Alex K.

Undergrad Chem student here. ALEKS could be great, but there are several things that make it miserable:

1. If your answer isn't EXACTLY correct with the correct amount of significant digits, you're marked wrong. Some of the problems require 10+ different steps to go through - imagine spending 15 minutes working through a massive problem, and then being marked wrong for putting down 16.6 instead of 17.

2. You need to get 2-3 questions correct in a row to complete a topic. If you are one question away from completion and get the next question wrong, you are moved backwards and now have to get 2 in a row correct. If you miss the next one, you are now back to square one and need 3 in a row. What this means is that it is very, very possible for you to be stuck in an endless loop of getting a correct answer, and then getting a wrong answer and being pushed backwards. Which is made even worse by my 3rd point...

3. Most of the time, the "explanations" ALEKS gives are incredibly confusing and complicated. If you can't find someone on youtube who explains a particular topic, you're gonna have a bad time.

Finally, let's imagine a scenario involving everything listed above. You're trapped in an endless cycle of spending HOURS performing calculations, getting a question right, then getting the next one wrong, etc. You spend 20 minutes trying to barely understand the explanation... finally, when you're absolutely exhausted working the same types of incredibly tedious problems, you have one left... you spend another 15 minutes calculating everything, you press "check" and... NOPE. You put down 173.84 instead of 173.8. You're stuck in the cycle.

This leaves people discouraged, unmotivated, and exhausted, while learning very little. It needs to be less punishing, more motivating, and less confusing in its explanations. Without these changes, it will continue to be a painful, disheartening experience for students.