As a student at Lake-Sumter State college, I often used online math labs, such as Pearson’s MyLab and Mastering, to do homework and submit quizzes. I found the program extremely beneficial, especially during my statistics course. Students need to be aware of the advantages of MyLabs and Mastering so they’ll will be more prepared to make the most of the resources included. Here are the four tools I found to be the most helpful.

Help with Homework

The prerequisite section within MyLab Math helped me master the skills I needed to get started on my homework. This section was usually available before the actual course content was. When I took Liberal Arts math, I used this section frequently. It had been a year since the last time I had taken a math course and I felt I had lost some skills. Math is a process that requires you to master one section before moving on to the next. During this course, I went through multiple sections of the prerequisite section to review and hone in on the skills I thought I had forgotten. As someone who has struggled with math, this section was invaluable as I went through not only Liberal Arts Math, but also Statistics.

Communicate with Instructors

During my Introduction to Statistics course, perhaps one of the best tools I found through MyLab Math was the Email Your Teacher tool. It was a life-saver for the problems where I became stuck while preparing for an upcoming test. My professor was so prompt about replying to our questions via email. Due to the fact that all our homework was turned in through MyLab Math, she knew each problem we covered and whether any related problems caused other students to struggle. Likewise, when I took a developmental math course, this tool was a great asset for me. As a first-year student, taking a developmental class was embarrassing, but it certainly paid off when I earned an A in the course. I often emailed my professor about questions to make sure I worked problems correctly.

Learn through Examples

I also often used the “Example” tool when I was in my first math course of college. The tool was tricky to use at first. I realized that if you chose to use the example tool you forfeited your chance at trying the problem on your own and the points associated with that. Sometimes I had trouble understanding the examples themselves because they were explained in a more complicated manner. The great thing was that students in my course took the initiative to bring their laptops into class to show our professor problems they were stuck on and we would review them before class.

Review for Tests

One last benefit I found from the MyLab Math was using it as a review for my upcoming tests. For one of my math courses, the professor created a section just for reviewing problem sets. When I started studying for a test, I used this section along with reviewing previous homework assignments by redoing the problems. A unique factor in this program was that it included multiple options for a problem. That is, if I wanted to do a similar problem, I could just reset the problem and go through the different options for that problem. Like my professors stated, practice is key! This review was just what I needed to prepare for my exams because most questions were like our homework assignments.

I highly encourage any student to consider using MyLab Math for their upcoming math classes. This helpful study tool saved my math grade. Whether it be an intro level or an upper level statistics course, the benefits of this product are endless.