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Raina Ernest

Wyckoff

EDU 220 1001

13 June 2022

Praxis Core Exam Analysis

To begin, the Praxis Core Exam is a test for educators to measure their academic skills in

reading, math, and writing. To obtain teacher licensure must receive a passing score of 150 for

math, 156 for reading, and 162 for writing. The test is administered by the Educational Testing

Service and taken at a nearby test center. The official prep resource sponsor is Khan Academy,

where study guides and practice tests are available. I must pass this exam to enter the second half

of my education degree requirement for UNLV. I know most student teachers take the exam the

moment they enter college or to try substitute teaching, I attempted straight out of high school

and I only passed reading. I was also taking a full course load and had no academic or emotional

support to handle classes, to add an exam that’s basically like the proficiency I already took to

graduate high school. Only difference is now in college everything costs money and there’s no

follow up to see if you learned anything.

In preparation for the praxis core exam I only had about two weeks to practice and take

the practice tests for this assignment. During that time I set up a study plan through Khan and

followed their custom lesson plans for areas I struggle in. I didn’t spend much time on this

because I overthink and over practice to the point of exhaustion and that leads to failure. Reading

also makes me fall asleep and I have trouble breaking down paragraphs to understand the point

of the material. For math I find it horrible that we aren’t able to receive formulas or information

to help us with shapes. These are tools our teachers prepare us with, yet we don’t get to use them
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when we need to show our skill. This leads me to believe those that fail, aren’t struggling with

math; we just can’t remember the material to save us on the questions so it leads to guessing. I’m

learning to undo this, through achieving memorization retention.

On the Teachers Prep website for the practice tests I scored 63% on the math, 60% on the

writing and a 32% on the reading. However, I also took the practice tests on Khan Academy and

scored 148 for math and 150 for reading. That’s two points off the required scores for math, six

for reading and I wouldn’t know writing because teachers prep gives percentages and not number

scores like Khan. I didn’t like the setup of the testing website because the questions were strange

and I definitely couldn’t keep focus. I only felt confident on the writing questions and without

the essay I still received a good percentage. Testing environment wise I do have my son and I

don’t have the luxury of taking an hour and a half to take an exam uninterrupted, so that could

attribute to my unfocus. For math I stated my case earlier and I stand by it, I do see my own

improvement. The first time I took the official Praxis test after graduating high school I failed

math; the subject I always get As and Bs in. I’m currently in calculus and will only continue

learning more complex math. These tests assess basic math skills and trying to remember every

equations, formula, shape, and decoding word problems, I get everything mixed up and forget

steps I know.

In the future, I will try and find in person test taking coping mechanisms to combat

anxiety and retain focus for reading. I will continue working the practice assignments created for

me on Khan Academy, to hopefully pass the next available date for the praxis towards the fall

semester. As I continue to get deeper in my math major, I will have to find a balance between the

complex math while retaining the basics.