Because of her math placement test score, freshman business major Sheria Flowers has been taking a remedial math course this semester, one that teaches a lot of the same things she learned in high school.

“It’s kind of easy,” she said. “But I need to take it.”

Flowers shouldn’t feel bad. A quarter of NIU students take remedial math courses, said Mathematical Sciences Chair William Blair.

Those students who are unable to place into MATH 110 are “directed to take the courses KISH 096 or KISH 098, offered on the NIU campus by Kishwaukee College in order to prepare students for MATH 110,” Blair said.

“This 25 percent figure has been more or less stable over the past few years,” he added.

The number of students taking remedial courses at NIU is in line with national averages. A 2003 National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) report found that 28 percent of incoming freshmen were enrolled in at least one remedial course. The majority of those students were enrolled in math classes, as opposed to writing or English classes.

NIU doesn’t technically offer any remedial courses, as the math courses are taught by Kishwaukee College, meaning that there are no remedial courses taught at NIU in any subject besides math, said Brent Gage, assistant vice provost of enrollment services.

Alan Zollman, associate professor of mathematical sciences, said he has noticed more remedial math courses offered and more students enrolled in them this semester than in years past.

“It could be two reasons,” Zollman said in a previous interview of why this change has occurred. “Students are less prepared than they should be. And maybe we have more students than we’ve had before.”

Zollman said there aren’t as many average or C students in his classes as there used to be. His classes are filled with mainly A, B, D and F students, he said. The fact that there are more below-average students, at least in Zollman’s estimation, could be another reason why there are more students taking remedial math classes this semester.

Blair warned that just because a student doesn’t place into MATH 110 doesn’t mean they have to take remedial math courses. “MATH 101 is open to all entering students and, depending on a student’s major, can be used to satisfy the General Education requirement,” he said.