The University at Buffalo requires an ALEKS PPL Assessment to determine readiness of stidents wishing to enroll in our first semester calculus courses, including MTH 121, 131, 141.
Students with a grade of C or better in ULC 148, or in a calculus course, are exempt from the ALEKS requirement.
AVAILABILITY: The ALEKS placement test is available now.
Log-in (here) to access the ALEKS assessment (UBIT username and password required).
At the end of the ALEKS PPL Assessment, you will have a much better sense of your strengths and weaknesses in math, and you will have an opportunity to brush up on topics you may have forgotten or not practiced for some time, but that you must know in order to be ready for calculus. The minimum score required is 61 for MTH 121 and 131, or 76 for MTH 141.
Use of ALEKS is paid for by a mathematics placement fee assessed to all students who take ALEKS. ALEKS is not required for Winter or Summer sessions.
Students log into ALEKS using their UBIT name and password. Each student who completes the assessment will be billed the $33 Mathematics Placement Fee. The fee covers up to five attempts over a one year period, and six months use of the learning modules. Students who require more than the five assessments, or who take another assessment more than a year later, will be billed again.
Please refer to the pdf (below) regarding frequently asked questions about the 'Mathematics Placement Fee', Also see ALEKS FAQ's section at the end of this page.
The ALEKS PPL Assessment is web based – you complete it on your own computer, and at a time convenient for you. The assessment consists of about 30 questions. The average completion time is 90-minutes, but you can take up to 2.5 hours if you need to.
You must achieve a score of 76 (out of 100) or better to demonstrate your readiness for MTH 141, or 61/100 for MTH 121 and 131. If you don’t reach this score when you take the assessment for the first time you will be have two more attempts at the Assessment to allow you to improve your score.
Beside the assessment, ALEKS has built-in Prep and Learning Modules that you can use to refresh your knowledge on forgotten topics. After you take the assessment for the first time, ALEKS will suggest which modules you should work on to improve your score. We encourage you to spend time in the Prep and Learning Modules, even if you achieve the desired assessment score, because time spent in ALEKS will ultimately lead to better preparation and improved grades.
Integrity
It is important that you take the Placement Assessment seriously and give it an honest effort so that it truly reflects your current level of knowledge and math preparedness. There is no benefit to cheating on the Placement Assessment – the only result will be that you enroll in a class that you are not prepared for and set yourself up for a likely failure. Therefore, while taking the Placement Assessment, you must work on your own, without consulting any outside sources for help (friends/family, internet searches, textbooks, notes, etc.). UB's academic integrity policy applies to the ALEKS Assessment. To ensure the integrity of the assessment, as of 7/25/19, you will use a "locked-down" browser (instructions on how to download it will be supplied when you log in), and you'll be monitored while you take the assessment via your webcam. You will be asked to verify your identity into the webcam by presenting a valid ID. You must stay in view of the webcam for the duration of the assessment, and your score will be invalidated if you access any unauthorized resource (calculator, technology, books, notes, another person). To preserve your privacy, please make sure there's nothing in the field of view of your webcam that you don't want video-recorded.
See the step-by-step guide to using ALEKS with Respondus Monitor.
What to do after achieving a passing score: Nothing! You do NOT need to notify anyone: HUB downloads scores directly from ALEKS once each day (in the middle of the night). Once HUB has been updated, you will be able to register in the Calc I course you have qualified for.
Students who do not have access to a computer and/or webcam compatible with Respondus Monitor should contact the Math. Dept. Assoc. Chair (ringland@buffalo.edu) to make alternative arrangements.
During the asssessment: If your web browser gets stuck, or your computer crashes, while taking the Placement Assessment, simply close the browser, or log out and log back in. ALEKS will resume the Placement Assessment exactly where you left off, with no loss of your previous answers.
For ALEKS technical support see: ALEKS PPL Technical support and system requirements.
For UB Math Advising Support contact Prof. John Ringland, ALEKS PPL Coordinator, ringland@math.buffalo.edu.