Using Gina Wilson All Things Algebra 2015 for Self-Study or Teaching
Gina Wilson's All Things Algebra materials are one of those things that shows up everywhere in Algebra classes but nobody really explains how to use them efficiently. The 2015 edition is the one most people are still working with, and honestly it's not going away because it covers the core concepts well even if the formatting hasn't been touched in years. The resources are available on Teachers Pay Teachers and her website allthingsalgebra.com. Some sections are free. The full curriculum bundles cost between $40 and $80 depending on what you're buying. You'll also find scattered posts on Reddit and various education forums where people share individual worksheets they've printed. Just be careful with third-party uploads — some are outdated or missing answer keys. The main bundle is called the "All Things Algebra Curriculum Bundle." That's what most teachers mean when they reference the 2015 edition. It covers everything from linear equations through quadratics and into basic statistics, all organized by unit rather than by chapter.
How the Materials Actually Work
The curriculum is organized into units. Each unit has guided notes, worksheets, quizzes, and a test. The guided notes are the most useful part. They're fill-in-the-blank style, which means students have to actually engage with the material instead of just copying down whatever the teacher writes on the board. I've seen classrooms where the notes alone cut lecture time in half and somehow students retained more. The worksheets follow a gradient difficulty structure. Early problems are straightforward applications. Later problems mix concepts together. The last few problems on each worksheet are usually word problems that require setting up equations from scratch. That progression is intentional and it works. Skipping ahead and starting with the hard problems tends to frustrate students who haven't built the foundational skill yet. Quizzes are short, usually 8 to 10 problems. They're meant to be given 10 to 15 minutes after the day's lesson. Tests at the end of each unit are comprehensive and about 25 to 35 problems. They cover everything in the unit without leaning too heavily on any single topic.
What Most People Miss About This Curriculum
The answer keys are included in the PDF files, but they're separate documents. If you're using this for self-study and you don't realize the answers are in a different file, you'll waste time looking for them inside the same worksheet. The answer key for each unit is typically labeled something like "All Things Algebra Unit 3 Answer Key.pdf." Find it and you save yourself about 20 minutes of frustration. Another thing that trips people up: the units don't follow a strict sequential order that every curriculum mandates. You can reorder them. For example, some people prefer to do the polynomials unit before the factoring unit, even though the default order has them reversed. The materials work either way because each unit is largely self-contained. Just make sure students understand linear equations before moving into anything involving variables on both sides of an equation. That prerequisite matters more than the official unit order suggests. Here's a practical edge case I ran into. A student was working through the systems of equations unit and kept getting confused between substitution and elimination methods. The worksheet had both methods presented side by side but didn't explicitly tell students when to use which. I created a simple decision chart on a half-sheet of paper: if a variable already has a coefficient of 1 or -1, use substitution. Otherwise, use elimination. That one chart eliminated most of the hesitation and errors within two class sessions.
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The Downsides
The biggest limitation is that the curriculum assumes a certain level of classroom structure. If you're using this alone at home without a parent or tutor guiding you, the guided notes format might feel incomplete. The notes have blanks but they don't always explain the "why" behind a procedure. You'll need to supplement with video explanations or a textbook for conceptual understanding. Khan Academy pairs reasonably well with these materials if you need that extra layer. The 2015 edition also predates some newer Common Core alignment changes. If your school district requires strictly aligned materials, check with your department head before committing. A few problems in the later units reference coordinate geometry in ways that might not match the exact standards your program uses. It's not a dealbreaker for most people, but it matters if you're grading against a rubric. Another practical issue: the PDFs aren't interactive. They're static documents. If you want to write directly on them, you'll need a tablet or a PDF annotation tool. On a regular computer, you're printing them out. Factor in the printer ink and paper cost if you're doing this at home. A typical unit with notes plus worksheets runs about 30 to 50 pages. That's roughly $3 to $5 in printing per unit if you're doing it at home.
My Recommendation
If you're a student, start with the guided notes and do them in order. Don't skip the early, easier problems. The later units build on everything that comes before. Use the answer key to check your work after you finish each worksheet, not while you're still working through problems. Practice with pen and paper first. Using the answer key as a crutch while you go slows down actual learning. If you're a teacher, the free resources on Teachers Pay Teachers are worth exploring before buying the full bundle. Gina Wilson posts sample units regularly. Try one unit with your class. If it fits your teaching style, invest in the full set. The bundle saves money compared to buying units individually, and having all the answer keys in one place makes grading significantly faster. Expect about 10 to 15 minutes per quiz and 20 to 30 minutes per test to grade if you're going through a class of 30 students. For anyone just looking for practice problems without the full curriculum structure, the individual worksheets are available separately. They work fine as supplemental material even if you're using a different textbook. The problem quality is consistent and the difficulty progression is sensible. That's rare in independently published math materials.
