notes from ALEKS as you work on it. I will also provide online resources to help you.

PLEASE plan your finances NOW so that you have ALEKS during the first week of class, or you will fall behind. Sometimes financial aid may not come in on time, and it’s up to you to plan for it.

If you have book vouchers to use at the Chabot Bookstore, you can purchase access code to ALEKS there. Please be aware that the Bookstore marks up the publisher’s listing price, so it is more expensive there. Unless you have money that can only be spent at the Bookstore, wait until I give you ALEKS registration information to my class before buying the access directly online with your credit card. If you don’t have a credit card, you can get around that problem by purchasing a Visa or Mastercard gift card from a retailer (e.g. Safeway).  

Prerequisite Review

You are allowed to take this Prealgebra course either by having completed a basic math course or by taking the Chabot Math Assessment. Nonetheless, what best predicts how you will do in this class is not what you did but what you can do NOW! Retention is often a big problem for math students. I am providing some resources to help you review things you should be able to do without a calculator.

What You MUST Know WELL

These are the prerequisite material that are fundamental to the course. If you cannot review these on your own, then you are misplaced.  Make sure that you give yourself a refresher on the following topics.

Basic Number Facts of Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, and Division. You must know your multiplication table and other number facts like the back of your hand. You can’t realistically expect to do well in prealgebra if you can access them readily. That would be like my reading Don Quixote in Spanish with a dictionary. I could probably do it, but it would take me way too long and distracts me from appreciating it as literature. If you are bogged down by simple calculation, then that takes you away from appreciating the problems solving and the beauty of mathematics.

• You can find charts of basic number facts here.
• You can practice basic facts here. Make sure you DON'T press Enter after typing in each answer—click on Check Answer.
• You can take quizzes here.
• You can practice for speed here. Click on Addition or Multiplication at the top of the page and look for Five Minute Frenzies.

Whole Number Arithmetic

• You can read about addition, subtraction, and rounding procedures here.
• You can read about multiplication and division procedures here.
• You can get answers to odd problems in the two links above.
• You can quiz yourself here. Click on Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division, or Rounding in the left sidebar of the web page. You can practice at various levels of difficulty.

What We Will Review

These are topics that you are expected to have learned in the prerequisite course Basic Math, and we will extend them to negative numbers in this course. In the process, we will review them, and focus on how procedures work, not just how to carry them out. As a prealgebra course, we will apply basic arithmetic to problem solving and developing algebraic thinking. If you feel that you need to dedicate a semester to review only basic arithmetic calculation procedures and nothing else, then you should take Math 103 instead.

Fractions

• You can read about concepts of fraction and their multiplication and division here.
• You can read about addition and subtraction of fractions here.
• You can get answers to odd problems in the two links above.
• You can quiz yourself here. Try setting the maximum to 30.

Decimals

• You can read about arithmetic of decimals here.
• You can get answers to odd problems in the above link.
• You can quiz yourself here. Click on Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division, or Rounding in the left sidebar of the web page. Then click on the checkbox Use decimals near the bottom, if available. You can practice at various levels of difficulty.

Ratios, Proportions, and Percents

• You can read about ratio, rate, and percent here.
• You can get answers to odd problems in the above link.
• You can practice converting between percent, decimal, and fraction here. Set percentage range from 1 to 1000 and set percent roundingage to No rounding.
• You can practice simple percent problems here. Set whole number range and percentage range from 1 to 500 and set whole number rounding and percentage rounding to No rounding.
• You can practice ratio and proportion problems here.

You can e-mail me at mho@chabotcollege.edu if you have any questions. See you in August!