The purpose of the Learning Mode is to assist students in mastering business math concepts. Students using ALEKS choose which concepts they wish to work on from the pool of available topics in the pie slices. This list of available topics is constantly being updated through progress made by the student in Learning Mode or as the result of an assessment. As students are only presented with material the system has determined they are most ready to learn, the benefit of their work is maximized.

In the Learning Mode students always work on one concept at a time. The Learning Mode provides students with a rich array of resources to help in mastering concepts. This includes explanations, references to a textbook if one has been integrated with ALEKS, links to supplemental tutorial material and interactive applications, practice problems, diagnostic feedback on problem solutions, and access to a student dictionary. Moreover, the Learning Mode is designed to monitor the progress made by students toward mastery of a given concept and advise them on continuing or changing concepts. A student is required to solve an appropriate number of practice problems correctly before the system will conclude that the concept has been mastered. (If the student makes mistakes, additional practice will be required.) Once the concept has been mastered, the student is encouraged to choose a new concept from the (updated) pie chart, but more practice is available if desired.

If the student has difficulty, the system may suggest that the student pay closer attention to the explanations. A new selection may also be encouraged. The student continues to work in the Learning Mode until a new assessment is triggered, either by the instructor or automatically. Automatic assessments are triggered when the student has either spent a certain amount of time in ALEKS or made a certain amount of progress since the last assessment (Sec. 4.3.2).