Running head: Praxis Core Exam Analysis 1

Praxis Core Exam Analysis

Andrew Minear

EDU 299

Professor Wyckoff
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Praxis Core Exam Analysis

Normally, it is the teacher who administers an exam, but one must not forget that teachers

start as students too. Everyone throughout their life has taken an exam to move further within

their education and it makes sense that future educators would also need to take exams to prove

their adequacy of subject matter to teach future students. Future educators are required to take

academic skill exams for mathematics, reading, and writing known as the Praxis Core Exams.

Taking these tests are required for those planning to receive their bachelor’s degree in education

and to get started teaching in a classroom. Without passing these tests, a teacher cannot obtain

licensure Just as high school students take the ACTs to prove they’re ready for college; future

educators also need to prove their competence to be accepted into their university of interest and

to go from student, to teacher.

The Praxis Core tests are separated into the three previously mentioned categories;

mathematics, reading, and writing. Each test is timed and has a certain passing score. According

to the Nevada Test Requirements page on the ETS website, the passing score for mathematics is

150, for reading its 156, and for writing its 162. (ETS Praxis, 2019). One hour and twenty-five

minutes is the time allotted for the mathematics and reading exams. For writing, it is one hour

and forty minutes. There is a combined version of the three tests, and it has a time limit of five

hours.

Today, I had to take the practice versions of the Praxis Core exams to help me determine

my strengths and weaknesses in each category. Before taking the practice tests, I first went on to

the praxis preparation website, Khan Academy, and took the diagnostic tests which would

prepare practice exercises for improving my skills. However, I thought it would be redundant to
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take all the recommended practice tests to take even more practice tests, so I only did the

diagnostics for mathematics, reading, and writing and then went through the suggested

mathematics exercises. The diagnostic said that I would be likely to pass for all three sections, so

I decided to not do further preparation exercises for reading and writing, just the math. And that

was my mistake.

Since I gave more focus to mathematics it was the highest of my scores at 83%, which

means my chances to pass the real exam are high and even higher if I were to practice more. For

both reading and writing, I did not do as good, but it’s because I didn’t prepare well enough. I

assumed that I’d do fine since Khan Academy’s diagnostic test said I had high chances for

passing. For reading, I got 57% and for writing 63%. Both of these scores mean I need to put

more work in and learn from my errors. It even says on Khan Academy’s homepage that the

diagnostic test will determine which skills should be worked on. (Khan Academy, 2019). I would

have done better on both of these sections if I had done the review lessons Khan Academy

provided. Another mistake of mine was not planning enough studying time for the tests and I

know that for the official Praxis Core Exams, I will give each section plenty of study time.

I do not plan on taking the Praxis Core tests anytime soon due to me being unable to

continue to get my bachelor’s degree right away. I am unable to afford it at the time both money-

wise and time-wise. However, when it comes time to take them, I will revisit Khan Academy and

go through all of the recommended exercises and do it for more than a day. I will follow the

study schedule Khan Academy sets up for me and I may also look into purchasing some study

books because after seeing such low scores on my reading and writing, I know that I need all the

help I can get to improve those scores.

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References

ETS Praxis. (2019). Nevada Test Requirements. Retrieved from

https://www.ets.org/praxis/nv/requirements.

Khan Academy. (2019). Khan Academy Official Praxis® Core Prep. Retrieved from

https://www.khanacademy.org/prep/praxis-cor