March 28, 2010

Testing to Become Teachers: The Praxis II

Posted in Musings, Teaching tagged Praxis, preservice teachers at 4:04 PM by Brianna Rafferty

As I’m sure most of my classmates are, I am starting to look into the Praxis II subject tests that aspiring teachers are required to take.  For English teachers in PA this test is English Language, Literature, and Composition: Content Knowledge – Penn State offers a Communication option with our major so PSU students also take the Communication test.  I am a notoriously panicky test taker, even though I’ve come to realize that I probably worry more than I should about these things.  That being said, I’ve taken it upon myself to look into some resources and discussions about the Praxis II.  Side note: I took the Praxis I as a freshman.

The ETS Website

The Educational Testing Service - the company that administers and scores exams for teacher certification.  The ETS site is where students can register to take the different Praxis assessments.  However, the site also offers some great resources for the test taker.  Each subject test offered by ETS has its own page that gives a breakdown of the topics covered on the test, sample test questions, and a PDF file that can be downloaded that offers the sample questions with the correct answers and explanations for those answers.  The page for the 0041 English Test can be found here.  The page for the 0800 Communication is located here.

ECN: What do others have to say?

I came across a discussion on the ECN that seems to suggest that these tests are pretty difficult to study for effectively.  The post was created by a pre-service teacher who was wondering what to expect when she takes the test in the fall.  The responses included:

The Praxis II English Content test is extremely arbitrary and I don’t really know if there is any way for you to study the actual texts themselves and I don’t think that would be effective anyway. – Mary Worrell
I bought a study guide specifically for the Praxis II, and it had a list of the most common texts referenced on the test. A few of the people in my student teaching cohort all did the same thing: read as many of the books on the list as we could before the test. The texts were completely random, but those of us who were the most widely read got the best scores. I combined that approach to the reading with a ginormous stack of literary term flash cards and managed to get myself a perfect score. But bear in mind, it is pretty random. – Anonymous Nerd

These responses weren’t exactly comforting.  However, the ECN did point me in the direction of some really great study books.

Study Books

I love study books.  Every standardized test I had to take from the SATs to AP tests I purchased at least one study book for.  Call me nerdy, but I love having detailed explanations of everything in a place where I can access them easily.  I also work in retail at home, so these books are great to take to work when I’m stuck at the register on a slow Saturday.  I currently have two study books for the English tests.

Cliffs Test Prep Praxis II English Subject Area Assessments

I like this book a lot because it was inexpensive.  (I think I paid like $15 for it)  One of the disadvantages to the book is that it does cover 0041, 0042, 0043, 0048, and 0049.  Obviously, there is some material in there that is completely irrelevant.  Also, the book only comes with one practice test for the 0041 subject area.  However, there are practice questions scattered throughout the book as well.  The book also contains chapters on preparing for the format (multiple choice in our case) and content of the test.  The average rating on Amazon for this book was 3.5 stars but it seems like the majority of the reviewers did indeed pass the test.

That being said, I like to have variety.  I also purchased Praxis II English Subject Assessments.

Like the Cliffs Test Prep book, this book focuses on multiple tests: 0041, 0042, 0043, and 0049.  Unfortunately this one is a little pricier (I paid $35), but it also comes with a CD-ROM.  The book is also significantly longer than the Cliffs version and offers more practice tests.  However, it only received a 3 star review on Amazon – this is a little biased because there were only four reviews for the book.

Sparknotes 101: Literature

This one actually was recommended by two teachers who posted on ECN.  This book is HUGE – 960 pages.  It summarizes and explains a lot of common texts that students are expected to read.  This makes it a great alternative if you don’t have time to go out and read all the books that are featured on the exam.  It got 4.5 stars on Amazon – again a little biased with only two reviews.  However, both of these reviews were from English teachers who used the book to study for content area certification exams.

Afterthoughts

There are some other resources out there including flash card sites that you can pay $30 to download flashcards from.  Everything depends on personal preference.  I created a new thread on the ECN about the exams, maybe I’ll come across some additional resources.  One thing that I have noticed is that the Communications exam is severely underrepresented – I couldn’t find a practice book for that test.  :/ Guess I’ll just have to wing it.

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