Penn State won’t require first-year summer or fall 2021 students to take the ALEKS Math Assessment if they completed a calculus course in high school, the university announced Monday.

These changes come at the recommendation of a 17-member task force that assessed the effectiveness of the test amid concerns that students may have been receiving help on the assessment.

The ALEKS Math Assessment is traditionally used as a benchmark for academic advisors to properly place students into certain math, statistics, and chemistry courses.

Students who have not taken calculus in high school are still required to take the assessment before arriving at New Student Orientation (NSO) or they will not be able to schedule math or science courses. Previously, all incoming first-year students were required to take the assessment before being able to register for NSO programs.

According to Penn State, this is the first of several future changes to the ALEKS testing process that are designed to reduce reliance on the assessment and improve student results in math, statistics, and chemistry courses.

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Anna Wiggins

Anna is a senior (ew) public relations major from Alexandria, Virginia, and is Onward State's social media manager. Anna spends her days contemplating what emoji to use in a tweet and dreaming of Doggie's Pub's hot dogs, in that order. Share your song recommendations with her on Twitter @annaewiggins and send your best gossip to her email, [email protected].

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