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Work in Progress – Helping First Year Students Start on Track in the Mathematics Sequence

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Conference

2017 FYEE Conference

Location

Daytona Beach, Florida

Publication Date

August 6, 2017

Start Date

August 6, 2017

End Date

August 8, 2017

Conference Session

WIP: Student Success & Development - Focus on Mentoring

Tagged Topic

FYEE Conference - Works in Progress Submission

Page Count

5

DOI

10.18260/1-2--29446

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/29446

Download Count

292

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Paper Authors

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Ashish D Borgaonkar New Jersey Institute of Technology

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Jaskirat Sodhi New Jersey Institute of Technology

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Ryan Baldwin

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Abstract

Work in Progress – Helping First Year Students Start on Track in the Mathematics Sequence

Abstract – Most incoming freshman take the Mathematics Placement Test before joining New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT). Outcome of this test determines the level of mathematics (calculus I or a remedial pre-calculus course) they begin with in their first semester. For students in Newark College of Engineering (NCE) at NJIT, by design, the mathematics placement drives the remainder of their courses as well. This means that poor performance on the Mathematics Placement Test easily adds 1-2 semesters to students' overall graduation time. This also has a strong impact on the retention and graduation rates within NCE. Clearly, if more students perform better on the Placement Test, the better the retention and graduation rates will be. This work-in-progress paper takes a look at various reasons due to which students do not do well on the Placement Test. For each of these reasons identified, NJIT has implemented various initiatives to help students start on track in their first semester. Some of these initiatives include- 1) developing sample placement tests for students to practice under the same environment as the original test, 2) making a placement calculator for students to input the scores from the practice placement tests to determine their likely mathematics placement, 3) establishing a strong outreach to educate students about the impact of their mathematics placement on their engineering curriculum and motivating them to do better on the Placement Test, and 4) Engineering Mathematics Summer Boot Camp. Authors would like to present data about these projects and initiatives and would like to get input and feedback on how these can be polished to perform better going forward.

Borgaonkar, A. D., & Sodhi, J., & Baldwin, R. (2017, August), Work in Progress – Helping First Year Students Start on Track in the Mathematics Sequence Paper presented at 2017 FYEE Conference, Daytona Beach, Florida. 10.18260/1-2--29446

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