Bridging Program

The Maths Learning Centre manages two bridging programs to help students gain confidence and skills in mathematics, and satisfy prerequisits for University of Adelaide courses and degrees.

Maths Foundations

Maths Foundations is a standalone online course which is offered on the edX platform. The course is self-paced and fully online, though you can seek support from the Maths Learning Centre. It is useful as preparation for any university course or degree which assumes maths up to Year 10. In particular, it is excellent preparation for the MathTrackX bridging course. You can access the content for free for four weeks, or pay for extended access and the ability to earn a certificate of completion.

Enrol in Maths Foundations

Useful details about Maths Foundations

  • Content
    • Covers key content in school-level maths from the fundamentals of number to high school algebra.  

  • How it works
    • Completely online course with no classes. 
    • Students can enrol whenever they want and complete the course at their own pace.  
    • The course has an online exam, and you get several attempts at the exam. You can ask for feedback on your exam attempts. 
    • The system will set deadlines for you, but you can shift them without any penalties. 
    • Students can get support through the discussion forums in the online course and through the MLC Drop-In Centre at the Uni of Adelaide. 

  • Cost
    • Anyone can have access the course for four weeks without having to pay.
    • You will not be able to do the exams or get a certificate of completion without paying.
    • Payment for the course costs US$99 (which is A$152 at the moment, though this changes depending on the exchange rate with the USA). 
    • The Maths Foundations course is not included in the cost of the MathTrackX course. If you need to do that course, then you will have to pay for it separately.
    • You can't include the cost of Maths Foundations as part of HECS.
    • University of Adelaide students in specific circumstances can get extended acess for free. To find out more, email the MLC to ask.

MathTrackX

MathTrackX is a program containing six online courses which is offered as an XSeries on the edX platform. The program is self-paced and fully online, though you can seek support from the Maths Learning Centre. It is accepted as a prerequisite at the University of Adelaide instead of SACE Stage 2 Mathematical Methods. It can also be undertaken simply to revise the content in high school mathematics. You can access the content for free for four weeks, or pay for extended access and the ability to earn a certificate of completion.

Enrol in MathTrackX

  • To enrol and pay for all six courses simultaneously, click the link button above, and then find the link that says "Pursue the program".
  • To enrol in the free version, you need to enrol in each of the six courses separately one at a time. Click the link above and scroll down find the list of courses, then click "View the course" for each one. After that, you can click "Enrol" on each page separately. (Note you can always come back and pay for all the courses at once later.)

Useful details about MathTrackX

  • Content
    • Covers the main content from Year 12 Maths Methods.   
    • Requires you to be confident with high school maths up to the end of Year 11, especially algebra. If you feel you need to prepare before beginning MathTrackX, the Maths Foundations course is an excellent preparation for the MathTrackX.
    • Split into six mini courses:
      • Polynomials,
      • Special Functions,
      • Differential Calculus,
      • Integral Calculus,
      • Probability,
      • Statistics. 
    • You can enrol in each course separately to have access to the content for four weeks without having to pay.

  • Using as a prerequisite
    • Stands in place of Maths Methods as a prerequisite for uni entry and for course enrolment.  
    • You do have to pay for the course and gain a certificate in order to use it as a prerequisite.
    • Note a Science degree doesn’t require Maths Methods for entry, but the Physics courses will require Maths Methods to enrol in them. 
    • Other universities do accept MathTrackX as prerequisites, but we have no control over that, and you have to check with them. 
    • You don’t have to complete the course before filling out your SATAC or International Application form. 
    • To get in the first round of university offers at the start of the calendar year, you do need to complete by the third week in December. 

  • Other courses
    • We do not provide a bridging course for the South Australian high school subject Specialist Maths. Instead there is a course you can do as part of your university degree called Mathematics IM. 
    • If you have the opportunity to do Maths Methods at High School as part of SACE, then we strongly recommend that you do so.

  • How it works
    • Completely online course with no classes. 
    • Students can enrol whenever they want and complete the course at their own pace.  
    • Most people take five months to do the course. 
    • Each of the six mini courses has its own online exam, and you get several attempts at the exam. You can ask for feedback on your exam attempts. 
    • The system will set deadlines for you, but you can shift them without any penalties. 
    • Students can get support through the discussion forums in the online course and through the MLC Drop-In Centre at the Uni of Adelaide. 

  • Cost
    • Anyone can have access to each mini course for four weeks without having to pay. In order to do this, do not enrol in the six courses all at once, but go to each course separately and enrol in them one at a time. If you choose to pay for the courses later, then you can pay for them all at once at the time.
    • You will not be able to do the exams or get a certificate of completion without paying.
    • Payment for each of the six mini courses costs US$99 (which is between A$150 and A$160 at the moment depending on the exchange rate with the USA). 
    • You get a 10% discount if you pay for all six at once, so payment for the whole six-course series costs US$534.60 (which is between A$810 and A$864 depending on the exchange rate with the USA).
    • The Maths Foundations course is not included in the cost of the MathTrackX course. If you need to do that course, then you will have to pay for it separately.
    • You can't include the cost of MathTrackX as part of HECS.

Additional resources

The following resources were created for the previous versions of the bridging courses (MathsTrack and MathsStart). The main resources are PDF booklets for each of the topics in the course, that contain explanations, examples and exercises with answers.

Anyone is able to access these resources and use them for personal study at any time. You do not need to contact us to use them for personal study, but note that the books are copyright, so we do want you to ask permission to use them to teach students of your own.