What resources do I recommend to prepare for the Algebra portion of the Praxis 5161 Exam?
For a fairly exhaustive and descriptive study content for Algebra, consult the link Algebra Standards.
Any regular College-Level Algebra book of RECENT edition (2000+) should be adequate.
Alternately, a Precalculus book (High School or College-Level) would be perfect.
Typically, such books have titles with more than one of the following terms: (Advanced / College-level) Algebra, Trigonometry, Analytical Geometry, PreCalculus 2.
The following texts would be woefully inadequate:
Here's how to judge if an Algebra book is sufficient for Praxis 5161 purposes. Look for the following terms in the Index at the back. (While NOT all terms/concepts are required for the Exam, they indicate how sophisticated the book is!):
The following are books I have used with abundant profit:
a) Algebra & Trigonometry (with Analytical Geometry)
By: Swokowki/Cole;
Pub: Brooks/Cole;
Edition: 10th
Comments: A terrific, lucidly written text!
b) Algebra and Trigonometry OR College Algebra (3rd Edition) OR Precalculus (3rd Edition)
By: Stewart/Redlin/Watson;
Pub: Brooks/Cole
Comments: Another marvelous set of books; any ONE of the above would be fine as they cover the same grounds almost identically!
c) Precalculus with Limits: A Graphing Approach
By: Larson/Hostetler/Edwards;
Pub: Houghton Mifflin;
Edition: 3rd
Comments: A fairly popular High School Precalculus book; the 3rd edition layout is superior to the 2nd!
d) Precalculus : With Unit Circle Trigonometry
By: David Cohen;
Pub: Brooks/Cole;
Edition: 3rd
Comments: A stupendous College-level text by a UCLA chap with some very clever exercises to test your grasp; a little daunting for the rookie, perhaps, but strongly recommended if you want to TEACH Precalculus in High School!
You can procure these books by:
a) approaching friendly High School teachers who might have copies of PreCalculus books to spare for a couple of months
b) borrowing them from friends who recently did Math courses in college
c) purchasing them (the best option as they're terrific for Reference purposes!) from a college bookstore (expensive!) OR online (used, hence, affordable!) at Amazon.com or half.com.
d) borrowing them from your local Public Library. This would entail renewing the books repeatedly, for which wooing date-less librarians wearing large glasses would help...
e) stealing them from college bookstores, which are, anyway, the face of evil behemoth corporations...
I would strongly recommend having at least TWO Algebra texts!
I've known chaps that do some sort of 'online research' for certain topics. Typical remark: "I was on the internet looking for stuff about parabolas (or vectors)!" I can't fathom what in the blazes these fellows are blathering about, as, to me, it all seems such a beastly WASTE OF ONE'S TIME: consult a bloody %&$#@%$# book!! (For starters, you'd pull up 8769876098 trillion gazillion quintillion mazillion billion jillion number of pages on parabolas! Oh, did I forget to say mahallion?)
Comments? Email me at [email protected]
Any regular College-Level Algebra book of RECENT edition (2000+) should be adequate.
Alternately, a Precalculus book (High School or College-Level) would be perfect.
Typically, such books have titles with more than one of the following terms: (Advanced / College-level) Algebra, Trigonometry, Analytical Geometry, PreCalculus 2.
The following texts would be woefully inadequate:
- Algebra I textbook
- Algebra II textbook: such texts ONLY serve as an introduction to advanced Algebra concepts, but do not treat the PRECALCULUS topics in the depth as required for the Praxis 5161
- College Algebra textbook for a basic foundational / remedial Algebra course
- Intermediate Algebra textbook
Here's how to judge if an Algebra book is sufficient for Praxis 5161 purposes. Look for the following terms in the Index at the back. (While NOT all terms/concepts are required for the Exam, they indicate how sophisticated the book is!):
- Row Transformations or Row Operations or Row Reduced Matrix or Row Echelon Form or Transformations (some of them might be listed under the broad term: Matrix)
- Vectors, Orthogonal or Orthogonal Vectors
- Piece-wise defined function
- Augmented Matrix
- DeMoivre's Theorem
- Oblique Asymptotes
The following are books I have used with abundant profit:
a) Algebra & Trigonometry (with Analytical Geometry)
By: Swokowki/Cole;
Pub: Brooks/Cole;
Edition: 10th
Comments: A terrific, lucidly written text!
b) Algebra and Trigonometry OR College Algebra (3rd Edition) OR Precalculus (3rd Edition)
By: Stewart/Redlin/Watson;
Pub: Brooks/Cole
Comments: Another marvelous set of books; any ONE of the above would be fine as they cover the same grounds almost identically!
c) Precalculus with Limits: A Graphing Approach
By: Larson/Hostetler/Edwards;
Pub: Houghton Mifflin;
Edition: 3rd
Comments: A fairly popular High School Precalculus book; the 3rd edition layout is superior to the 2nd!
d) Precalculus : With Unit Circle Trigonometry
By: David Cohen;
Pub: Brooks/Cole;
Edition: 3rd
Comments: A stupendous College-level text by a UCLA chap with some very clever exercises to test your grasp; a little daunting for the rookie, perhaps, but strongly recommended if you want to TEACH Precalculus in High School!
You can procure these books by:
a) approaching friendly High School teachers who might have copies of PreCalculus books to spare for a couple of months
b) borrowing them from friends who recently did Math courses in college
c) purchasing them (the best option as they're terrific for Reference purposes!) from a college bookstore (expensive!) OR online (used, hence, affordable!) at Amazon.com or half.com.
d) borrowing them from your local Public Library. This would entail renewing the books repeatedly, for which wooing date-less librarians wearing large glasses would help...
e) stealing them from college bookstores, which are, anyway, the face of evil behemoth corporations...
I would strongly recommend having at least TWO Algebra texts!
I've known chaps that do some sort of 'online research' for certain topics. Typical remark: "I was on the internet looking for stuff about parabolas (or vectors)!" I can't fathom what in the blazes these fellows are blathering about, as, to me, it all seems such a beastly WASTE OF ONE'S TIME: consult a bloody %&$#@%$# book!! (For starters, you'd pull up 8769876098 trillion gazillion quintillion mazillion billion jillion number of pages on parabolas! Oh, did I forget to say mahallion?)
Comments? Email me at [email protected]