K-12 How do I renew my students' accounts at the beginning of a new year, or when their accounts expire?
Why does it say there are no subscriptions available to register my students? I know we have the subscriptions in our account.

Independent Use How can my child review topics she has worked on?
How much can I help my child in ALEKS?

General How do I access ALEKS?
Why do I need to take a tutorial to use ALEKS?
What is an ALEKS assessment?
Why does ALEKS periodically give me new assessments?
In a new assessment, why must I review a topic I have already mastered?
What is the ALEKS Learning Mode?
Why doesn't ALEKS always allow me to study whatever topic I want to?
What is "MyPie" and how do I add topics to it?
Why is "MyPie" empty after a new assessment?
When I click on a slice of my pie chart, why does ALEKS tell me "No Topics available'?
How does the new ALEKS State standards reporting work for classes?
What is the function of assessments in ALEKS?
Why does ALEKS use personal student subscriptions?
How do I register with ALEKS? How do I use my ALEKS Course Code to register in a particular class?

How do I renew my students' accounts at the beginning of a new year, or when their accounts expire?

Student accounts in ALEKS are supposed to expire at the end of their subscription period, which varies according to the type of subscriptions purchased by your school. Let's say you have a student in your class whose account is going to expire. If you prefer for the student to have a new account that does not contain records of their previous work, you can simply give the student the 10-character Class Code for your class, have them go to the ALEKS website and click "SIGN UP NOW" in the upper left-hand corner to begin the normal registration process. This will produce a new account for the student, containing no information or records of their previous ALEKS work ("starting from scratch").

If, on the other hand, you wish the student to renew the existing account and continue using it, the student should do the following:

1. Continue using the account until it actually expires and cannot be accessed;
2. Attempt to log on to the account and come to the expiration message;
3. Click the button on the **left-hand** part of the window to renew the account;
4. Enter the 10-character Class Code when prompted;
5. Continue following the instructions to renew the account.

Please note that renewing the account **will** consume a new subscription. There should be subscriptions available, of the right type for this class, for any students who are renewing their accounts.

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Why does it say there are no subscriptions available to register my students? I know we have the subscriptions in our account.

It is important to understand that any class in ALEKS is set up to use one particular type (length) of subscription, which may be 3 months, 5 months , 7 months, 9 months, or 12 months. The class will allow registration **only** if there are subscriptions available of the type it is set up to use. If there are none available of that type, you get the "no subscriptions available" message. You can always change the subscription type of the class, however, to use the subscriptions that you do have available. First, check with your school's ALEKS administrator to find out what type of subscriptions you have. Then, log on to your Teacher account in ALEKS, click the link for the class, and then click on the link for "Customize this class." On the page that follows, click "Class name or topic taught." The bottom menu on the next page is for subscription type. Select the correct type from the menu, then click "Save." The students should now be able to register.

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How can my child review topics she has worked on?

There are three ways that review is provided in ALEKS. First, your child is automatically reassessed by ALEKS at regular intervals, according to the progress she makes. Automatic assessments occur whenever your child has added 20 new items to her pie, or if she spends 10 hours in ALEKS without an assessment. Automatic assessments check her retention of topics she has worked on; if review is needed for any of these topics, she will have to redo the topics following the assessment. Also, every time your child logs on to ALEKS for the first time in a given day, she will be offered topics for review. She should do this review before picking something new from her pie chart. Finally, she can click the "Review" button in her account at any time to review material from her past sessions.

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How much can I help my child in ALEKS?

It is a great temptation to assist your child when he is working in ALEKS, especially at younger ages. It is always fine to help them with using the computer or with using ALEKS system tools. Also, it is OK to assist your child with math questions if he runs into difficulty in the Learning Mode. You should be careful that the child is doing most of the work himself, however, and only help with points that he really doesn't understand. You should **never** assist your child during an ALEKS assessment. Even the slightest help in assessment could make the assessment results inaccurate, reducing the effectiveness of ALEKS in guiding his learning progress. The role of the parent during assessment is to make sure that the child does not receive help, has pencil and paper, and does his best on all the assessment questions. The button for "I haven't learned this yet" should only be used on topics that really are unfamiliar, or that your child has forgotten!

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How do I access ALEKS?

You can access ALEKS on the Internet from virtually any computer. All of your data is kept on ALEKS Corporation's servers, so you don't need to use any disks or CDs. All you need is a self-installing, self-maintaining "plug-in" that you automatically download, at no cost, directly from the ALEKS Web site.

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Why do I need to take a tutorial to use ALEKS?

The ALEKS tutorial is a brief, interactive training program that teaches you to use some of the basic ALEKS answer input tools, known collectively as the "Answer Editor." Although the Answer Editor is easy to use, the Tutorial will make sure you are proficient with it before using ALEKS.

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What is an ALEKS assessment?

The purpose of an ALEKS assessment is to determine your current Knowledge State in a particular subject. When you take an assessment, ALEKS will ask you between 15 and 35 questions. During the assessment, you will not be told whether your answers are correct or incorrect. If you don't know how to answer a question, do not guess. Instead, click on the "I Don't Know" (or "I haven't learned this yet") button, which appears below each question.

You will always be assessed when you first register with ALEKS. You will also be automatically assessed at regular intervals during your use of ALEKS, and you will also be assessed if your teacher or instructor schedules you for an assessment.

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Why does ALEKS periodically give me new assessments?

ALEKS periodically reassesses you to confirm your retention of the topics you have studied in your ALEKS course. These periodic assessments are called "automatic" assessments and are given based on your rate of progress in ALEKS and on the amount of time you have spent working in ALEKS.

The results of such an assessment may indicate the need for you to further review topics previously deemed "mastered." These topics and perhaps others that depend upon them are then returned to the ALEKS pie slices and made available for learning again. The ALEKS assessment mechanism ensures that you make maximum progress in learning and retaining the subject matter in your ALEKS course.

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In a new assessment, why must I review a topic I have already mastered?

If you demonstrate mastery of a particular topic in an assessment, ALEKS may expect you to demonstrate continued mastery of that topic in subsequent assessments.  If you seem to need review, ALEKS will subtract that topic (and possibly other topics that depend upon it) from your pie, making them available again for selection in Learning Mode.

For this reason, you should always try to do your best on every assessment. Only answer "I Don't Know" (or "I haven't learned this yet") to problems you truly do not know how to do. If you believe you know how to work through a problem, you should try to answer it.

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What is the ALEKS Learning Mode?

In the Learning Mode, you are able to practice and eventually master specific skills in a subject. If you successfully solve a series of problems of the same type, ALEKS will add this problem type, or "topic," to your pie.

If you experience difficulty with a topic, ALEKS will attempt to help you in several ways. You will receive examples of how to solve problems from that topic in ALEKS "Explain" pages; you are also provided with definitions of terms, a comprehensive mathematics dictionary, a "Help" option and immediate feedback on your answers.

If you are not able to master a topic after repeated attempts, ALEKS will direct you back to your pie, where you can choose a different topic to work on. If you wish to change topics, you can click on the "MyPie" icon at the top of your ALEKS screen and choose another topic.

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Why doesn't ALEKS always allow me to study whatever topic I want to?

ALEKS guides you through the specific curriculum your instructor has chosen. After ALEKS assesses your current Knowledge State and your goal, it will determine which topics you are ready to learn next. Other topics may not be available to you yet because ALEKS has determined that you're not yet ready to learn them. ALEKS tries to ensure that you are only learning the topics for which you have demonstrated readiness.

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What is "MyPie" and how do I add topics to it?

Your pie illustrates your current level of knowledge in a subject. If you roll your mouse over a "slice" of your pie, you can choose from a list of topics shown in a pop-up window that appears next to the pie slice. Not every slice is available at a given time. As you progress through the material, you will be able to access new topics until you have mastered all of them.

You fill in your pie and achieve mastery in the subject matter by working in the Learning Mode on concepts and skills that the assessment has determined you are most "ready to learn." The goal is to fill in the pie completely.

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Why is "MyPie" empty after a new assessment?

Most likely, you had a recent assessment and answered "I don't know" (or "I haven't learned this yet") to every question. You will need to ask your instructor, if you are enrolled directly into his/her class, to request a new assessment. If your instructor does not have access directly to your account, please ask your instructor to contact ALEKS Customer Support to request a new assessment for you. 

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When I click on a slice of my pie chart, why does ALEKS tell me "No Topics available'?

When you get this message, it means that the next topic(s) that you want to study from the slice have one or more prerequisite topics in other slices that you must complete first.

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How does the new ALEKS State standards reporting work for classes?

This is a powerful feature that will help you see the immediate effects of using ALEKS to propel students toward Math success.  To see the report, log on to your ALEKS Teacher account, click "Reporting," then the name of the class, and then, from the list of reporting options, click on the top option, "<state> standards report," where <state> is the name of your state.  (This option will not be available if your state standards have not yet been implemented for this ALEKS course.)

On the State standards reporting page, you will see a set of vertical bar graphs, one for each major strand of the state standards applied to this class.  They will be filled in to show the percentage of specific standards within that strand that have been satisfied by the students in the class.  Please note that you have three options affecting how these percentages are determined. 

First, you can choose whether "mastery" of a standard means progress through 50%, 60%, or 70% of the ALEKS items supporting that standard.*  This option is used by clicking on the underlined 50%, 60%, or 70% in the rubric directly under the vertical bar graph display. 

Second, you can pick how ALEKS looks at the students' progress.  The menu labeled "Display Mode" contains the choices "Initial Assessment," "Most Recent Assessment," and "Current Learning."  If you choose "Initial Assessment," ALEKS will display the students’ initial course mastery by using only the results of their first ALEKS assessment; if you choose "Most Recent Assessment," ALEKS will display the students’ most recent assessment, but not take into consideration work they have done in Learning Mode; if you choose "Current Learning," ALEKS will display the students’ current learning progress, including all assessments and progress made in Learning Mode.  The last option will usually show the highest level of mastery of the standards. 

Finally, using the "Select students" menu, you can narrow the selection of students in the class based on hours spent using ALEKS.  By selecting samples of your class based on the amount of time they have spent using ALEKS, you will be able to see clearly the effect that ALEKS use has had on students' Math knowledge.

Underneath the bar graph display is a detailed breakdown of the standards mastery by this class.  You can choose to see this breakdown either by standard (in other words, what percentage of your students have mastered each individual standard) or by student (what percentage of the standards has been mastered by each individual student).

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What is the function of assessments in ALEKS?

Assessments are central to the functioning of ALEKS. Students are initially assessed when they begin to use their accounts; this determines a starting point or baseline for their learning. ALEKS uses a powerful integration of assessment and learning; learning is individually guided on the basis of accurate, qualitative assessment results. Because all ALEKS courses contain review material, students will be able to review topics from their previous courses if the assessment shows this is necessary. Then, as students make progress in their course materials, there are periodic, automatic reassessments provided by ALEKS to check retention of new material and provide additional reinforcement as needed. Very often, after a reassessment, students will need to briefly work through topics they had done before, so that their grasp of these topics remains firm as a basis for further progress.

In the newest versions of ALEKS courses, the scope of assessments has been made more sensitive to the students' history, so that questions will tend to focus on material that is most relevant to the student's current progress. This enables us to keep the assessments even shorter and to integrate them more smoothly into the students' continued progress.

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Why does ALEKS use personal student subscriptions?

ALEKS is an individualized system for math learning. The individualized nature of ALEKS is not cosmetic; it is the principle around which ALEKS was designed, and the key to its unique effectiveness. Your students' accounts in ALEKS contains records of their assessments and learning progress, along with other kinds of information used to support their success. It does not make sense for any student to use a different student's account; it will not help them, and may produce frustration. Thus, when a student registers in ALEKS, the account is theirs and cannot be transferred. Even after a short period of time using ALEKS in a regular way, the student will receive great educational value deriving from the carefully individualized nature of the ALEKS environment.

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How do I register with ALEKS? How do I use my ALEKS Course Code to register in a particular class?

To register with ALEKS and obtain a student account, begin by clicking on the link marked "SIGN UP NOW" in the upper left-hand corner of the ALEKS home page. The next page will offer you a choice of registering for ALEKS use in a class or registering to use ALEKS independently. Please be sure that you choose the correct one.

Using ALEKS with a class. If you are using ALEKS as part of the course requirements for a class in any educational institution, or if you have a teacher or instructor who is involved in your use of ALEKS, you must use the LEFT-HAND option. To do this you must have a 10-character course code provided by your teacher, instructor, or institution. The 10-character course code places you in the correct class for your teacher, instructor or institution. If you do not have the 10-character course code, obtain it from your instructor first before proceeding to register with ALEKS.

Using ALEKS on your own. If you are using ALEKS independently, just to further your learning or to support your work in a class but without any involvement by the teacher or instructor, use the RIGHT-HAND option. To do this you must have credit card information to enter in the system. The account that you create in this way will be private, and cannot be moved or enrolled in any school, college, or university account, or viewed by any instructor.

After this point, you will be prompted for other information as part of the registration process. In some cases, you may need to wait for authorization by your instructor (class use only). When your registration is complete, you will be given your ALEKS Login Name and Password. Your Password can be changed now or at any later time, if you wish to do so. Please keep records of your ALEKS Login Name and Password, as you will need them to access your ALEKS account.

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