Praxis Test Cheat Sheet to Tackle Mind-Numbing Content Overload
Here’s a Praxis Test puzzle that I’m sure any teacher will appreciate:
How can you do your ETS Praxis test prep when literally anything could be on it?
Take me, for example. When I graduated college, I had a 3.9 GPA and made the dean’s list each and every semester. I was bright, enthusiastic and ready to lead my own classroom. And for nearly twenty years, I did just that.
But when I sat down to take my Praxis, I practically ran away screaming. From applying high school trigonometry and algebra to identifying random passages from novels, my Praxis didn’t hold back from throwing any possible question my way. It’s like the ETS Praxis makers expected me to be this fountain of knowledge, able to retain anything and everything I’ve learned throughout twenty years of education.
Please. I can barely remember what I had for breakfast this morning – and I’m sure I’m not the only one like this.
But this didn’t ease my pain any better, especially when that failing mark was staring back up in my face. And as I watched my dream teaching job end up in the hands of another teacher, I felt so defeated.
How could I even begin to recoup my losses – my dream teaching job, my registration fees, my self-confidence – if I had no idea what to expect on the Praxis test?
Why Don’t Praxis Makers Get It?
Praxis test makers just don’t get it. Period.
I mean, every good teacher knows that students can only succeed on a test when they’re given a set list of things to study for. We don’t just throw an exam at them and randomly quiz them on things they learned years ago. Successful teaching just doesn’t work that way.
So why is it that, in an effort to discover if we’re good teachers, the Praxis test is violating the very foundation of good teaching?
If you want to succeed at this exam, then you need to learn how to play by ETS’s rules. It’s no use struggling and complaining about it – the makers of the exam aren’t going to change it, so we need to adapt as quickly as possible
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Luckily, there is a way to narrow down the amount of content to study for, because this exam follows a structured formula each and every year. And once you break down that formula, your exam prep will be a breeze.
Here’s just a snapshot of what I’ve discovered so far:
- Praxis Test Prep doesn’t tell you that ETS loves testing on fundamental educational theory. From Maslow to Skinner, make sure you know your behavioral and developmental psychologists like the back of your hand.
- It’s time to bust out your old Praxis test prep notebook because high-school level algebra is the most popular subject in the math section. Here’s a helpful hint: negative properties are often used as a trick question. Remember, two negative numbers multiplied equals a positive number; but two negative signs added together still equal a negative number.
These study help tips –and more - I found on How To Pass The Praxis Test can be used on the following exams:
- Praxis Physics,
- Praxis Chemistry,
- Praxis Mathematics,
- Praxis Music,
- Praxis Theatre,
- Praxis Science,
- Praxis Biology,
- Praxis II Middle School,
- Praxis II Early Childhood,
- Praxis II Social Science,
- Praxis II Elementary Education,
- Praxis Spanish,
- Praxis History,
Go to www.teachingsolutions.org/praxisii.html for more online Praxis test prep resources.
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