Placement in mathematics courses.

Information for all students

Mathematics is part of the program of most undergraduate students at the University of Kentucky. Course prerequisites help to determine the courses a student is eligible to take.  In addition to exam scores, placement should be based on a student's background, interests, and likely major. 

Students who wish to take an introductory mathematics course are given an initial placement based on their ACT or SAT scores. Students with a Math ACT of 18 and below (or SAT equivalent) are required to take the ALEKS placement exam (proctored) in order to obtain more information about their readiness for a course. We use the Math ACT score (or SAT equivalent), and High School GPA to create a number, MathIndex3, which we believe to be a more reliable predictor of  success in our courses. Students who plan to take a math course are encouraged to use ALEKS to review the mathematics they learned in prior courses. Students may also take a proctored ALEKS exam in order to earn placement into more difficult courses. More information about the ALEKS exam is available at http://www.uky.edu/app/faqs#Math. Advisers can provide help in choosing the appropriate mathematics course for a student's major. 

Departmental recommendations on placement are summarized in the document linked here.

Placement in Calculus courses for students with AP credit.

Students who earn a score of 3,4 or 5 on an AP Calculus exam earn credit for one or more of our first-year Calculus courses, MA 113 Calculus I or MA 114, Calculus II. Students who have credit, but plan to take additional mathematics sometimes choose to repeat a course for which they have credit in order to develop a stronger foundation for further study. The department does not recommend that students who earn a score of 3 on an AP Calculus exam use the credit to satisfy prerequisites for the next course. More details are available in our recommendations for students with AP Calculus credit..