Refresh your math and writing skills—and strengthen the skills you need to succeed.
June 28 to August 8, 2023
If you’d like to brush up on your math, writing, and study skills before starting or returning to college, you’re not alone. Other adult and non-traditional students find themselves thinking the same thing. It’s why we’ve created an academic transition program to ease the return to the classroom. This free, non-credit program accommodates the needs of non-traditional students with evening sessions. There are no academic prerequisites, so enrollment is open to both incoming and current Penn State Behrend students as well as those contemplating attending college in the near future. It’s an eight-week program held two evenings a week—one evening focused on math review and another evening devoted to writing practice. You can also attend study skills workshops on select evenings and with online instruction to learn helpful approaches to achieving academic success in college.
Understanding mathematics
This course is a combination of arithmetic and elementary algebra, covering the arithmetic of integers, fractions, decimals, and percentages as well as such topics as signed numbers, algebraic representation, operations with polynomials, factoring, the solution of simultaneous linear equations of two variables, and graphing. In addition to in-person instruction, you will use software to help prepare you for first-year college mathematics courses.
Understanding college writing
In this preparation session, you will learn the skills to succeed as an academic writer, including the expectations for written work at the college level. Actual assignments from Penn State Behrend classes will serve as models, and you will use Behrend computer labs to work on short, targeted assignments. Through the sessions, you’ll learn: the expectations of college writing (what teachers want from you); how to develop the main idea or thesis of a piece of writing; how to support what you write with evidence; the use of technology to conduct outside research (including simply finding your way around the library); the use of citations (formatting outside sources correctly); and proper organization and grammar in your writing.
Study tips for college success
In these study strategy sessions, you will learn techniques to help you succeed in the classroom, including:
- Identifying your learning style
- Active reading (improving what you recall from what you’ve read)
- Note-taking
- Test-taking
- Minimizing test anxiety
These sessions will combine face-to-face instruction with online self-paced instruction.
Learn more
To find out more about the academic transition program for adult and nontraditional students or to register to attend, contact:
Office of Adult Learner Services
814-898-6700
[email protected]