Personal Narrative: College Algebra

College algebra is fast paced! The work is hard but rewarding up to this point. I’ve found success in studying but realize that I need to keep up with the pace of the class more and by being creative in how I reach my goals. The more I learn, the more I find examples of in society and the world around me. Math 105, is pretty much what I expected in the beginning. I thought that at about midterms I’d be challenged and have some struggles to get through the rest of the class. This is exactly what happened, but I came with a positive attitude and believe I will learn what is necessary to make this a successful course in my education. The most useful success strategy I implemented in week 1 of the college algebra course is to stay determined. I get confused and sometimes I even give up and must come back and work harder to understand a concept, such as figuring out the vertex of a parabola. Just a few weeks ago, somebody saying parabola would

I still need some practice, but I love how simple it makes figuring out an answer. The most difficult concept for me is sketching an ellipse. I think it is just overwhelming because there are so many ways to make a mistake and it is something that is new to me. I see math, specifically algebra in many ways now. Mostly, at the grocery store. I will visualize simple equations in my mind now, instead of addition, for practice. I also ask people about math in the careers they have and how much they use algebra daily. I think I have more of an educated view on society and math because of this class and the discussion posts from the other students in the class. I believe that college algebra will be something I look back at and say that it started the path to my knowledge in advanced mathematics. This class will pave the road to my career and gave me the beginnings of a type of determination that will take me to my goal of being a college