Algebra Structure and Method Book 1

Rating:
Summary: Hard to Understand
Review: When I recieved this book from my school, I thought it would explain everything step by step. But to my conclusion, I barely understood it. When the textbook does'nt explain things good, how is the student supposed to understand it? I do not reccomend this book. But I do recccomend Algebra 1 Concepts and Skills.

Rating:
Summary: Undecipherable
Review: When reading a textbook, it is essential that the student has a clear understanding of whatever the book is trying to teach, whether it's history, biology, or algebra. If the language in the book isn't concise and easy to understand, there is a good chance that the student will not grasp what the book is saying. Although I am an intelligent math student, I thought that "Algebra: Structure and Method: Book 1" was extremely difficult to interpret. This book was the text for my eighth grade Algebra I course; on days when I was absent from school and was forced to read the textbook to learn what I missed in class, I absolutely could not complete the homework without first having the teacher explain it to me. I believe that my experience in Algebra I reflects poorly on this book since it's only basic algebra, not rocket science -- if a teacher can explain it orally, a textbook should be able to teach the concepts as well. The main thing that is wrong with the lessons in this book is that the examples are not always clear; several steps are often combined without directions telling the student how the book arrived at the solution. In addition to that, new lessons are often introduced with only the bare minimum of information describing how to work the problems. My Geometry book from last year went into a great deal of explanation at the beginning of each lesson in order to describe the new information; my Algebra book did not. I understood the Geometry with out my teacher's help, but I could not understand the Algebra. If a student doesn't have an excellent Algebra teacher and gets stuck with this textbook, I know that it will be very hard for him or her to learn Algebra. Also, if a homeschooled student is using this book and his or her parent is not proficient in Algebra, chances are good that the student will be completely lost. For these reasons, I advise school districts and persons attempting to learn Algebra on their own to look for a textbook that is more comprehensible than this one. Use of this textbook is far from a guarantee of success. In fact, it is only a guarantee of one thing: a very frustrating experience in learning mathematics.