Appropriate placement into a first college mathematics course is extremely important to ensure student success in future mathematics courses. Success in any mathematics course requires appropriate prerequisite knowledge and students are much more likely to succeed when they are enrolled in the correct mathematics course. Determination of a student’s first mathematics course will happen in one of two ways depending on the student’s major requirements. Students are required to take a mathematics assessment for placement if their major requires one or more of the following mathematics courses: Math 125: Precalculus, Math131: Discrete Mathematics or Math 225: Calculus I. For all other required freshman-level mathematics courses, the first mathematics course is determined according to the student’s high school transcript or SAT/ACT math scores.

Students required to take the assessment can find further details and instructions at www.sru.edu/mathplacement. The assessment called ALEKS is free, available online and takes one to two hours to complete. The assessment can be taken multiple times and, upon completion, personalized learning modules will provide the opportunity to improve your score in subsequent attempts. At least one attempt of the assessment must be finished prior to orientation so that a complete course schedule can be created. The above mathematics courses require completion of the assessment prior to registration.

Note: In some cases, students may be placed into the prerequisite course ESAP 110: Beginning Algebra or Math 120: Intermediate Algebra, prior to taking additional required mathematics courses. Neither of these classes fulfill any Rock Studies requirements, and all students are encouraged to place out of these courses through use of the ALEKS assessment. In this way, students can satisfy the Beginning Algebra requirement through use of the ALEKS assessment as an alternative to taking ESAP 110.