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Algebra Survival Guide: A Conversational Guide for the Thoroughly Befuddled
If there’s one question that many parents would rather not hear when Sophia or Aiden gets home from school, it’s, “Mom, can you help me with my algebra homework?” And nowadays that question gets asked by younger and younger children because algebraic thinking has been inserted into the math curriculum as early as 5th grade, sometimes even in 4th grade!
So what helps parents recall algebra and also helps students learn it in a friendly way? The Algebra Survival Guide, now updated in its Second Edition.
Following on the success of the award-winning First Edition book and written by teacher/tutor Josh Rappaport, the Second Edition Guide offers time-tested advice for understanding the key areas of this gateway math subject.
The new Algebra Survival Guide features a unique Q&A format so students hear their own questions echoed in the text. The book’s answers, written in the voice of a friendly tutor, provide conversational responses, along with step-by-step instructions in English right next to the math steps.
Each page is a one-page mini-lesson so students can focus without feeling overwhelmed. Following each lesson is a short set of practice problems, offering students instant feedback. At the end of each section, chapter tests provide comprehensive checks on understanding.
Since word problems are often the highest “hurdle” of algebra, the Second Edition contains a new 62-page chapter on advanced word problems. This chapter provides detailed strategies for setting up and solving word problems on such dastardly areas as rate, time and distance, work performed, mixture formulas, and even those crazy problems about Joe being three years older than four times Jane’s age 10 years in the future. In its twelve content chapters the 352-page Second Edition covers all key areas of PreAlgebra and Algebra 1: Algebraic Properties, Sets of Numbers, Positive and Negative Numbers, Order of Operations, Absolute Value, Exponents, Radicals, Factoring, Cancelling, Solving Equations, the Coordinate Plane, and Word Problems.
As a major bonus, the Guide buzzes with lively illustrations by award-winning artist Sally Blakemore. Ms. Blakemore’s cartoons not only provide comic relief, they also offer a visual way to grasp algebra’s challenging abstractions. ( to illustrate the Reflexive Property of x = x, a cartoon shows a sad ‘x’ gazing at itself in the mirror while suffering a ‘bad hair day.’) With all of these features, the Second Edition Algebra Survival Guide appeals equally to homeschoolers, students, parents, teachers, tutors and adult students striving to recall the math they learned a decade or so ago. The Second Edition aligns with the Common Core State Standards for Math, so it’s up-to-date for today’s teachers.
Loaded with thorough explanations, practice problems and answers, the new Algebra Survival Guide gives anyone and everyone the needed boost for learning or teaching the timeless and critical subject of algebra.
So what helps parents recall algebra and also helps students learn it in a friendly way? The Algebra Survival Guide, now updated in its Second Edition.
Following on the success of the award-winning First Edition book and written by teacher/tutor Josh Rappaport, the Second Edition Guide offers time-tested advice for understanding the key areas of this gateway math subject.
The new Algebra Survival Guide features a unique Q&A format so students hear their own questions echoed in the text. The book’s answers, written in the voice of a friendly tutor, provide conversational responses, along with step-by-step instructions in English right next to the math steps.
Each page is a one-page mini-lesson so students can focus without feeling overwhelmed. Following each lesson is a short set of practice problems, offering students instant feedback. At the end of each section, chapter tests provide comprehensive checks on understanding.
Since word problems are often the highest “hurdle” of algebra, the Second Edition contains a new 62-page chapter on advanced word problems. This chapter provides detailed strategies for setting up and solving word problems on such dastardly areas as rate, time and distance, work performed, mixture formulas, and even those crazy problems about Joe being three years older than four times Jane’s age 10 years in the future. In its twelve content chapters the 352-page Second Edition covers all key areas of PreAlgebra and Algebra 1: Algebraic Properties, Sets of Numbers, Positive and Negative Numbers, Order of Operations, Absolute Value, Exponents, Radicals, Factoring, Cancelling, Solving Equations, the Coordinate Plane, and Word Problems.
As a major bonus, the Guide buzzes with lively illustrations by award-winning artist Sally Blakemore. Ms. Blakemore’s cartoons not only provide comic relief, they also offer a visual way to grasp algebra’s challenging abstractions. ( to illustrate the Reflexive Property of x = x, a cartoon shows a sad ‘x’ gazing at itself in the mirror while suffering a ‘bad hair day.’) With all of these features, the Second Edition Algebra Survival Guide appeals equally to homeschoolers, students, parents, teachers, tutors and adult students striving to recall the math they learned a decade or so ago. The Second Edition aligns with the Common Core State Standards for Math, so it’s up-to-date for today’s teachers.
Loaded with thorough explanations, practice problems and answers, the new Algebra Survival Guide gives anyone and everyone the needed boost for learning or teaching the timeless and critical subject of algebra.
276 pages, Paperback
First published December 18, 1999
3 people are currently reading
40 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 12, 2021
It seems I was able to understand Algebra after all. How surprising.
December 29, 2010
I checked this book out with the hopes that it would be helpful with an Algebra 2 student I am working with. This book would be a good review for a student getting ready to start Algebra 2, but the material covers the simplest material throughout the year in Algebra 1.
The material is organized logically and as simply as possible. This book is not filled with words, but with math problems. The biggest problem with this book would be getting a 9th or 10th grade student to sit down with it by themselves. It would be a good book for a tutor or a parent to quickly review Algebra 1 in an orderly fashion.
The material is organized logically and as simply as possible. This book is not filled with words, but with math problems. The biggest problem with this book would be getting a 9th or 10th grade student to sit down with it by themselves. It would be a good book for a tutor or a parent to quickly review Algebra 1 in an orderly fashion.
April 30, 2014
from Terri:
Did you barely survive algebra? Did you find it confusing and unrelated to anything in your world? Or have you made your class selections for the upcoming school year and Algebra is in your future? Or are you like me and just got lost in the vocabulary? If you can answer yes to any of these questions, I suggested you check out “Algebra Survival Guide: A conversational handbook for the thoroughly befuddled.” This little gem is written by Josh Rappaport who was an Algebra tutor for 100s of students over 10 years’ time. He has seen first-hand the confusion students have with the vocabulary and the explanations of the typical algebra textbook. The guide uses the question and answer process to explain algebra concepts in clear and user-friendly language. The questions are typical questions other students have asked and the author offers the best answers to those questions. The guide uses great illustrations by Sally Blakemore to make the explanations fun, quirky and the algebraic concepts memorable for the student. The guide can be used as a quick reference guide, as a memorization tool, as a self-teaching program or as your survival buddy that shows you all the common mistakes and misunderstandings a typical student faces with Algebra. The Algebra Survival Guide has the stamp of approval from the Parent’s Choice Foundation and 2011 winner of the Golden Porch Award for top tutoring products. Whether this is your first brush with Algebra or you want to clear up past algebra confusion, this is a great book to guide you on your way!
Did you barely survive algebra? Did you find it confusing and unrelated to anything in your world? Or have you made your class selections for the upcoming school year and Algebra is in your future? Or are you like me and just got lost in the vocabulary? If you can answer yes to any of these questions, I suggested you check out “Algebra Survival Guide: A conversational handbook for the thoroughly befuddled.” This little gem is written by Josh Rappaport who was an Algebra tutor for 100s of students over 10 years’ time. He has seen first-hand the confusion students have with the vocabulary and the explanations of the typical algebra textbook. The guide uses the question and answer process to explain algebra concepts in clear and user-friendly language. The questions are typical questions other students have asked and the author offers the best answers to those questions. The guide uses great illustrations by Sally Blakemore to make the explanations fun, quirky and the algebraic concepts memorable for the student. The guide can be used as a quick reference guide, as a memorization tool, as a self-teaching program or as your survival buddy that shows you all the common mistakes and misunderstandings a typical student faces with Algebra. The Algebra Survival Guide has the stamp of approval from the Parent’s Choice Foundation and 2011 winner of the Golden Porch Award for top tutoring products. Whether this is your first brush with Algebra or you want to clear up past algebra confusion, this is a great book to guide you on your way!
January 31, 2012
This book is exactly what the title says - it is not a book for algebra whizzes or for those that want to know the extended math theory behind algebra. It DOES take you through Algebra I step-by-step. The think I like about it is that it breaks the algebra down methodically and each skill builds on the next. My daughter was struggling with Algebra, and by picking and choosing problems from the book, along with the accompanying workbook, I was able to pinpoint EXACTLY which concepts were giving her problem, go over them, and build from there.
My one complaint about the book (although not the companion workbook), is that the answers are right next to the problems. This makes it difficult for even the most dedicated learners to keep from peeking, which, of course, diminishes effectiveness.
My one complaint about the book (although not the companion workbook), is that the answers are right next to the problems. This makes it difficult for even the most dedicated learners to keep from peeking, which, of course, diminishes effectiveness.
September 10, 2013
Very clear and helpful book. Kindle version has some formatting issues and math errors due to conversion problems. Print version is accurate.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews