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Boost your Math Skills with QCC’s Math Boot Camps

May 2018
  • At a recent QCC Math Boot Camp Associate Professor Sheiba Mas-Oud explains a mathematics problem to student Bethany Bailey.
    At a recent QCC Math Boot Camp Associate Professor Sheiba Mas-Oud explains a mathematics problem to student Bethany Bailey.

A boot camp may conjure up visions of military marching but QCC’s Math Boot Camps are a far cry from the militia. These free weeklong (4 or 5 hours a day) math boot camps are held throughout the summer at QCC’s main campus and one week at QCC Southbridge. They are designed to refresh students’ math skills and help prepare them to succeed in math placement testing and college mathematics.

For many students who have taken a QCC math boot camp, the experience was transformative. QCC student Ashley Forhan is one such student.

“I was out of school for a long time and hadn’t done math. I needed a refresher course to get started,” said Ms. Forhan, a Criminal Justice student, whose major required a college algebra course.

Ms. Forhan said she had originally taken the accuplacer test and scored lower than the required college algebra (MAT100), so she signed up for the developmental mathematics class.

“I got in there and had no idea what I was doing. I was overwhelmed,” she said.

A professor told her about the math boot camps and after doing some research, she signed up.

“It was the best five days of my life,” she said, noting that at first she was hesitant about it. “The first day you take the acculplacer test and then the last day you retake the test.”

QCC Associate Professor of Mathematics, Sheiba Mas-Oud, one of the professors who is the driving force behind the math boot camps, was Ms. Forhan’s instructor.

Professor Mas-Oud came to QCC in 2011 from the Bronx, where he had started a similar math boot camp in 2005. He said the program at QCC was comparable to the one he had created and quickly began helping with QCC’s program. When the QCC professor who was in charge of the math boot camp left for California, he took over.

According to Professor Mas-Oud, there are two reasons the program has been so successful. The first is the teaching method and the second is the level of pressure and motivation that is put on the students.

“There’s a lot of difference between a 14-week course and a 20-hour course,” he said. “They (students) have some fears and I try to defuse them.”

During each boot camp session Professor Mas-Oud gives two 45-minute lectures on various topics each day of the week long camp. He uses real examples that students can relate to and appreciate. Oftentimes the examples are funny and silly, but they get the point across. He said his job is not to have students master mathematics, but rather to bring them as much knowledge and understanding in a short period of time. The students work with MyMathLab and MyMathTest. A study plan is created for students on MyMathLab and tests are then created on basic mathematics. The system builds a study plan for each student based on his or her initial accuplacer score. Professor Mas-Oud expects each student to complete at least 80 percent of the study plan in order to retake the accuplacer at the completion of the course.

“Professor Mas-Oud sits down and helps you. He focuses on the most important things… the whole format was just great. Our class was enthusiastic and we had all kinds of laughs thanks to Professor Mas-Oud,” she said. “It really helps to have a professor there to ask questions and discuss things. It made such a big difference.”

At the end of the boot camp Ms. Forhan retook the Accuplacer test and this time tested into college algebra (MAT 100), saving her not only precious time but money

QCC student Ellen O'Sullivan concurred.

"I walked into Math boot camp the first day picturing a Marine soldier in my face yelling at me. I left four days later having been taught by a wonderful teacher (Sheiba Mas-Oud) who had helped me move up a level (and many in the class several levels) - saving both time and money." Ms. O'Sullivan said.  

“This semester I’m taking biology and my first lab, which involves conversions. I would not have been able to do them without the math boot camp,Those five days are going to follow me forever. I loved it and I tell everyone about it,” Ms. Forhan added.

Professor Mas-Oud said it is these experiences that make him especially proud of the program.

“At the end of the camp, some students are crying and very emotional because they’ve scored well. These are my best moments,” Professor Mas-Oud said. “I’m very passionate about this.”

Ms. O'Sullivan is quick to offer advise for those considering a Math boot camp.

"Do not fear. Math boot camp is worth the effort and is FUN!"

Visit QCC Math Boot Camps to learn more.

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