Math Placement

UTA’s Math Placement Program utilizes the ALEKS assessment in which a series of questions are used to determine readiness for mathematics courses.

ALEKS is required prior to advising for all majors in the Colleges of Science, Engineering, Architecture, and Business, as your scores may allow you to skip over some prerequisite coursework. Students in all majors may use ALEKS to review and prepare for their upcoming math course. If ALEKS is not required for your major, see our Math Preparation page for tips on using ALEKS to get ready for your math course.

Students who have completed all required math courses, who have college-level credit for Calculus I, or who will not be taking math at UTA do not need a math placement assessment.

Check for messages from UTA Admissions, Advisement, Enrollment, or Orientation.

Students come to UTA from a wide variety of backgrounds. Math Placement helps ensure students are enrolled in a course with the best opportunity for success.

And this doesn’t just affect math; other courses in your degree plan may have a math course pre-requisite. To ensure you are eligible to take those courses, it is important to take care of your math requirement as soon as possible.

UTA’s ALEKS assessment can be taken online or on campus by appointment (see tutorial in Canvas for instructions). The ALEKS system also provides a personalized learning module designed to help improve your math skills. Work through the module and then retake the assessment to improve your score.

Below are the recommended steps to have the best chance of retaking the assessment for higher placement and securing a seat in your preferred class. NOTE: Seniors in high school do not have to wait to graduate before taking the assessment. Once you are admitted and have your UTA email, take ALEKS!

1. Click here to enroll in our Math Placement Tutorial in Canvas. Log into Canvas with your student email and password. At the end of the tutorial and FAQs, the ALEKS link will take you to the placement assessment.
2. Take the ALEKS assessment.
3. Want to place higher? Work on your learning module and retake the assessment.

• You can take the ALEKS assessment 5 times total. This means 4 more attempts after your initial assessment.
• Five hours of study with the ALEKS learning module and waiting a week are required to unlock each attempt.
• Important! The waiting period between attempts means that if you end up needing to use all 5 attempts, it will be at least 4 weeks before you can take the last attempt. It is best to get started early to give yourself plenty of time to raise your score.

4. Meet with your advisor to discuss the math course options for your degree program.

Note: You must satisfy your TSI requirements before you register for classes. https://www.uta.edu/student-success/tsi.

Courses in green (1301, 1315 and 1402) may be taken without any prerequisite coursework or minimum placement score.  

Courses in blue (1303, 1316, 1421 and 1327) require either the corresponding ALEKS score or prerequisite coursework. Placing into these courses with ALEKS does not earn credit toward the prerequisite course; it simply allows students to start with these higher-level courses.

Calculus I requires a 76 or higher on ALEKS regardless of prior coursework, test scores, etc.

Students, please complete the Math Placement Tutorial and read through the FAQs first, and then if you still have questions or run into issues, be sure to email from your UTA email address and include your Student ID and NetID within the email. All correspondence pertaining to math placement should be directed to mathplacement@uta.edu.

UTA Advisors, please click here for our full Math Placement Program Guide for Advisors.