ALEKS is an Internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

 based interactive mathematics

Mathematics

Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...

 and science

Science

Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...

 tutoring and assessment program for subjects in mathematics, the sciences, and business.

Rather than being based on numerical test scores, ALEKS uses the theory of knowledge space

Knowledge space

In mathematical psychology, a knowledge space is a combinatorial structure describing the possible states of knowledge of a human learner.To form a knowledge space, one models a domain of knowledge as a set of concepts, and a feasible state of knowledge as a subset of that set containing the...

s to develop a combinatorial

Combinatorics

Combinatorics is a branch of mathematics concerning the study of finite or countable discrete structures. Aspects of combinatorics include counting the structures of a given kind and size , deciding when certain criteria can be met, and constructing and analyzing objects meeting the criteria ,...

understanding of the set of topics a student does or doesn't understand from the answers to its test questions. Based on this assessment, it determines the topics that the student is ready to learn and allows the student to choose from interactive learning modules for these topics.