My community college is requiring me to take the MDTP before I can register for math classes. I placed into remedial algebra in high school and I'm worried I'll get stuck in non-credit courses again.
I've been out of school for 5 years. Just started reviewing pre-algebra and basic algebra this week, about 45 minutes a day. I have 3 weeks before my test date. Is that enough time to push into a higher placement?
What topics come up most? I'm fine with basic arithmetic but fractions and negative numbers still trip me up sometimes.
Three weeks is workable if you're focused. Fractions, order of operations, and solving for x — those three areas make up a huge chunk of the placement questions.
Don't skip the word problems. They're on there and they're harder than the straight calculation questions because you have to figure out what operation to use.
I studied for 2 weeks after a 4-year gap and placed into pre-calculus. Khan Academy was my main tool. Seriously, just go level by level and you'll see gaps fast.
Great discussion. One thing nobody mentions: sleep the night before matters more than one more study session. Went in fully rested for my MDTP and felt sharper than expected.
Honestly I almost didn't bother studying because I figured five years out of school meant I was already doomed. What actually helped me was just drilling the basics until they felt automatic — fractions, negative numbers, order of operations. The test isn't trying to trick you, it's just checking whether you've still got the foundation.
You're already doing the right thing reviewing pre-algebra. Keep going even when it feels slow, because it clicked for me around week three and suddenly stuff I hadn't thought about in years just made sense again. Don't stress the placement, just trust the process and you'll surprise yourself.
Quick update for anyone following this thread: I took a practice MDTP last night and scored 68%, which honestly surprised me because I was expecting way worse. I've been doing about 30-45 minutes a day of review for the past two weeks, mostly fractions and basic algebra stuff. It's not perfect but it's way better than where I started.
I'm planning to sit the real one in about three weeks. That should give me enough time to work through the stuff I'm still shaky on, mainly exponents and solving for variables with two steps. Didn't think I'd feel this okay about it this fast.
I took the MDTP last semester after being out of school for almost four years, and honestly the thing that helped me most was just doing timed practice on the actual question types instead of reviewing general math. I kept spending time on stuff I already knew and ignoring the gaps. Once I found mdtp/questions/trigonometry 3 and started working through those specifically, I realized where I was actually losing points. It wasn't that I didn't know the material, I just wasn't recognizing what the test was asking fast enough.
You're doing the right thing by starting now. Five years out is rough but it comes back quicker than you think once you're drilling the right stuff. Don't waste time on long video lectures, just find practice questions at your level and work through them until the format feels familiar. That's what moved me out of the remedial track.
Five years out is actually fine — I was in the same spot and what helped me most wasn't grinding practice problems, it was figuring out why I got things wrong. Like if you miss a question, don't just look up the right answer and move on. Work backwards and figure out what assumption you made that broke the logic. That habit carries you way further than memorization, especially on placement tests that like to test the same concept from weird angles. I found the mdtp/questions/trigonometry 3 questions useful for this because the distractors are really well designed — you can see exactly which misconception each wrong answer is targeting.
For pre-algebra and algebra specifically, focus hard on fractions, signed numbers, and order of operations. Those trip up almost everyone coming back after a break and they're foundational to everything else on the test. Don't skip the "why" step even when it feels slow. It's not slow — it's actually the fastest way to stop making the same mistakes twice.