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Post by elaine on Nov 16, 2021 14:39:20 GMT
If so, any study tips? The wealth & breadth of material covered is overwhelming. I’m struggling to master all the topics covered in one 130 question exam.
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Post by scrapmaven on Nov 16, 2021 16:49:04 GMT
Are you going to take the exam in order to become a social studies teacher? Though ds didn't take the praxis, he might know about it, since he's a student teacher of history. I'll ask him.
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Post by elaine on Nov 16, 2021 17:08:17 GMT
Are you going to take the exam in order to become a social studies teacher? Though ds didn't take the praxis, he might know about it, since he's a student teacher of history. I'll ask him. Yes. I am going to get my certificate in a career switcher program here in VA. I’d prefer my own classroom to subbing in different classrooms daily. There are a limited number of subjects one can get a certificate in through this program and Social Studies is the best fit for me. I have to pass the Praxis exam (and a Virginia literacy exam) first and then go to school for a year (local community college) in order to get my VA teaching certificate. Unfortunately, the Social Studies exam covers American History, World History, Government, Geography, Economics, Psychology, and Social Studies. I can pass the psychology and social studies part of the exam with my eyes closed, but World History covers from the Paleolithic period until today around the globe and it is a LOT of material to memorize - not to mention I have never taken an Economics class, nor do I plan to ever teach it. I have finished studying a large Praxis review book once, and am starting round 2 with it. I would appreciate any tips that your son has for me! |
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Post by scrapmaven on Nov 16, 2021 17:20:00 GMT
My son had to take both both the CSET social studies exam and the CBEST in order to get his single subject credential. I think it's great that you are going to be a teacher. Those students will be very fortunate to be in your care.
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Post by Basket1lady on Nov 16, 2021 17:25:58 GMT
Are you going to take the exam in order to become a social studies teacher? Though ds didn't take the praxis, he might know about it, since he's a student teacher of history. I'll ask him. Yes. I am going to get my certificate in a career switcher program here in VA. I’d prefer my own classroom to subbing in different classrooms daily. There are a limited number of subjects one can get a certificate in through this program and Social Studies is the best fit for me. I have to pass the Praxis exam (and a Virginia literacy exam) first and then go to school for a year (local community college) in order to get my VA teaching certificate. Unfortunately, the Social Studies exam covers American History, World History, Government, Geography, Economics, Psychology, and Social Studies. I can pass the psychology and social studies part of the exam with my eyes closed, but World History covers from the Paleolithic period until today around the globe and it is a LOT of material to memorize - not to mention I have never taken an Economics class, nor do I plan to ever teach it. I have finished studying a large Praxis review book once, and am starting round 2 with it. I would appreciate any tips that your son has for me! You taught at university level and you STILL need to take another year of college? That’s just nuts. I have no advice for the exam, but I’m confident that you will ace it. If there are only 130 questions, it can’t be too detailed, right? Can you find a practice exam on the inter webs? |
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Post by elaine on Nov 16, 2021 17:51:39 GMT
Yes. I am going to get my certificate in a career switcher program here in VA. I’d prefer my own classroom to subbing in different classrooms daily. There are a limited number of subjects one can get a certificate in through this program and Social Studies is the best fit for me. I have to pass the Praxis exam (and a Virginia literacy exam) first and then go to school for a year (local community college) in order to get my VA teaching certificate. Unfortunately, the Social Studies exam covers American History, World History, Government, Geography, Economics, Psychology, and Social Studies. I can pass the psychology and social studies part of the exam with my eyes closed, but World History covers from the Paleolithic period until today around the globe and it is a LOT of material to memorize - not to mention I have never taken an Economics class, nor do I plan to ever teach it. I have finished studying a large Praxis review book once, and am starting round 2 with it. I would appreciate any tips that your son has for me! You taught at university level and you STILL need to take another year of college? That’s just nuts. I have no advice for the exam, but I’m confident that you will ace it. If there are only 130 questions, it can’t be too detailed, right? Can you find a practice exam on the inter webs? Yeah, can you believe it? I have 16+ years of college & grad school teaching and still need a year of college to get a teaching certificate. I now have subbed enough in enough different classrooms from 4th grade to 12th grade to know that I know enough about teaching to do it successfully in K-12 (actually, I don’t teach the lower grades, because I know that isn’t my strength). The year of teacher training classes makes sense if you are switching from a military or business career, for example, to teaching (which is what the program was developed to do), but it is going to be a whole lot of redundant in my case. Unfortunately, there is no way around it. At least my dh’s GI Bill will cover the $3K tuition, but I still have to cover the exam fees, etc. And we have a teacher shortage. I took a practice exam yesterday - one came with the book - and only managed a 74%. I don’t know if that is going to be high enough and it is the worst that I have ever done on a standardized test, including the psychology licensure exam. It is hard for me to remember the exact details of all the various treaties throughout World History, for example, and they seem to always ask about a couple of them. Not to mention having to remember the exact formula for measuring market elasticity in Economics, etc. Can you say where the international date line is off the top of your head? (I got that one wrong on the practice test). I’m usually good at exams, but the amount of material - a good portion of which I will never use because I’m never going to teach Econ or Geography - is depressing me. And it is taking a whole world of time and energy to study for it. |
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Post by worldwanderer75 on Nov 16, 2021 17:56:08 GMT
I had to take a Praxis to get licensed as a Speech therapist. I'd recommend buying a book and practice tests for the exam. I worked my way through the (700 pages) book and took the quizzes at the end of each chapter. I spent more time studying in the sections where I wasn't as comfortable with the material. I think my book came with 12 practice exams online and I did all of them. I felt adequately prepared and passed.
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peabay
Prolific Pea
Posts: 9,610
Jun 25, 2014 19:50:41 GMT
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Post by peabay on Nov 16, 2021 18:00:24 GMT
Wow. Social Studies in Virginia. That should be interesting....
(you'll be great.)
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Post by elaine on Nov 16, 2021 19:48:03 GMT
Wow. Social Studies in Virginia. That should be interesting.... (you'll be great.) Thanks! I know that I will teach mostly History &/or Civics/Government, but I’m hoping to also get to teach HS Psychology &/or Sociology (usually only 1-2 courses per semester or year taught in each HS, so I’ll be lucky to snag them). I could easily teach Stats too (I’ve taught at college level), but don’t know if I’d be allowed to without a Math certificate (it is a very different world from university teaching where you can teach subjects you are interested in and good at - the Math Praxis goes through Calculus and I simply don’t have those Math skills). I subbed for a Stats class yesterday and enjoyed helping them with frequency charts. It ends up that the teacher I subbed for had my older son for Stats and still remembers him - he wrote me a gushing email about him. 😀 I had to take a Praxis to get licensed as a Speech therapist. I'd recommend buying a book and practice tests for the exam. I worked my way through the (700 pages) book and took the quizzes at the end of each chapter. I spent more time studying in the sections where I wasn't as comfortable with the material. I think my book came with 12 practice exams online and I did all of them. I felt adequately prepared and passed. It is great to hear success stories! I’ve worked my way through a 450 page Cirrus Study Guidebook and only scored 74% on the practice test at the back of the book. ☹️ They have only 1 more test available online. I’m going to reread World History and Economics chapters before I take that one. |
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Post by Basket1lady on Nov 16, 2021 20:22:31 GMT
You taught at university level and you STILL need to take another year of college? That’s just nuts. I have no advice for the exam, but I’m confident that you will ace it. If there are only 130 questions, it can’t be too detailed, right? Can you find a practice exam on the inter webs? Yeah, can you believe it? I have 16+ years of college & grad school teaching and still need a year of college to get a teaching certificate. I now have subbed enough in enough different classrooms from 4th grade to 12th grade to know that I know enough about teaching to do it successfully in K-12 (actually, I don’t teach the lower grades, because I know that isn’t my strength). The year of teacher training classes makes sense if you are switching from a military or business career, for example, to teaching (which is what the program was developed to do), but it is going to be a whole lot of redundant in my case. Unfortunately, there is no way around it. At least my dh’s GI Bill will cover the $3K tuition, but I still have to cover the exam fees, etc. And we have a teacher shortage. I took a practice exam yesterday - one came with the book - and only managed a 74%. I don’t know if that is going to be high enough and it is the worst that I have ever done on a standardized test, including the psychology licensure exam. It is hard for me to remember the exact details of all the various treaties throughout World History, for example, and they seem to always ask about a couple of them. Not to mention having to remember the exact formula for measuring market elasticity in Economics, etc. Can you say where the international date line is off the top of your head? (I got that one wrong on the practice test). I’m usually good at exams, but the amount of material - a good portion of which I will never use because I’m never going to teach Econ or Geography - is depressing me. And it is taking a whole world of time and energy to study for it. That’s just nuts. I’d never do well keeping all the treaties separate and I’d be hopeless at teaching ANY sort of math class. But I did know about the international date line—we used to live in Seoul. I’ve been taking French classes for 2 years now and I will say that I was VERY rusty with my study skills. And I still don’t have the knowledge retention that I had in my school years. Good luck! |
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Post by freecharlie on Nov 17, 2021 2:58:31 GMT
Pay for the practice tests. Take notes on any question you get wrong and study it.
Take them again if you can.
That's how I passed the English one to add it.
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J u l e e
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,531
Location: Cincinnati
Jun 28, 2014 2:50:47 GMT
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Post by J u l e e on Nov 17, 2021 12:03:24 GMT
I haven’t. I just wanted to read the thread and see what you’re up to!  I have faith that you will do exceedingly well on this exam, and in the classroom. Wishing you the best! |
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Post by scrapmaven on Nov 17, 2021 16:09:48 GMT
My ds didn't know much about the Praxis, but he thinks he took a test that was very similar. It had econ, government and history. He didn't have a problem passing, so you absolutely will pass, easily. He had to take the CBEST, as well and said that was easy. I think that both are compared to the PRAXIS I and II.
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alitheia
Shy Member
Posts: 18
Oct 8, 2021 16:34:48 GMT
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Post by alitheia on Nov 17, 2021 21:12:44 GMT
I took Praxis 35 YEARS ago to get my Biology/Chemistry certification in the state of California . . . so I'm not really a big help! I passed the Biology one first try, and if I remember right the Chemistry one too . . . but my score wasn't as high. I was already certified in another state in Biology. I also had to take some state specific classes (about 12 semester hours) to get the CA license . . . every state is different! I started teaching in CA on an emergency license and they let me work through the additional requirements over about a year or two.
What I would suggest is to check with your state teacher licensing agency to see what score will secure a license. If they are really short, they may even grant an emergency license if you have a district that is willing to hire you and help you apply for one.
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Post by silverlining on Nov 17, 2021 21:13:51 GMT
I think it's a great idea to get all the practice tests you can, and then make flashcards of the ones you missed.
I like old-school index cards, but my dd loves Anki to create flash card decks because it will show you the cards you miss with high frequency until you're getting them right, and then show them with less frequency, but enough so you don't forget them. Either way, you will remember more by making the cards then by just re-reading the information.
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Judy26
Pearl Clutcher
MOTFY Bitchy Nursemaid
Posts: 2,834 
Location: NW PA
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Post by Judy26 on Nov 17, 2021 21:45:39 GMT
Study.com has a Praxis section for History. You can sign up for 30 days free. I did this a few years ago when I took the library science Praxis. I have a Masters in Reading so I knew a fair amount of the material but the study.com stuff made me much more confident. I think I got above a 95 on the test. I can say the practice materials I used were all way harder than the actual test.
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Post by Tamhugh on Nov 17, 2021 23:15:45 GMT
My younger DS took the social studies Praxis a few years ago. He honestly felt like you couldn’t really study for it, because exactly as you said, it covers so much that you never know what will appear on the test. When he took it, there were 200 questions (I think) and he scored a 186. He thought the psych and sociology sections were the hardest because he had less classes in those areas.
Good luck!
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