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Praxis™

PRAXIS™ is a series of exams and assessments used for determining teacher certification and licensure in 43 states as well as the District of Columbia and Guam. The exams are administered by Educational Testing Service (ETS), a private, nonprofit organization. The PRAXIS Series ™ is a trademark of Educational Testing Service. ETS administers the exams on specific dates each year. State education departments determine individually which exams and assessments will be used for their teacher certification process. Each state sets its own passing scores, or qualifying scores. PRAXIS™ raw scores (questions answered correctly) are converted to scaled scores.

PRAXIS I® Exams: Pre-Professional Skills Assessments

The PRAXIS I® (Pre-Professional Skills Test, or PPST®) exams are used by many colleges and universities to evaluate individuals who would like to enter their teacher education programs. The PRAXIS I® PPST® exams are typically taken early in the student's college career.

Each state sets their own qualifying scores, and many educational institutions require students to meet qualifying scores to enter their teacher education program. The PRAXIS I® PPST® exams are available in two formats: paper based and computer based (offered by appointment through a national network of Prometric™ Testing Centers). The PPST® exams measure basic skills in reading, writing, and mathematics.

The PPST® reading exam measures skills in literal comprehension, the ability to clarify a written passage and understand how the material is organized, and the ability to make reasoned, qualitative judgments about the nature and merits of a written passage. What follows is a sample question from the ETS Tests at a Glance for the PPST® reading exam:

Marguerite Duras' achievement as a filmmaker was marked by refusal to become a professional of the cinema, with all that this implies in terms of prestige, influence, financial backing, and even knowhow. Although she made many films, she said that she knew very little about the technology of cinema and that she had no reason to learn any more: “I want to remain where I am, on the first grounds of cinema, in the primitive zones.”

The passage is primarily concerned with

  • condemning critics' failure to appreciate the work of a particular filmmaker
  • describing the attitude of a particular filmmaker
  • analyzing the style of a particular filmmaker
  • criticizing the technical shortcomings of a particular filmmaker
  • discussing the content of the works of a particular filmmaker

The PPST® writing exam assesses the test-taker's ability to use the English language appropriately. The test-taker must be able to identify proper grammar usage in multiple-choice questions as well as compose a written essay. A sample essay topic from the ETS Tests at a Glance for the PPST® writing exam is the following:

Minimum-wage jobs are a ticket to nowhere. They are boring and repetitive and teaching employees little or nothing of value. Minimum-wage employers take advantage of people because they know they need a job.

Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with this opinion. Support your views with specific reasons and examples from your own experience, observations, or readings.

The PPST® mathematics exam measures mathematical skills that an educated adult or teacher might need. Test-takers must be able to solve problems and reason in a quantitative process. The ability to interpret graphs and determine ratios, percentages, and measurements are components of the exam. Test-takers must also be able to practice informal geometry and use other formal methods of mathematical reasoning. A sample question from the ETS Tests at a Glance for the PPST® mathematics exam is

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