Purdue Math Class & CODO Process

Good evening everyone,

I need some advice. I did not take calculus in high school so my academic advisor wanted me to take precalculus (Math 158) first before I take calculus 1 (Math 161) in college. The precalculus taught to me in high school was way different than the precalculus taught here at Purdue. The lectures, homework, and midterms are hard for no reason. I am really struggling in precalculus right now and I need a “B- or higher” in the class to enroll in Calculus 1 (Math 161) for the summer 2022 term because I need to CODO into engineering by December 2022.

I do not understand what the professor is saying during the lectures and this homework platform called “LonCapa” marks my answers wrong when I try to enter the correct math expressions into the system and it’s stressing me out. I am 2-3 units behind in precalculus because the professor teaches the easier math problems in class and doesn’t tackle the harder math ones because she only has 50 minutes to cover every topic. The class is fast-paced and the midterm made me regret going to college. I need to pass precalculus with a B- because it’s a requirement to take Calculus 1 and CODO into engineering and I need to take Physics 172 (calculus-based physics) and this precalculus class can ruin my entire CODO process for me.

I tried attending supplemental instruction & office hours as much as I can but some of my other classes interfere with those hours.

I am doing well in all of my other classes. I find Chemistry 115 (my favorite class) to be easier than precalculus because the math and scientific theory in Chemistry 115 makes much more sense to me than precalculus. I missed one assignment for the first time in Engineering 131 and it dropped my grade from a B to an F after I knocked out all of the easy assignments because I had so much homework and I needed time for self-care but I have plenty of time to bring that grade back up. I am also doing well in English 106 and EDPS 105.

The classes here at Purdue are slowly killing my dreams every day. This precalculus class makes me want to drop out of college but at the same time, I don’t want to drop out of college. I feel dumb.

Sorry for the long message. Please help me out.

Go to the math help room. That’s what they are there for. It’s free and the TAs are great. Purdue University: Department of Mathematics: Math Resource Room (MRR) Policies

The math sequences at Purdue are challenging. You are not dumb. You just need to adjust to the pace at Purdue. Keep going to supplemental instructions and office hours too. Deep breath. You can do this!

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The TA’s are not helpful at all.

Do you have a friend in the class who understands the math? If so, could you work together with them, so that they can help you?

I know you say that the TA is no help, but you have to keep going to the math resource room. Help for 158 is offered 15800: MW 9:30a-2:20p, TThF 10:30a-2:20p. Just go there to do your math homework there, every day, and ask the TA’s for help there as you’re doing the work, ask for help with every problem you have trouble with, as you’re trying to do it. If you don’t understand what they’re explaining, ask them to explain it again until you do understand.

The idea is to just plan to sit there to do the homework and prep for tests, and then ask them for help the minute you hit a snag. Right now, with you being 2-3 units behind in math, the only way that you’re going to save yourself is to go to the math resource room every hour that it’s open that you are not in other classes, and sit there and work through the homework problems, from the beginning of what was assigned this semester, asking for help whenever you hit something you don’t understand. It’s going to take a lot of time, but if you do this, you should be able to master the material and catch up quickly. I know that you feel so far behind, but you’re only a couple of weeks into the semester. You can catch up and master this, if you’re willing to go to the math resource room and sit there and redo all the homework problems from the beginning of the semester, asking the TA for help as soon as you hit something you don’t understand.

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I am glad you are doing well in other classes. You will get through this.

Over the weekend start to get caught up in math. You can’t get that far behind in math as they build on your skills as you go.

Try to figure out where you lost track of things in class. It could have been day 1 - that is ok. Just piece it together. You may need to teach yourself to fill in some math gaps from taking Algebra II and precalc during Covid school. You are not alone in this struggle. What was your ALEKS placement score that placed you in this level? Were there recommended units of trig and algebra II to prep for success in this course.

Also, if your computer is doing something weird and glitching when entering answers make sure you have the latest updates and try opening it with a different browser. Check to make sure you do not have pop ups turned off. That happens to all of us.

Lesson learned, you can not miss whole assignments in Engineering class. You do not have as many grades in College, so it is hard to dig out. Go talk to the professor and explain your situation. You may need to cut back at work (theme from your other active thread).

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There are multiple sections of each class with different TAs. If you don’t like your particular TA, find another. Similarly you can find another professors lectures to watch. There are also old exams available on line. Avail yourself of the free tutoring in the help room.

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Do you really believe this? No reason?

You got some great advice on how to make the resources work for you. I would focus on that rather than ascribe nefarious motives to the people trying to teach you precalc.

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I scored an 80 on the math placement test

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Ok, probably because you had not had certain classes in high school they placed you at this level since on the flow chart you placed slightly higher than this class, but then you would have been deeper in a hole. It is also the direct pathway class to the one you need as you stated. There is another route to get there, but I understand the timeline you are shooting for.

There should be a pie graph that showed strengths and weaknesses in ALEKS when you completed your assessment. If you look back at that it may help you figure out where you need to focus on for review.

Then keep going to the help sessions to complete your work as recommended.

Can you look at getting an on campus job for extra money and sell the car? Used cars are a sellers market right now. You may come out ahead of what you have put into it.

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Umm… no.

You got into one of the top 10 in the nation engineering schools, and you’re tanking in precalculus, all because you’re working a ridiculously absurd number of hours to support a car that I suspect you just bought, since you said that your parents didn’t allow you to work while you were in high school.

You’ve posted in the past about how miserable you were with your strict upbringing, and that you were a little worried that you’d go off the deep end when you got to college. You knew to be wary of drinking and drugging, and I bet you were warned about inappropriate sexual activity. But I don’t know if anyone warned you about ruinous debt, and unwise financial moves. Buying that car was going off the deep end. If you don’t figure out a way to cut your work hours down to a reasonable amount (maybe 8 hours/week, perhaps one shift on Saturdays), you can pretty much rest assured that you’re not going to succeed academically in engineering. Maybe in a liberal arts field that comes very easily to you, but not in engineering where you’re going to have to do a lot of math.

You CAN do the math and the engineering! You’re just going to have to be in that math resource room working the homework problems over and over until you’ve mastered them, with the help of the TAs, who I’m sure will also tutor you on any missing pieces of math you need to be able to do the precalc. You CAN do the engineering projects - you’re just going to have to start on them the minute they’re assigned, and work steadily and constantly on them so that they’re done on time (working with other classmates, if it’s allowed, would be very helpful towards keeping you on track for these assignments). You just won’t be able to do any of these things if you’re working 24 hours/week at an outside job. If you cannot cut back to one shift per week, done on the easiest day of the week for you, which I suspect is Saturday, then you’re not gonna make it. And if the only way to cut your work hours back is to sell the car, then for goodness’ sake, sell the car! You didn’t go to Purdue engineering so that you could buy yourself a car! You went there to become a chemical engineer!

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Hi @unknowncreature.

You said that LON-CAPA is rejecting some of your answers. It seems to have very strict ways to enter your math. Have you seen their help file? Here is what it says for multiplication:

Always use * for multiplication to be safe. When a constant times a variable, *
can be omitted. For example, to express 2x, you can type in either 2x or 2 ∗ x. However,
when two variables multiply each other, you must use * in between them. For example,
to express xy, you have to type in x ∗ y. Thus, it is a good practice to always use * for
multiplication to be safe.

Here is the whole file of suggestions:

So hopefully something like that will help if you understand the math, but are not entering the answers in a way that LON-CAPA wants you to.

But if you are also not understanding the math, then I agree with parentologist’s suggestion to go to the math resource room to do your homework there at the times they are staffing for Math 158 (M/W 9:30 - 2:20; T/Th/F 10:30-2:20 ). They can help you understand, and can also watch you enter the answers into LON-CAPA to make sure you are getting their syntax right.

Good luck!

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One more thing – since you don’t like your math professor, you can ask your advisor about changing to a different MA 158 class if there is room and the new course works with your schedule. You would have to do that early on Monday, though, because the deadline to add or modify a course is this Monday and you would need the instructor and advisor signature.

It seems there are three different professors teaching Math 158 at Purdue. On RateMyProfessors.com, David Norris gets very good reviews from his students, so you might want to find out if you can switch to his class. Make sure that all the classes are on the same schedule (they should be) and that there won’t be any content-issues with changing classes.

|MA 15800|4|400|21651|MWF|03:30 PM - 04:20 PM|Norris, David|SMTH 108|MATH 810|
|MA 15800|3|001|16574|MWF|02:30 PM - 03:20 PM|Popkin, Naomi|PHYS 202|MATH 637|
|MA 15800|2|003|16570|MWF|01:30 PM - 02:20 PM|Popkin, Naomi|PHYS 202|MATH 637|
|MA 15800|1|300|14869|MWF|07:30 AM - 08:20 AM|Delworth, Timothy|BRNG 2280|MATH 814|

I looked up all three professors, but only David Norris had reviews. But his were all very positive, which is why I am suggesting seeing if you can switch to his class.

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I have a chemistry lab between 7:30 am-10:20 am every Monday so I can’t do that.

I have my English class around that time

This is the professor I was assigned. Her office hours are more helpful than her lectures. I have an office hour meeting on Wednesday.

That’s great – I’m glad her office hours are helpful and that you are taking advantage of them!

Did you get the LON_CAPA syntax issues figured out?

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Yes

I’m glad. I’m hoping that will remove some of the stress!

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