Two Weeks of Free Math Studies at PCC Open a Path to Priority Registration

Four days of radicals and rational expressions at Pasadena City College this week are the opening conditions for a place near the front of the registration line.

The college’s Math Success Center opened the first of two free weeks of its Summer and Winter Bridge Workshops on Monday at the campus at 1570 East Colorado Boulevard, with the second to follow August 10 through 13.

The sessions review algebra and trigonometry for students heading into College Algebra, Precalculus or first-semester Calculus. Students entering CAP², a track that carries priority registration for a late-start Math 004Z section, must attend the first week, including all of the opening day, according to PCC’s Mathematics Division.

Fall classes begin August 24.

The workshops are free lectures and practice covering key concepts in algebra and trigonometry, delivered by a Math Success Center faculty member, and are open to all PCC students, the center said. Registrants are not obligated to attend every session.

Week 1, titled “Algebra Foundations,” begins Monday with an 8:30 a.m. breakfast kickoff, then moved into real numbers, radicals, and an hour of extended practice. Tuesday covers order of operations and algebraic expressions, then linear and absolute value equations and inequalities. Wednesday is factoring and simplifying rational expressions. Thursday closes the week on quadratic, rational and radical equations. Instruction runs from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., with a midday break.

Week 2, “Prep for Calculus,” starts August 10 with functions and domains, then works through difference quotients, graphing rational functions, and — on the final morning, August 13 — the unit circle and trigonometric equations.

As of Monday, the college had not published the room. Students who sign up receive a confirmation email and are contacted by Math Success Center faculty at least one week before the first day, the center said.

Students entering CAP² must also meet with instructors Julius Duthoy and Joshua Hidalgo, who run both programs, and are asked to meet with a CAP² instructor at least twice before the course begins, the Mathematics Division said. Completing the division’s intake form does not guarantee a spot in a corresponding late-start course.

Both hold the rank of instructor in PCC’s Division of Mathematics. Duthoy holds a doctorate in education from UCLA; Hidalgo holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from CSU San Bernardino.

Students can register through the sign-up form at forms.gle/i9GNE6z7AFm4dNZo8.

Questions go to Duthoy at JDuthoy@pasadena.edu or to Hidalgo at JHidalgo11@pasadena.edu, who can also be reached at jhidalgo@pasadena.edu. The Math Success Center is in Room R-406 and can be reached at (626) 585-7458, weekdays from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. A permit is required in every campus lot, around the clock; daily permits cost $2.00 from the yellow machines in Lots 3, 4 and 5. Fall student parking permits are valid beginning August 24.

Three weeks from Monday, the fall term begins. The unit circle will still be there.