PRAXIS ANALYSIS 1

Praxis Core Exam Analysis

Pete A. Penksa

College of Southern Nevada

EDU 220: Principles of Education Psychology

Professor Theri Wyckoff

June 19, 2022

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Praxis Core Exam Analysis

Exam Requirements

I plan to transfer to the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) after completing my

first two years at the College of Southern Nevada (CSN). To receive my Nevada Teaching

Certification to become a high school PE teacher, I must pass five different Praxis Exams. The

names of my required Praxis Exams are as follows: Physical Education: Content and Design,

Principles of Learning and Teaching: Grades 7-12, Reading, Writing, and Mathematics. For

reading, a score of 156 is required. Writing requires a score of 162, and a qualifying score for

math is 150.

Exam Preparation

Before attempting the practice Praxis exams, I read everything about them on the

Educational Testing Service (ETS) website. Even though it took some extra time, the practice

questions on the ETS website were a needed refresher before attempting the official practice

exams. Fortunately for me, I attempted all three practice Praxis Core Exams from the Praxis Prep

website in my EDU202 course last semester. I also chose to do my end-of-semester lesson plan

for that class on the requirements to get certified as a teacher in Nevada, and nearly half of the

presentation wound up being about the Praxis Exams. It feels like last semester gave me a head

start on the rest of the class when writing this paper because I already knew what was required of

me. What I did not expect was to perform much better this time when taking the practice tests.

Exam Results

Last semester when I attempted the Praxis Prep Exams, I scored in the high sixty percent

range on all three tests. I was extremely discouraged until having a conversation with my

girlfriend, where she told me, “It is just like any other test. You are going to have to study.” She
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also explained to me that I was giving myself way too much anxiety worrying about a test that is

still somewhat far away in the future.

When attempting the practice core exams on teacherstestprep.com, I received much better

grades on the writing and math exams. My worst score was in reading. The percentage I scored

correctly was 63 percent, which means I need improvement before attempting the official Praxis

Core Exam. My writing exam score was 93 percent, which means I am very likely to pass the

official Praxis Core Exam. For math, I scored 92 percent, which also means I am very likely to

pass. The much-improved scores in math and writing make me wonder if I received an easier test

on teacherstestprep.com, or if I performed that much better because I ate breakfast or something

like that.

Future Exam Preparation

As aforementioned, I am going to have to study before I pay for the official Praxis Core

Exams. I will most likely do the same thing that helped me pass the placement exams in college

after not studying anything since I graduated high school in 2011, I paid for an online study

program. I will not be using the same one though. The last online study program I used did not

even prepare me for the same type of math that I faced on the placement exams. So much so, that

I felt inclined to write to them and tell them that they prepared me for the wrong math. It did help

refresh a ton of things for me though, and in the end, I did not feel like I wasted my forty dollars.

I plan to study for a solid month before taking the Praxis Exams, the same way I did for my

placement exams.
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References

“Because Great Teaching Makes All the Difference.” Teachers Test Prep | Praxis, CSET,

CBEST, CPACE, RICA, EdTPA, FTCE, 2022, https://www.teacherstestprep.com/.

“Praxis® Core Academic Skills for Educators Tests.” ETS, 2022,

http://www.ets.org/praxis/about/core.