Building Math Readiness In A General Chemistry Course
Professor Kyle Wagner turned to Aktiv’s Readiness module to give students the opportunity to strengthen the math skills they need for General Chemistry.
Success Stories
From the Lecture Hall to the Field: How Aktiv Readiness Sparked Confidence in STEM
Discover how FSU student Carolina Paz bridged knowledge gaps, found confidence, and deepened her passion for science.
Harleen Dhami
Senior Growth Marketing Specialist
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Pursuing passion through storytelling and science
When Carolina Paz enrolled in General Chemistry to fulfill her natural science requirement, the course felt like a daunting hurdle. But with the right support, she turned confusion into confidence—and found a surprising new appreciation for chemistry. Paz is a senior student at Florida State University, majoring in Media and Communications with a minor in Environmental Science. Inspired by a love of documentaries and a lifelong admiration for channels like Animal Planet and series like Planet Earth, Paz hopes to pursue a career in environmental communication. Her dream profession involves crafting social media content for conservation and nonprofit platforms and writing articles on pressing climate and sustainability issues.
“I’ve always been passionate about storytelling,” she says. “I’m not as strong in math or science, but writing is where I shine.”
Navigating chemistry outside her comfort zone
Paz entered General Chemistry I in spring 2025 alongside 200 other students in a packed lecture hall. The course material was advanced and moved at a fast pace in the term. “I haven’t taken chemistry since high school,” she explains. “At the beginning of the semester, I was especially struggling with molecule conversions.”
But instead of letting chemistry derail her progress, Paz leaned into the challenge and found support with Aktiv Chemistry’s intuitive and visual-rich platform. Aktiv’s Readiness module—designed to detect prerequisite knowledge gaps in math and chemistry—made a noticeable difference in Paz’s confidence. Specifically, the Readiness diagnostic, assigned at the start of the term, offered a low-stakes way to assess her baseline understanding.
“The diagnostic helped me prepare for topics that were going to be more difficult,” she shares. “It gave me a heads-up on the areas where I’d need to focus more.”
Turning confusion into confidence with Aktiv Readiness
Throughout the term, Paz used Aktiv Chemistry both in lecture and at home—completing assignments, reviewing practice problems and receiving targeted and personalized feedback based on her responses. It was the Readiness study plan in particular that helped Paz stay on track. After completing the diagnostic, she was automatically given personalized homework that covered areas that she wasn’t as strong in.
“I loved that Aktiv didn’t just tell me something was wrong—it explained why,” she says. “That in-depth feedback, along with help from my TA, helped me understand what I was doing incorrectly and fix it right away.”
Interactive questions, like unit conversions and Lewis structures, helped her visualize and build conceptual understanding. She also appreciated the flexibility of the mobile app. “It was just so easy to use on my phone,” Paz adds. “Some platforms glitch or feel bulky, but the Aktiv app was consistent and reliable—I could walk around and still do my homework.”
Looking back, she recommends the platform to both students and instructors: “Aktiv made chemistry, which was totally outside of my comfort zone, feel accessible—and even enjoyable.”
About THE AUTHOR
Harleen Dhami is a Senior Growth Marketing Specialist for Top Hat. She works to amplify the stories of both faculty and students alike through case studies, blog posts and ebooks. Harleen holds a Master's Degree in Professional Communication from Toronto Metropolitan University. In 2020, she was the recipient of a Gold Quill Award of Merit presented by the International Association of Business Communicators.
Harleen Dhami
Senior Growth Marketing Specialist
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