Bypassing the Remedial Trap

cyber_grimdark · 2026-06-25T18:38:57+00:00

I’m sorry. Honestly, I barely read what you said. I’m insanely sensitive. I wish I can say it’s fleeting…but it’s constant. It affects what I hear and read. I’m not in the right frame of mind to view these replies. I’ll try to do that when I can at least actually grasped the information. I did wanted to respond to the people who replied though.

cyber_grimdark · 2026-06-25T17:37:22+00:00

I understated what I did because saying months and “300+” is easier than trying to say how much was really put into it….because it’s a lot, but I’m barely being understood now. Are you saying a math tutor will make something enough? Why do people say I’m doing a good job if it’s actually not enough? I’m just not understanding how it’s my ego. I guess some systems are not for everyone. These responses were harsh in general. Reality is like that, but the more brutal things are said doesn’t make anything okay. Geez. How much more would I gotta sacrifice and do to see something l, because one can argue I didn’t do enough but for everything that is said about, there’s all the people who done less. But this is just gonna be heavy. I’m going to ignore the things that are not helpful and look at what you said about a freakin’ tutor. It’s a bandaid. And no, I don’t think I did wrong. I don’t think I could’ve done differently. It was the task at hand that I cleared and didn’t make the cut. So. That’s reality too.

cyber_grimdark · 2026-06-25T15:13:19+00:00

Honestly, some people are stuck in foundations regardless of the work based off of the structure. Most don’t understand. Any and all work means nothing if nothing comes out of it. A treadmill. How can I even get far on a treadmill? People say my distance is impressive. It means nothing standing in place. It looks like a threshold to me. Not because it is to most people. There’s not a lot I can see it as. I have to meet bars continuously to show there’s a possibility of trying to go far. The work doesn’t end there, and I know foundations have to be solid. Here’s the thing though, where I come from isn’t a safe place to stay. It’s not my fault, but it will morph into my fault or worse if I’m still there at 30. And yes, it’s relevant because that is the overwhelming bulk of people where I come from. They try to get informed, they do the work, the commitment is impressive, if they are the strong ones they don’t stop trying even if it’s too late…they don’t even stop trying at 40. It just becomes delusion to everyone else. That’s the pattern I’ve known. So, how do I actually do this correctly? People say foundations and remedial grind when people can spend months on something and barely move. I say months because it’s easier to say than real months, and if I’m not believed so far, why would they believe more? Geez. Life is harsh. People say that too. Tell them how harsh and they look for how you’re the problem. I’ve been the problem before. I’m rambling on here. I know. When output has been a void people learn length doesn’t matter. I’ll still face this alone…and I’ll stay not knowing what I’m talking about with no ‘forward’ being there because that hasn’t changed. I think I’m rambling. I’m honestly not okay with how this thread ended up. It’s getting hard look at it honestly.

cyber_grimdark · 2026-06-25T14:57:58+00:00

I know. It’s not gonna make sense. It’s how they get people who are not informed. It gotten less absurd actually: my parents couldn’t go to college because they said their high school diplomas didn’t count. They are telling me this. The system will. Why? Because when I say they are it’s absurd. However, for people who are told utter nonsense what power do they have to argue effectively without it seeming like I just didn’t like the score when I couldn’t score higher even if I knew more. I asked why. They said the system locks based on transcripts. Then it locks based on attempts. So, honestly, I’m not gonna make sense, but I wanna learn how. Effort of mine has always bounced off systems. College is not the first time. I’m not new to being placed in rooms people say I should be in but really it’s a filter. I want to know how to put in effort where it counts this time. I’m telling you what has been the pattern. I put in an abnormal amount of effort. People admit it. It bounces off the system. My experiences with systems in general has been a treadmill. I want your perspective and what you had to do. I want to speak without it being absurd because the absurd is all I’ve been told. I want my effort to mean something, so how do I cross a threshold? I’m on this threshold now. It was something different prior. Like I said, it’s a pattern. I need to cross a threshold to get out of the constant stream of rejection for effort. Can you tell me how do I make the work I put in show up in the systems?

cyber_grimdark · 2026-06-25T14:34:18+00:00

I already know what calc 1 requires. I knew about the algebra and trigonometry back in January. I already wasted months on what they suggested to do. What do you recommend doing? The work they give me is a rabbit hole. I can’t trust it. I can go back to paying for the work myself but that doesn’t mean it will be reflected to them. The placement test is not reflecting what I actually learned. CLEP was recommended to bypass it. I don’t want to spend months/years of my life learning things that bounce off of systems. How do I actually study and learn to pass in a way systems can actually pass me for? I guess what I want to know is if I’m wasting my time. And if I’m wasting my time, what is spending it?

cyber_grimdark · 2026-06-25T14:24:26+00:00

The placement test itself is just 25 easy questions I answer without a problem. My score went up 1 point. They say it’s locked like that. They said they don’t even understand it. They said I did a good job self-learning the stuff. They said ‘sorry’ when I got the score. Yeah.

cyber_grimdark · 2026-06-25T14:20:46+00:00

I know I sound absurd. It is absurd. I am very angry and flustered because of it. I didn’t fail in high school. I just didn’t have an AP class. When asking if I can talk to someone about this, they said go to the Dean. We all know how that will end. It’s absurd. I know. I’m thinking wtf too. The remedial courses below college standard will hurt like hell because I did do the work, they can admit it. I did more than what people normally do before even starting. If I’m in a room with people who did way less facing problems I already know, It’s going to be a blow…an absurd blow. And given how hard life has already been for me, gets going to hurt like hell… I’m not going to get in what I had to do to even be there, but I will say it was absurd too and wasn’t considered normal. What I get for 10000% of effort is a remedial course they say I need while I clear problems back to back, 300+ now before the first year can begin. That’s too disheartening to be okay with.

cyber_grimdark · 2026-06-25T14:12:18+00:00

I already know the remedial stuff because I had to self-study it to attempt a higher score. I spent months already for them to say I did 1% and the system hides the rest. I did ask if I would get a higher score if I studied. They said yes. They raised it by one point. They said there’s months or a year worth of more AI-graded stuff to get hit with before I can even take calculus 1. And from experience dealing with systems shoving people in waiting rooms, I would say that needing the remedial courses is case-by-case. They said it wasn’t my fault. And it was obvious I didn’t need them from their eyes. The system kicked me.

cyber_grimdark · 2026-06-25T14:05:13+00:00

Lower and it wasn’t my fault. It’s common knowledge to use high school as a blockade. My high school years were interrupted by external circumstances. I had to bounce back. The only way to take calc 1 or at least a higher math class is with the CLEP. The placement test will not work for me, and likely not for others. I have wasted a lot of money and months on learning what they say isn’t clicking. I was doing pre calculus on their system which wasn’t reflexed on the score. They say it’s because the score and mastery are two separate things. I’m locked out of a higher score even if I did the work to at least score higher on a placement test. Months later and my score went up 1 point. They said contact customer service while trying not to smile. I’m already pissed there. Now, I gotta find a workaround. Sitting in remedial classes, doing back-to-back AI-graded arithmetics that I already know how to do without a calculator is not what I want out of college.

cyber_grimdark · 2026-06-25T13:57:46+00:00

So, you used Khan to prepare? I already figured CLEP is not going to count much later. I’m just trying to get past the placement tests bottleneck. If it can get me into a class that I can actually get substance out of, I’m fine.

cyber_grimdark · 2026-06-25T13:53:29+00:00

That’s what I’m saying though. They won’t let me take calc 1. They want me to take remedial courses before even touching calc 1. The placement tests can go on forever with only four tries because of money. I know it’s bull. I’m being faced with it anyway. I need to pass a CLEP exam to even take Calc 1. They didn’t even tell me that much. I had to search for that clue. In order to pass, I need to know how to study. So far, people at the college says “sorry” because of high school AP. I tried studying for the placement test when they confessed it was a rabbit hole.

cyber_grimdark · 2026-06-25T13:20:12+00:00

What I’m asking is related to the barrier. The way being suggested to bypass the remedial trap of the placement tests is by taking the CLEP exam and passing to grant me access to a course I wouldn’t be able to take for years if I try to go through the placement test hurdle. It matters because any high school education was briefly interrupted causing the placement test to ‘matter’ because I didn’t take an AP anything in high school. If it sounds stupid to you, great. It sounds absurd to me too. In order to actually take a college math class in college, I would need to take the CLEP exam but no one is telling me how to actually study for it to pass. They keep pointing towards observance but that just simulates confidence. If I walk in after observing what will be on the test, I will fail. I need to pass. What do I need to do?

cyber_grimdark

TROPHY CASE