So I took initially and got a 140 back in like October. I was able to take it again today and still did not pass. I got a 148. I bought all the three forms of the practice tests and studied my butt off and I still did not pass! I think only three of the questions that I studied were on there. Is anyone else having trouble passing? How can i pass this exam!!!
You might try reaching out to @TeacherGroupie to see if you can get some meaningful help that might give you better direction.
Mari2020, welcome to A to Z. So you've bought three practice tests to study for Praxis 5004. How many questions is that? How are you using them?
I took the tests then took pics of the questions and answers. I then wrote them down and made like a book. I would review them a lot and then go back in to retest the practice tests to see how i improved.
The point was going to be that the question set you've got is pretty small compared to the test's coverage - elementary-ed social science tests typically cover from about 3000 BC to present, focusing primarily on US history and civics and on the western civilization that has presumably brought them about. But I think you've already figured that out. Have you downloaded the free Study Companion (or whatever Praxis is now calling it: the freebie study guide) from the Praxis page for 5004? It should list the general topics that the test covers. Find every term in that list that you don't know well enough to use in a sentence and look it up online. Jot down notes. Do the same thing for the sample question set in the Study Companion: if a term is in a question, or in a possible answer to a question, or in the explanation of the correct answer, look it up and make a note of it. Do the same thing with the sets of practice questions you've been attempting to memorize: look up every term or name or place you don't know cold. Wikipedia is a good choice to start with, though you may find other sites that work for you - @vickilyn may have some suggestions (and if Richard Byrne's blog Free Tech for Teachers, www.freetech4teachers.com, is still running, it may have some helpful resources). As you do this, look for terms and people and places that show up a lot: those are ones to pay attention to. What you should find, the more you do this, is that you'll start seeing connections - between certain terms and certain people or places, between sets of terms, and so on. That's a sign that you're transitioning from seeing history as names and dates to an understanding of history as an ongoing story. You should also start to notice that questions about the same event can be asked from different perspectives.
