Incoming classes won’t take a math placement test

Photo+credit%3A+Rose+Wagner

Photo credit: Rose Wagner

Jc Canicosa

Loyola’s mathematics department has discontinued using the Assessment and Learning in Knowledge Spaces test to determine whether students test out of their Math T-122 credit requirement.

Before last summer, if incoming students did not score above a certain level on their ACT or SAT, then they could take an online math test to get out of the required math credit in the Loyola core curriculum. But now, starting with this year’s freshman class, incoming students will not have that option.

“Well we just found out that ALEKS was not very good at placing students. Sometimes, students would get very good scores on ALEKS, but not do very well on the more advanced math courses,” said Ralph Tucci, a professor in the mathematics department.

Tucci speculated that the reason for that might be that the ALEKS test itself might be flawed or that students might have been cheating on the online math test.

There are no plans for a replacement entry math test for incoming students in the future.