COMPASS Exam - Bob Miller's Math Prep 1st Edition

This book definitely served its purpose along with other online references, helping me place me into Calculus 1. I scored 99 on algebra, 86 on College Algebra, and 96 on Trig. I never went beyond geometry in high school, and that was 10 years ago. Some questions in the book were actually more difficult than the real exam in my opinion, leaving me frustrated more than once.This "pitfall" actually drove me to different sources to wholly learn the material versus just cramming specifically for the exam. The book moves way too fast to give the material time to sink in if you're not already intimately familiar with it. Although Bob does a decent job developing the framework, there's no real substitute for practice. There's no "magic shortcut" to learning math. Do not give up on solving a problem and just flip to the answers. This will only handicap you later. It will take time, but try to "understand" the innards of the problem.Realistically, I studied for right around 6 months for the COMPASS. To instill four years of math into half a year's timeframe is good enough for me. I recommend this book while studying away from the internet. At home, I'd just search for "COMPASS math practice exams" and do at least two a week. I also made it a point to leave the calculator out of reach unless it was actually needed.In prepping, utilized:-This Book-Khanacademy-Analyzemath Practice Tests-WATAMU Math Lab-Georgia Highlands College COMPASS Math Prep and-Santa Monica College COMPASS Math PrepOn the actual exam, I didn't encounter 50% of what I had learned, and there were a couple college algebra questions that I had to throw in an educated guess having not seen that material in any shape or form before. I think they were dealing with oddball translations or reflections or something of the sorts. There were more word problems with multiple variables than I expected, but they were easy enough to figure out by giving them arbitrary values like 1, 2, & 3 for x, y, & z, respectively. College algebra never seemed to end.If you're not proficient at factoring polynomials, you'd best get that process in your head, because the COMPASS loves to give problems to factor out.If you can use a personal scientific calculator on the exam, although I couldn't, I recommend the Casio FX-115 ES or ES-plus. They're ACT legal and would save a lot of time when double checking a solution. Look them up, they are very powerful for a scientific calculator once you get past the initial learning curve. Casio Scientific Calculator FX-115ES PLUS I was surprised to not see matricies or logarithms. YMMV, however. The trig was easy for the most part until the final bit involving multiple functions. Think f(g(h(x))), but with trig functions. Just remember your measurements for special angles and you're golden. The trig identities were also put onscreen when they were applicable to a question, so it wasn't really necessary to memorize them. Do memorize sin, cos, tan, sec, csc, and cot functions however, as I ran into every single one of them at one time or another. The COMPASS listed only one angle measurement for trig in degrees, so remember how to convert them.That's about it, but if I think of more or anyone has questions, I'll add to this and/or respond.

I am a freshman in college who just got out of high school this summer. I took Pre-Calculus when I was a senior. After the whole crazy and funny summer, I was still confidence about my math skill, went and took my first Compass test, failed on my Algebra part. I was mad at myself, and went to the library got this book. This book covered the possible types of questions which gonna show up in Compass, however, some of them didn't. And some formulas are not listed or explained in this book, so you'd better have a handbook with you.Overall, it's a good book for practicing. If you have any confuse, it's always better to find a tutor. After finished this book, I got 99 on Pre Algebra, 92 on Algebra, 88 on College Algebra, 88 on Trigonometry and go straight to Calculus I, which is required by my program.

I came to the U.S last year, so my english isn't that good,and I was extremely nervous about my placement test. However, the book was written in a simple way , and I understood it really clearly.My math skills were horrible , but I decided to work on them to save me time and money, so I decided to study before the placement exam.I studied really hard for a month , and I spent hours studying daily only from this book,and eventually I got placed into calc 1 !! I was surprises because before that exhausting month I wasn't able to place into algebra.This book is highly recommended .Thank you bob!

Absolutely wonderful prep book for the math section of the COMPASS exam. It's been about 15 years since I studied this in high school, but the book was able to walk me through all the topics I used to know without a problem. It took me about 3 weeks to go through the book and do all the practice in it. I was able to pass all the sections of the exam with about 93% accuracy and placed into calculus 1. It's an easy-to-read book with great practice that prepares you very well for the test.

It worked for me. I was out of college for 15 years, so the last time I learned about the subjects included in this book was 20 years ago. I spent a month on this book before I took the Compass test and I passed and was placed in the highest college beginning level. I guess my high school math teacher did a good job, or I was a pretty good student at that time, but I also felt that this book tells me exactly what I needed to know to refresh my memory. Not too much or not enough. Just perfect.

I used the pre-algebra section to brush up on the type of questions the test would ask. It helped me to decipher the word questions, like time & distance, so that they could be answered correctly. I graduated from high school 50 years ago and was never good at algebra - never used it after high school, period. Did not score well in algebra. The other sections on geometry, trigonometry, calculus, etc., were not on the test I took. They were covered in the book.

This was a valuable resource in my preparation for the COMPASS test. Each section was explained very well and I ended up do quite well on the test considering I haven't had a math course in over a decade.

I loved it. I took my time on each section... And Bob really broke down the compass step by step... I thank this book a lot because it has lessons along with problems. I pretty much aced the compass math thanks to it placing into Calculus. Great book. Would definitely recommend to anyone who feels under placed.