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AN OVERVIEW OF THE DEVELOPMENTAL |
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The developmental mathematics courses are taken by
students who need to learn or refresh the skills they are lacking to succeed
in credit mathematics courses at Basic Mathematics Mat-010 These courses are offered all through the year in
different formats and using a variety of teaching strategies. These will be explained in various places
in this manual. NOTE: Many
of the sections of these courses are taught by adjunct DO
STUDENTS RECEIVE COLLEGE CREDIT FOR DEVELOPMENTAL MATHEMATICS COURSES? Students do not receive college credit for these
developmental courses. The courses are
assigned credit equivalents or contact-hours.
Mat-010 is a three contact-hour course and Algebra I and Algebra II
are each four contact-hour courses. IS THE
GRADE IN THE DEVELOPMENTAL MATHEMATICS COURSE INCLUDED IN THE STUDENT’S GPA? The grades in developmental mathematics courses are
included in the semester GPA. The
grade is not included in the cumulative transcript at the time of graduation. Basic
Mathematics This course focuses on computational skills and
problem solving skills. Topics include
addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of whole numbers,
fractions and decimals, ratio and proportion, percent, measurement, areas and
perimeters of geometric figures and basic descriptive statistics.
Applications are included as well. Basic Mathematics Alternative - Mat-009- 1 contact
hour This is a fast-paced, condensed version of
Mat-010. It is sometimes taught during the winter or summer session as
a stand alone one or two week Basic Mathematics course. Most of the
time it is taught along with Basic Mathematics I (Part A)- Mat-010A - 3 contact
hours * This course covers the first half of the Mat-010 course. Students who successfully complete this course take Mat-010B during the next semester. Basic Mathematics II (Part B)- Mat-010B - 3 contact hours* This course covers the second half of the Mat-010
course. Students who successfully complete both Mat-010A and Mat-010B
have fulfilled the course requirements for Mat-010. Algebra I This course introduces and develops elementary
algebraic concepts. Topics include
properties of real numbers, operations on real numbers, simplifying and evaluating algebraic expressions,
solving linear equations, solving literal equations, verbal problems and
polynomials, techniques of graphing, solving linear systems, polynomials and
their operations, special products and factoring, rational expressions and
equations and solving quadratic equations by factoring. Algebra I Alternative - Mat-080 - 1 contact hour This is a fast-paced, condensed version of
Mat-013. It is sometimes taught during the winter or summer session as
a one or two week Algebra I course. Algebra I (Part A) - Mat-013A - 4 contact hours* This is the first half of an Algebra I course.
Students who successfully complete this course must take Mat-013B in order to
complete the Algebra I course. This course is sometimes taught
simultaneously with Mat-009 as a combination course. Algebra I (Part B) - Mat-013 B - 4 contact hours* This course covers the second half of the Mat-013
course. Students who successfully complete both Mat-013A and Mat-013B
have fulfilled the course requirements for Mat-013. Algebra II Designed to polish skills developed in Algebra I and
elevate them to a higher level of mathematical sophistication through the use
of lecture, group work and the calculator.
Topics include a review of elementary algebra, the coordinate plane
and graphs of functions, functional notation, linear equations and
inequalities, properties of lines, systems of linear equations, polynomials,
rational exponents, radical expressions, radical equations, quadratic
equations, rational expressions, rational equations and complex fractions. The use of graphing calculator is essential. Algebra II (Part A)- Mat-014 A - 4 contact
hours * This course covers the first half of the Mat-014
course. Students who successfully complete this course must take
Mat-014 B to fulfill the course requirements for Algebra II. Algebra II (Part B) - Mat-014B - 4 contact hours* This course covers the second half of the Mat-014
course. Students who successfully complete both Mat-014A and Mat-014B
have fulfilled the course requirements for Mat-014. * TWO-SEMESTER
DEVELOPMENTAL MATHEMATICS Many students take a one-semester version of the
developmental course they need.
However, students who would benefit from a slower-paced Basic
Mathematics or Algebra course may take the course over two semesters instead
of one. The first half of any
developmental course is the ‘A’ version and the second half is the ‘B’
version. For example, Mat-010A is the
first half of the Mat-10 course given in one semester and Mat-010B is the
second half of the Mat-010 course taken in the following semester. Mat-013A
is the first half of the Mat-013 course given in one semester and Mat-013B is
the second half of the Mat-013 course given in one semester. Students who
successfully complete the first half of a developmental course must
successfully complete the second half of the developmental course to meet the
full course requirement. **
COMBINATION COURSES For students who can handle a faster paced Basic
Mathematics, there are combination courses available which combine a one
contact hour basic mathematics course (called Mat-009 or Basic Mathematics
Alternate) with an algebra course in one semester. The algebra course that is combined is
either Mat-013, the full version of Algebra I or Mat-013A, the first half of
Algebra I. Either of the algebra
courses is four contact hours. The
student will be signing up for either Mat-009 for one contact hour and
Mat-013 for four contact hours for a total of five contact hours, or for
Mat-009 for one contact hour and Mat-013A for four contact hours, also for a
total of five contact hours. The
student signs up for two separate courses.
Students who take the Mat-009/013A course must take the Mat-013B
course in the following semester to complete the Algebra I course. Most of the work that is done for the Mat-009 course
is done in the Developmental Mathematics Lab/Tutoring Center in MH 142 on
their own time (15 hours of time is required, including a diagnostic and a
final exam). The algebra part of the
course is worked on during specified class sessions. Students’ scores on the Computation and Algebra
sections of the Accuplacer Test determine if students are eligible for a combination
course and which combination course would be most appropriate.
A more detailed description of the combination
course is provided later in this section of the manual. HOW ARE
STUDENTS PLACED INTO THE DEVELOPMENTAL COURSES? All students, except those who are exempt, (as
indicated under College Placement Testing in the College portion of the
manual) are required to take the Accuplacer
Placement exam before beginning their mathematics courses at MCC. Depending on the scores, students might be
placed in Mat-010, Mat-013, a combination of the two, Mat-014 (depending on the
curriculum they are taking) or no developmental course at all. The
Mathematics Portion of the Accuplacer Placement Test The Accuplacer Test is an
adaptive computerized test. Depending
if a student answers a question correctly or incorrectly, he or she is either
given a problem that is at the same level of difficulty, a lower level of
difficulty or a higher level of difficulty.
As the student works on the exam, the test adapts to the skill level
of each student. This process results in the test being customized for each
student. The final score is neither a
raw score nor a percent correct. The
score is indicative of how many questions would have been answered correctly
if the entire pool of questions had been administered. The Accuplacer Test is comprised of a Computation section, an
Algebra section and a College Mathematics section. Students take two out of three of these
sections, depending on the results of the first section they take. The Accuplacer Test starts
all students at the Algebra portion of the test. If the student reaches the cut-off score in
the Algebra portion, he or she will be administered the College Mathematics
portion of the exam. If the students does
not reach the cut-off score in the Algebra portion, he or she will be administered
the Computation portion of the exam. A
combination of the Algebra and Computation results or the Algebra and College
Mathematics results determine the best mathematics placement for each
student. Students will receive a letter from the Testing Department to inform them
of their test results. Preparing
for the Accuplacer Placement Test On occasion, workshops are given by the If you are interested in knowing the cut-off scores
that are used to place students into the developmental courses, read the
following information. If you would
like to skip this section, go to the section entitled” Challenge Placement
into Developmental Mathematics Courses” Cut-off
Scores for Placement into Developmental Courses The
following table indicates the Accuplacer cut-off
scores that are used to place students into the Basic Mathematics, Algebra I
or Combination Basic Mathematics/Algebra courses. PLACEMENT
BY ACCUPLACER TEST The following placement chart is for students who
have taken the algebra and computation sections of the Accuplacer
Test. (The only students who take both the Algebra and Computation sections
are those who did not reach the Algebra Test cut-off score of 68 and were
then given the Computation section of the test). ALGEBRA
The
following placement chart is for students who have taken the Algebra section
and the College Mathematics section of the Accuplacer
Test.
PLACEMENT
BY SAT SCORE If a
student has taken the SAT, the following indicates mathematics placement or
further testing: 500 -549
on the Mathematics Section of the SAT This student is exempt from the Accuplacer
Testing in Mathematics and he or she may take Mat-101, 104, 107 or Bus
115. If this student wants to take any other credit courses offered by
the Mathematics Department, he or she must first take an Algebra II (Mat-014)
diagnostic test to determine if the non-credit Algebra II course should be
taken before the desired credit courses. If
the student reaches the cut-off score on the Algebra II diagnostic test, he
or she may take Mat-123 or Mat-125. If the student reaches the cut-off
score on the Algebra II diagnostic test and wants to take Precalculus,
he or she should take the Precalculus diagnostic
test to determine if he or she should take the one or two-semester version of
Precalculus. 550 and
higher on the Mathematics Section of the SAT This student is exempt from the Accuplacer
Testing in Mathematics. This student
may take Mat-123 or Mat-125. If the student wants to take Precalculus,
he or she will take the Precalculus diagnostic
test. Depending on the score, he or
she will be advised to take the one or two-semester version of Precalculus. In some instances, students score so low
on the Precalculus diagnostic, they are advised to
take Mat-014 before taking Precalculus* NOTE:
Students are often in a rush to begin the precalculus Placement of students into a two-semester Basic
Mathematics or Algebra sequence. There are some students
who know that they need a slower pace mathematics course and sign up for the
first of the two-semester course on their own. Some Project Connections students are
advised to take the two-semester version by their Project Connections
advisor. There are some students who will be in your one-semester
developmental mathematics section who would be better off in the two-semester
version. Students who are in the
one-semester have three weeks from
the first day of class to transfer into the ‘A’ version of the course. They should realize that they will be
taking the ‘B’ version during the next session. During the first day
introduction, the instructor should mention the existence of the two-semester
course and encourage any students who feel overwhelmed with the material
during the first few weeks to go to Center II to fill out the paperwork. It
is a good idea to give some assessments early during the first few weeks of
the semester to help you identify students who might be more successful
taking the two-semester course. Challenging Placement into Developmental Mathematics
Courses Sometimes students have not performed their best on the Accuplacer Test. This could be due to illness, anxiety or just “having a bad day”. To give students a second opportunity to place out of developmental mathematics courses, they are allowed to take a Challenge Test after receiving the Accuplacer Test results and before the second week of classes. If you are approached by a
student after the first class meeting who insists that he or she does not
belong in your class because it is too easy, you may suggest that he or she
go to the Students can prepare for
the Challenge Test by going to Center II and asking for review booklets for
the course they are trying to challenge. They may also be given the packet
entitled “Review for the Accuplacer and Challenge
Tests” that will help them to review the basic mathematics skills. Some
students go to the library and look through developmental texts that are in
the reference section to help them review.
Students who want to use software to help study for the Challenge Test
might drop into the Developmental Mathematics Lab/Tutoring Center and ask for
assistance on accessing one of the many software programs available. .
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