Prior coursework and high ACT scores will no longer suffice for placement in Math 1550 or 1551.
Beginning fall 2012, the sole prerequisite for calculus placement will be an appropriate score on the Assessment and Learning in Knowledge Spaces test.
The ALEKS test challenges students in numeric manipulation, algebra, geometry and trigonometry.
Students who score at least 70 percent on the ALEKS will be placed in Math 1500 (Analytic Geometry and Calculus I), and students who score at least 75 percent will be placed in Math 1551 (Honors: Analytic Geometry and Calculus II).
Mathematics Department Chair Robert Perlis said in an e-mail that math faculty have known for years that even students with high scores from the ACT or high school often lose their basic algebra and trigonometry skills by the time they take freshmen calculus.
Perlis said the placement test is adaptive, meaning later questions are determined by a student’s response to
earlier questions.
ALEKS also comes with learning modules, so if students need to raise their initial score, they are given material to study.
Perlis urges students to give themselves sufficient time to earn the requisite score if they don’t score 70 percent or above on the initial assessment.
The ALEKS test suggests that students should expect to spend two to three hours with the modules in order to raise their score one percentage point.
He said a student getting 65 percent on their initial assessment should expect to spend 10 to 15 hours with the modules to raise their score to a 70 percent.
According to the ALEKS website, a score must be “fresh,” meaning it cannot be more than six months old on the first day of class in Math 1550 or 1551.
Students can navigate the ALEKS Calculus Placement Test through their myLSU accounts under the Student Services tab.
The fee for the test is $25, which covers the initial assessment and learning modules for a six-week period.
 
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Contact Jacy Baggett at [email protected]