It isn't just you.
According to the NCES (2023), 50% of students in remedial algebra classes don't pass.
That is a coin flip.
The odds are rigged against working adults.
You come home after a 9-hour shift, log into ALEKS, and get hit with a "Knowledge Check" that wipes out three hours of progress because you missed a negative sign.
It is pure unadulterated brain torture.
We see this every semester.
Students like Sarah M., a pre-nursing major, told us on Reddit: "I'm literally crying over ALEKS right now.
I just want to be a nurse, not a mathematician." You aren't failing because you aren't smart.
You are struggling because you don't have 15 hours a week to fight an adaptive algorithm that punishes you for being human.
And when you try to get help, you risk hiring a random freelancer who uses a foreign VPN and gets your account flagged by the IT department.
But here is the thing most students don't know: you don't have to fight the algorithm alone.