Mathspace. The website that ruined our lives this year, or so many students claim. From unhelpful hints to a class scoreboard, it seems like Mathspace is doping everything in its power to make us more stressed. I conducted a poll in order to see what everyone in Oakton thinks about this topic, and out of the 123 people who voted, 112 said they disliked Mathspace, a shocking 91%. In response to my question of why they dislike the website, students gave replies such as, “It has you do certain things in a different order than we did in class,” and “It’s hard to use because it wants the answers in a very specific form, so even if you get the answer right, it might mark it wrong.” Other students replied:

“It’s hard on the mobile and annoying on the PC. Steps don’t actually help.”

“It isn’t specific about which steps it wants you to type in.”

“It’s very hard to skip a question and the hints are not helpful.”

“It’s hard to enter answers.”

“I can solve the problem and get the right answer on paper but Mathspace requires certain steps.”

“It marks answers wrong for no reason.”

“The hints are not good and don’t explain the hard parts, only the part that everyone knows.”

The major complaints about Mathspace seem to be that it is very specific about how you input the answer, and will count it as incorrect if you do something as small as put a list in the wrong order. It is also extremely difficult to use on a mobile device which makes it hard to find time to do the assignment.

To those of you who assume Mathspace is hated on just because it’s homework, you could not be more incorrect. Of the 35 written responses I got from assorted students, not one of them mentioned disliking math, not liking homework, or being lazy. They all detailed how unhelpful it is and how they get the correct answer but it is still marked as wrong. One student says, “It’s not polished enough to be used as a grade.” No one cares about having to do the work, in fact for a lot of us it helps to understand the material. Our complaints lay with the difficulty and frustration that comes with Mathspace.

With this all said, it is understandable why the teachers implemented this program. I am probably not the only one who got the “There are so many ways to help you, there are even videos for the exact topic!” lecture, and even I thought the program sounded very helpful at first. There is no stopping for this year now that we’ve begun, but I think that teachers are starting to understand why we dislike the program.

There are also a number of students who find Mathspace very helpful. One of the students who voted “Yes” to “Is Mathspace helpful?” said, “It’s actually pretty helpful, and it’s easy homework credit.” Another student said, “It may be a pain to use, but I learn way more using it then I do in class.”

So, what are you to do when faced with a lengthy Mathspace assignment that just refuses to corporate? Sadly, for now, there is no foreseeable solution. We just have to suck it up, and deal with the confusion and stress. Try to stay optimistic and ask your teacher if you need help, good luck!