Courses in the College of Natural Sciences are demanding. To help you prepare for college-level chemistry courses at UT Austin, the College of Natural Sciences (CNS) and the Department of Chemistry require a readiness package. The package provides computer-based support as you review topics in preparation for Chemistry 301. Once your CH301 class starts, your instructor will assume you know all the material included in the ALEKS Chemistry Assessment.

ONCE YOU HAVE COMPLETED THE ALEKS ASSESSMENT, PRINT AND SAVE A SCREENSHOT SHOWING YOUR ALEKS PIE AND SCORE.  YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO ACCESS THIS IN FUTURE SEMESTERS.  IF YOU REQUEST THIS FROM THE CNS DEAN’S OFFICE THERE WILL BE A $10 CHARGE FOR A PRINT OUT.  MANY COMMUNITY COLLEGES AND OTHER INSTITUTIONS MAY REQUEST THIS FROM YOU FOR THEIR COURSES TAKEN AT A LATER DATE.

                                                                                                           
ALEKS CHEMISTRY

All students wishing to enroll in CH301 are required to take the Chemistry Warm-up before purchasing ALEKS Chemistry. You then must earn an 85% on ALEKS Chemistry by 11:59 pm January 18th, 2015 or you will be dropped from CH301.

If dropped, you may request to be added back to the course by the department after showing the Chemistry Undergraduate Office your qualifying ALEKS score. This must be done by 5 pm on February 4th, the twelfth class day. If you were not registered in CH301 before January 21st, and wish to add into the class, you will have until February 4th to make 85% on ALEKS. In either case, please attend the CH301 lectures while working on your ALEKS so you won’t be behind once you do get added to the class.

You have two choices for ALEKS Chemistry:

Go directly to the ALEKS assessment and pay a $25 fee. This will give you access to the assessment and learning modules to help you with any difficulties you may be having.

Utilize the College of Natural Sciences ALEKS/Quest assessment package and pay a $40 fee . This option includes the assessment and learning modules in ALEKS as well as Quest learning materials. We recommend this second option if you feel you are going to need extra help getting through this prerequisite chemistry material (e.g., you struggled in chemistry, or it has been a long time since you last took chemistry).

When you purchase ALEKS Chemistry, you are paying for a maximum of 6 weeks access to the learning modules of ALEKS, which you can use to study and improve your ALEKS score. Note that even if you have not used up your 6 weeks of ALEKS access, the February 4th date is final to reach the 85% required for CH301. If you chose the College of Natural Sciences package including access to the Quest learning materials, you will still have access to work through the learning modules in Quest to improve your areas of weakness, and then reassess in ALEKS (even if your 6 weeks access to the ALEKS learning modules have expired, and you have not yet achieved your required ALEKS score). Please do not repurchase the ALEKS package, as it will not grant further access to the learning modules. CNS will not issue refunds if you repurchase ALEKS.

If you have additional questions or concerns, please send an email to readiness@utlists.utexas.edu with your EID. 

GET STARTED

1. Take the Warm up

Review with a Chemistry warm-up (required)

2. Purchase the UT Chemistry Assessment Package

Follow this link to purchase the UT Chemistry Assessment Package using your EID and credit card. This package includes the ALEKS assessment, the ALEKS learning modules, and Quest learning materials for $40.

Follow this link to purchase the UT Chemistry ALEKS assessment, which includes the ALEKS assessment and the ALEKS learning modules.

3. Complete the ALEKS Chemistry Assessment

You may access the ALEKS Chemistry Assessment here.

  • Expect the assessment to take 1.5 to 2 hours to complete, so plan accordingly.
  • You must finish the initial assessment once you have started it.
  • Paper and pencil will be needed.
  • An online calculator and necessary tables of constants, conversions, etc., are provided by ALEKS. We highly recommend that you use these, and do not use your own.
  • You may not use books, other materials, the Internet, or consult with anyone during the assessment.
  • After you have finished the initial assessment, you will then be able to access the ALEKS learning modules to improve your score if you have not yet made 85%.
4. Improve your score

Utilize ALEKS Chemistry Learning Modules to improve your ALEKS score and Quest learning modules (if you purchased the College of Natural Sciences package) to increase your knowledge of Chemistry topics considered to be UT prerequisite course material.