The following considerations may be useful in preparing your students to begin to use ALEKS.

Difficulty of Assessment Questions

The ALEKS Initial Assessment (Knowledge Check) is always comprehensive, in order to achieve the highest accuracy and reliability. In the course of the assessment, some questions may be too easy or too difficult for some students. The students should be told to click the I don't know button only if a question is completely unfamiliar to them; otherwise they should do their best to answer. As the assessment proceeds, the questions will focus more and more closely on the outer limits of the student's actual knowledge. In Learning Mode (following the assessment), students will be provided only material that they are prepared to learn.

Length of Assessments

The number of questions asked in an ALEKS assessment varies. Normally, an assessment in Business Math requires between 20 and 30 questions.

No Help in Assessments

Explain to the students that they will need paper and pencil for answering assessment questions, but that no help or collaboration whatsoever is permitted during assessment. If the teacher or anyone else helps the student during assessment, even just explaining or rephrasing a question, assessment results may be inaccurate and the student's learning in ALEKS may initially be hindered. Be sure students understand that the purpose of the Initial Assessment is to gain a precise, detailed understanding of what they know, so that in Learning Mode they are given material they are ready to learn. It is not a "test" to pass or fail, and they will not receive a grade on an ALEKS assessment (unless the instructor chooses to use assessments for grading).