MyLab Reviews & Product Details

Very little. I can appreciate the encouragement after successfully answering a question, and it does provide practice problems. Despite the system marking it as such, this segment is not about ease of use. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Where to start?

I'm currently enrolled in a math course, and using MyLab Math. After being forced to pay $90 for a six-month subscription (I would have appreciated a cheaper, shorter subscription that meets the needs of a college student enrolled in a standard 15-week semester, but the only alternative was a three-month subscription that could not have covered the full semester. I would have simply not purchased the product if it weren't required), I received simple bugs, gateway errors, and the worst question design imaginable. Every question felt unnecessary in some way. Some were unnecessarily easy, in that they only reviewed the most basic parts of each problem. but this is understandable - fundamentals must be taught before anything more. While this was irritating.

However, the remainder of the questions were unnecessarily difficult. Not conceptually, but structually - decimals where there were no need for decimals, changes in the structure of the problems to add additional, unnecessary obstacles to completing them. These obstacles didn't help me understand the material, or steps, any further, just resulted in more time taken out of my day to work through them.

To illustrate this, I can use an example. Say the chapter involves graphing linear equations. To help develop an understanding of this, an educator might present a problem such as

y = 2x + 3

and then require the student to graph it. This problem uses simple numbers, and introduces a fundamental understanding of the concept. After this, (slightly) more advanced concepts. such as fractions, negative integers, and similar might be approached and covered.

MyLab Math would write a problem like this as

8x - 3y = 22.

Obviously, it can still be completed - isolate y, divide by 3,

y = (3/8)x - 22/3

but those two extra steps were unnecessary. This is a good challenge problem for a student still learning basic linear equations, but using only problems like this has no positive effect, and increases the time required to complete assignments. Now imagine this pattern of unnecessary steps in the context of more complex math, and you should be able to see how irritating it is. Earlier this semester, I spent an hour and a half on one problem, only for the program to crash. There were seven problems like that one in that assignment, and I simply gave up. Instead of using the service I'm paying $90 for six months of, I looked up practice problems, because they taught me the concept without any extra complications. Those were free, by the way.

Could I complete the unnecessary extra steps? Certainly! They were already covered in previous courses. Could I work with absurd fractions and generally annoying numbers? Of course! But how does it benefit me to slog through these problems if all I'm trying to do is learn the concepts behind them? In fact, I'd argue this only incentivizes students to cheat -- why bother working through an hour and a half of poorly designed problems when you could instead use cheating services like Photomath for those, and learn from practice problems elsewhere? Photomath would likely do a better job teaching the concepts anyway.

These issues are further exacerbated by MyLab's grading style. You are given a certain amount of attempts to correctly answer each question (unless specified otherwise by the course's instructor). Each unnecessary step and each convoluted number added to the problem increases one's chances of making a simple mistake. While one might understand the concept well - and the goal of MyLab should be to teach concepts, not inhuman perfection - one also might forget to write down a negative sign, or incorrectly copy a decimal. These mistakes happen at any level of math, but the more convoluted the problem, the more opportunity for human error. MyLab increases the risk of human error while simultaneously punishing it, and that cannot be the basis for any product priced at $90 for a temporary subscription.

My experience has been terrible. If you're looking to use MyLab Math for education, reconsider. If you're some poor student condemned to using it, use the free two-week trial, cheat for the sake of grades, and learn the concepts yourself - free practice problems are more effective than those Pearson charges $90 for. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

My Lab works well with cohorts of students <1000. It provides great training and internationally based-assessments. MyLab also has many different assessments for similar objectives that students can use to practice their skills. The platform can be simple to use once you are used to it, to set it up is also easy. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The grade book does not always sync easily with the LMS, and you have to contact support. Very large cohorts fall into different grade books and can be difficult to manage. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Nothing. I will, however, use this section to emphasize that I have completed nearly three chapters with an A. I would also point out that I have worked with math in the professional field as a CNC machinist for almost 13 years. I would also point out that I scored high enough to go into the class above what I am taking now; however, I decided to start at the intermediate level. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

You are given videos that do not explain even 10% of the type of problems you will be expected to answer on assignments. For this, there is a study section with exceptionally POOR directions. Colleges should NOT be using this. They would be better off giving links to a Khan Academy video and providing assignments with REASONABLE problems. I fail to see how this subpar garbage is considered to be adequate for students coming straight out of high school (unless the goal is for them to have a failing grade). Pearson should be ashamed of itself for putting this junk out. Detailed explanations for EVERY STEP should be included in "help me solve this" and "view an example." I don't care if Pearson believes that a student should know certain steps or not; NO ONE is paying over $100 in addition to their tuition for incomplete information. Period. Shame on you Pearson. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I like how the videos meant to help you look like they were made in the 80s and are entirely unhelpful and inconsistent, and the fact that this program is really just designed to decrease teacher workload by using a program to grade assignments, which is often done poorly. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I had to pay for pearson in addition to paying for the class that used it, which seems ridiculous. Besides that fact the way this program forces you to enter answers is frustrating, marking you wrong for being too specific with an answer and not goving partial credit even for problems that involve multiple answers. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

It doesn't use paper maybe?! Really nothing. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The fact the help is frequently unrelated to the question being asked.

some problems require entierly diffrent formulas, or are unable to be solved using their methods. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The simulations are very good. Students learn a lot from them as they incorporate real-world situations. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Sometimes the test bank questions lack depth. For instance, ratio questions may appear but it is only the answer but not an interpretation of the ratio. Students need to get deeper into the concepts in my opinion. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The best in that students and teachers can use any divise to work on the platform. Also, practices integrates a dynamic and real way to expose learners to English. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

It's too much time consuming when a student mistaken their code and then administrators request troubleshooting to technical support. Students would like solutions in shorter and faster period of time. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Nothing. It's a useless system that has no value to education. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

My college used the same book for two different courses that I took back to back. Pearsons used the same access code for the book, even though it was different courses. My access expired 3 days before the course ended. I contacted Pearsons tech support who did nothing more than repeat the same information that I could see on the computer and inform me that there was nothing they could do. Crap company and I hope it goes bankrupt. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

There is nothing good about this program. A quick google search will show how this application is universally hated by teachers and students alike. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Terrible user interface, extremely slow and laggy. Really, the worst part is the company and the overall culture surrounding it. As students, it is so normalized to have to purchase an access code for 100+ dollars just to do homework. Many classes don't require the books, but we still have to pay for it. There needs to be a massive change in the monopoly companies like Pearson have over education. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

There is nothing useful at all about mylab if you wish to learn a subject. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Everything else. The formatting of questions is atrocious. The way answers are generated allows for random guessing and hinders learning as people easily learn to game the system. Do not consider using this if you want to keep yourself mental sane as the problems are not even hard but if you <.1% off then it will mark it wrong leaving you to misunderstand why you got it wrong. Not due to any misconception of yourself but because of this stupid system where if anything is off it is wrong. But guessing the multiple choice is fine so their system isn't to keep you from guessing, it is just to aggravate you. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.