Praxis Test Prep For Educators

Students and educators seeking their teaching licenses will likely have to take at least one Praxis exam. Some teacher education programs also require students to take the Praxis prior to admission.

The Praxis helps determine whether or not a person is qualified to be an educator, and while it’s not necessarily required to become a teacher, the Praxis is the national standard for teacher licensing exams, and a passing score can lead to increased job opportunities. The exams assess proficiency in reading, writing and math skills essential to teaching a range of students, as well as classroom management skills and pedagogy.

The Praxis Core, the Praxis Subject Assessments (also known as Praxis II), the Praxis PLT and the Praxis CKT Tests are all available to individuals seeking teacher licensure. The Core exam assesses a person’s general academic proficiency in reading, writing and math. This test is suitable for all teachers and is the Praxis exam most likely required by state licensing boards. However, some states may accept ACT or SAT scores in lieu of this exam. Educators usually only have to pass this exam once.

Those who plan on teaching specific subjects, such as biology, political science or theater, may be required to take one or more Praxis Subject Assessments. The Educational Testing Service (ETS) offers over 90 of these tests in a range of subjects.

The PLT, or Principles of Learning and Teaching, exam is a subject assessment commonly taken by prospective educators. Rather than subject-specific knowledge, however, this test measures a person’s pedagogical knowledge and classroom management skills. There are four different PLT exams, each focusing on a different age group, ranging from early childhood to grade 12. Unlike the Core exam, educators may have to take the PLT exam more than once over time if they decide to work with different age groups.

There is also a Praxis exam specifically suited for prospective elementary school teachers, called the Content Knowledge for Teaching (CKT) test. This exam helps determine whether those seeking generalist elementary school licenses have the full range of content knowledge in math, science, social studies, reading and language arts needed to successfully teach in an elementary school environment.

Praxis requirements vary between states, so prospective test takers should check with their teacher licensing board to determine which exams they need to take.

All Praxis exams (excluding the Braille Proficiency exam) are offered through ETS and administered via computer at a testing site. Tests may be composed of either selected-response questions, constructed-response questions or a mix of both.

Ways to register:
Examinees can register for the Praxis online, over the phone or through the mail. The online registration page can be found on the ETS website.

To register through mail, candidates first need to fill out a voucher request form and send it to ETS. A voucher number and further registration instructions should arrive in the mail about three weeks later. The voucher must be used within a year.

Over-the-phone registration is only available to those who have already created an online My Praxis account and are testing in the U.S. Candidates using this method should register at least three days before their exam. There is a $35 surcharge to use this service.

Documents needed for registration:
The documents needed for registration vary by state, so test takers should check their state requirements before starting the registration process. States may require a social security number, school transcripts, valid out-of-state educator credentials or passing scores on pre-admission tests for student registrants.

When to register:
When to register largely depends on which Praxis examinations a person is taking, where they are taking them and how they choose to register. The Core exams are offered continuously and have a rolling registration deadline. Other tests have time windows, which can be found through ETS. Because processing times can vary, registrants should plan well in advance to ensure they can take the exam on a day that works for them.

Determining testing center:
Prospective test takers can find the closest testing center by searching the ETS testing center online database.

How much does it cost?
The Praxis Core exams cost $90 each. However, examinees who wish to take all three Core exams––reading, writing and math––in the same testing session can register for the Core Combined test for $150. Prices for Subject Assessments and Content Knowledge tests range from $60 to $210. Examinees should also be aware of a few other testing-related fees:

How to pay for the Praxis?
Registrants can pay for the Praxis with a credit or debit card, check, e-check, money order or, if registering online, PayPal. Cash is not accepted.

What if I can’t afford to pay?
A limited number of fee waivers are available to eligible undergraduate and graduate students. Qualified applicants must be currently enrolled in a degree program, be receiving financial aid and must not already hold a master’s or doctoral degree. There are income requirements, which are listed on the ETS website. Applicants need to complete a fee waiver request form and should keep in mind that waivers are distributed on a first come, first served basis. Examinees can apply for one fee waiver per testing year and apply that waiver to up to three Core exams (the Combination Core must be selected if applying the waiver to all three exams) or one subject exam.

When it comes to the Praxis, a good score is, simply, a passing score. Licensure boards are more interested in whether or not a candidate passes the exam than the specifics of their score. Those who wish to see how they stack up against other examinees, however, can compare their scores with the national averages.

There are different scoring methods for selected-response and constructed-response questions. Selected-response questions are scored by computer, granting one “raw point” for each correct answer. Constructed-response questions are scored on their overall quality and given ratings by at least two trained, human graders. Essays are read by at least one person; an e-reader may provide a second score. Any major discrepancies between the human and computer graders will be broken by an additional human grader.

Raw scores are converted into scaled scores to account for differences in difficulty between various forms of the same test. Scaled scores determine whether an examinee passes or fails the Praxis.

Scores for exams offered continuously, like the Core, are available about two weeks after taking the exam. Test-takers will get an unofficial score for their selected-response questions immediately upon finishing the test, but official scores will be available online through their My Praxis accounts 10-11 business days after the test. Constructed-response questions take a little longer to grade and should be available 15-16 business days after the test.

Examinees who want to retake the Praxis may do so once every 21 days. Those who don’t feel confident about how they did on an exam have the option to cancel their scores. Test takers can cancel their scores at the testing center after taking their exam, but they must do so before seeing their scores. Alternately, examinees can opt to not finish the exam. Incomplete tests do not receive scores, so test results will not be reported. In either case, testing fees are not refunded.