I just wanted to extend a sincere 'thank you' to everyone who gave me advice about the IN021 English Language Arts exam. I took it yesterday for the first time and passed! I couldn't have done it without all the advice. You guys are the best!
Any tips on how to study for the world history portion on the historical perspectives (51) exam? I just took it for the second time and did not pass. I was more confident but this section is killing me.
Hi, I have take the CASA math exam twice now. I purchased another practice test but they have the same questions as the first one. Does anyone have any helpful advice on how to practice for this test. I passed reading and writing on the first try, but math is giving me a headache. Thanks so much.
I suspect CASA is a basic-skills test (reading, writing, and math, and required of all teachers) rather than a multiple-subjects test (subject matter for elementary teachers and the like). You might want to try A to Z's Basic Skills Tests subforum for help: from state to state, the skills tend to be pretty similar.
I just took the Historical Perspectives test for the first time today and did not pass. I am struggling with discouragement. I felt really good about the test as I was taking it any study tips?
The best thing I did to pass the historical exam was to quickly look at the wiki page for indiana history. I read the page on the day of the test. I was surprised to find that I passed that section at a higher score than the regular section that I had been studying here and there for months. Maybe focus on the Indiana history for a while before looking at the history since the beginning of time. There is definitely a lot less Indiana history to study.
Has anyone taken the middle school math exam? What did you study and how did you do it? Do you have any suggestions. I plan on not passing that at the end of the month. Hoping, but not expecting much!
I am a tutor and tutor middle school math. I will be taking it soon. I have found the best resources are the REA book, the tests and guide on the ETS website, and the resources at teachertestprep.com - Tim www.wyzant.com/tutors/timctutor
I am graduating next month with Honors, and yet I cannot pass these stupid Pearson Elem Ed Generalist Subtests. WHY are they so ridiculously difficult? I bought the Mometrix study material (which is the only study material available), but have found that to be completely useless. I heard that Indiana DOE has a task force looking into lowering the passing requirements, but the news article says that this result was due in August, and now they have no firm timeline. This is CRAZY! I've gone $125,000 in debt to earn $35k starting salary (if I'm lucky), and now I cannot even pass. The tests cover material that was never discussed in any of my coursework or practicums. If I was good at calculus, i would have majored in engineering and taken an $80k starting salary. I want to teach K-6, why am I being tested on Calculus? The Pedagogy exam was easy, these subtests are impossible. I am so discouraged. Wishing I would have chosen a different field. Does anyone have any suggestions??
Why do you have $125,000 in student loan debt?! I went to a UC school in CA for my math degree and graduated with 17k in student loan debt and I paid that off in less than a year. I went on to self-finance my Masters elsewhere, which boosted my salary by almost 20k — I work at a private school in CA. Do you at least have a Master’s degree? I don’t think you should teach in Indiana because you will barely make enough money to cover your student loan payments... I used an online payment calculator and you are looking at a monthly payment of roughly $1,440 dollars at 6.8% interest! If your annual salary is 35k, you would make only $2,230 a month in Indiana after taxes... So, after paying your student loans that would leave you with a whopping $790/month. You should really rethink about teaching in Indiana. Come to New Jersey or CA or New York. We pay more!!!
I didn't mean to type "in debt", I really meant 'indebted' to my parents because they paid my whole tuition and are in the hole $125k plus the opportunity cost that I could have earned. Thankfully I don't have student loan debt. But, I am a double major - Special Ed and Elem Ed - and the program is 145 credit hours. So it has taken me 4.5 years (plus two summers). All the state schools in Indiana are much higher cost that in California, unfortunately. And the private schools are 2x or even 3x more. I had originally planned to earn my masters part time over the next few years, but I won't do that if I can't pass this ridiculous Pearson exams. Some of these exams only have a pass rate of 16%! We have a teacher shortage in Indiana - I wonder why?? Does Pearson handle the tests for California? Do you have a crisis in California with such low pass rates? Even if another state isn't facing this same stupidity with the exams, I am required to be licensed in the state in which I earn my teaching degree - Indiana. Then, upon passing, most every state (all but 3 or 4) uses reciprocity and will accept my Indiana credentials to become licensed in their state. So, I am stuck with being required to pass these tests which most people are taking over and over again and still failing. Either these exams are flawed or our teacher ed programs are flawed, or both! I have dreamed of becoming a teacher since I was 8. I love children, and I love inspiring them to learn. I can't imagine doing anything else as a career, but I need to figure out a plan B....
I have always been extremely good at standardized tests and so I passed all of my teacher certification tests on the first try. I took and passed the CBEST (basic skills test); CSETs: Subtest I (Algebra and Number Theory), Subtest II (Geometry and Probability and Statistics), and Subtest III (Calculus and History of Math); Praxis 5161 (194 out of 200), and Preliminary Technology Subtests I and II all on the first try. I got perfect (full marks) or nearly perfect scores on each so I can’t really relate to your situation. As an aside, I have always marveled at the time, preparation, and number of attempts it takes teachers or aspiring teachers to pass these type of exams — no disrespect, of course. I just did the practice tests offered by Pearson or whomever once and studied for like 1-2 hours just reviewing certain concepts and took the tests. I even took the practice Indiana test online and only missed 1 question. It didn’t seem difficult to me, so I’m not sure why it is giving people so much trouble... I do know there is a huge shortage of math teachers in California, though. I am practically guaranteed a job wherever I go, which is nice. For example, when I applied for my first teaching job four years ago (I’m 25) I was offered a position at every single school I applied to out of 11 schools. I was shocked, but then again, my counselor at UCD kept telling me that I would not have to worry about finding a job with a math degree, haha! Elementary teachers are oversaturating the market so you will have trouble finding a job, similar to how history teachers have difficulty finding work. Edit: I did not see that you double majored in special education. That increases your job prospects considerably!
It will be interesting to see whether the dismissive line about job prospects in a state 2000 miles away is made any more credible to residents of that state by the paragraphs of self-congratulation that precede it.
To my credit, the poster did ask about the Pearson tests and teacher shortage in CA, so I gave my $0.02. I don’t think the certification tests were difficult. To each their own, I guess. Also, elementary teachers and history teachers do typically have difficulty finding jobs. I barely ever see job postings for those teachers on Edjoin or elsewhere. I primarily see, and by a wide margin, SPED, ESL, Language, Math, and Science positions.
The question that was asked was "Does Pearson handle the tests for California?" That's a yes/no question; a pragmatically competent reply, following Grice's maxims of cooperation in communication, would have been an affirmative. You can think of Grice's maxims as something like Occam's razor for discourse. Since the earlier poster's concern (and the thread's topic) is Indiana's elementary-education test, mention of CSET-Multiple Subjects isn't inappropriate - but naming CSET Math and the instructional technology test strains Grice's maxim of relevance, and dwelling on one's own performance on either test certainly violates both that maxim and the maxim of quantity.
Yes, but I was giving my perspective where the CSET Single Subject tests are concerned. I was speaking to the rigor of said tests, as the overall topic involved teacher certification tests. I may have given extra information, but the respondent that I was speaking with was referencing the impossibility of these tests. I disagreed.
Very interesting to read about. I’ve never heard of these axioms! I am aware of mathematical axioms, but not linguistic ones. Also, I don’t like giving closed-ended answers. Yes or no does not provide much insight. A negative or affirmative response would provide finality, but not much beyond that. Imagine someone says, “These tests are so hard!” Then, I respond, “No.” Kind of defeats the purpose of these forums, doesn’t it? You, yourself, give beautifully written responses to most if not all respondents. Your short replys are few and far in between. We are allowed to give alternative viewpoints and I did not go completely off track — I was mostly on point.
Futuremathsprof: One thing that is abundantly clear is that you have no shortage of self confidence!. The easy tests that you are describing are the Praxis (ETS) tests, which Indiana used up until 2 years ago when the DOE decided that 90% pass rates were too high, so they fired ETS and hired Pearson. The Indiana universities were supposed to change their curriculum to match the new tests and content standards, but they have failed. Furthermore, the result has been nothing short of a disaster. We've gone from 90+% pass rates to, in some case, as low as 15% in Social Studies and Math. Finding a good elementary teaching job in Indiana is NOT the problem - we have a teacher shortage here. The problem is passing these new tests for which there is no study/prep material (only what Pearson sells on the website which is nothing remotely similar to the real test). Current teachers are not required to pass the new rigorous exams - they are grandfathered, but if a current teacher wishes to teach in a different content area, they are then required to pass and they are facing the same dreadfully low pass rates. If anyone has something constructive advise to offer me and my peers who are in jeopardy of being forced to find a new career, I am all ears. (Futuremathprof, i will even listen to you if you have some constructive ideas - provided you don't continue to restrain yourself from your positive self-talk - leave that for your planning period and out of this forum, please)
Wow, I did not know that. 90% to a 15% pass rate is unheard of. Was that their intention?! Are they trying to discourage aspiring teachers? I am sorry to hear that your colleagues might lose their jobs. That is scary...
Have you guys tried forming a study group because it seems like a number of you are studying for the same test? You might be able to compliment each other’s weaknesses in a particular subject area. If prep books haven’t worked for you, then you might try a prep service or hiring a tutor. Would that be too cost prohibitive for you?
Well, I really don't know the intent. I am sure DOE is not deliberately trying to discourage people from becoming teachers, but that is the effect it is having. It just doesn't make sense to me how my state university (in fact, all our state universities) has such an intense teacher ed program that is so academically challenging and yet completely miss the mark. I think study groups and/or tutoring service is a good idea, but the problem with this is that the tutor service still uses the old study material based on Praxis content and standards. The universities have 'tutors', but they are nothing more than glorified clerks who simply hand you the yellow Mometrix book and tell you to study it. And, they need to read the answer key to find the correct answer. It is like a black hole. Pearson makes you sign a promissory oath and threatens you with legal action if they think you are sharing any of their proprietary information (ie exam questions or content), so people are hyper-sensitive about doing much knowledge sharing. Here are a couple of links to recent news reports, although I think this is probably old news to all Indiana teacher candidates...oops, this site wouldn't allow me to post those links. Google "Crisis in the classroom Indiana" and you will be able to read the two articles....
Maybe you should study the questions that you saw on your previous test? Of course, you can’t discuss or divulge actual test questions with others, but that will help you narrow what you have to study. Just a thought.
You do know about the pay, correct? And the laws regarding teacher benefits? The sorry state of our unions and labor rights? Indiana legislators may not be discouraging people from going into teaching, but they sure as hell don't want anyone sticking around for more than a couple years.
I don’t understand how a state can justify bashing teachers and cutting funding to public schools, and then at the same time say we need more skilled laborers. It makes no sense to me...
AmyMyNamey, yes teacher pay in Indiana (probably everywhere) is awfully low. I have friends that have part-time summer internships, and they are paid double the wage that I will make as a starting teacher. But to me, there is no greater reward than helping a child gain self-confidence through learning. None of us do it for the money but it is hard not to worry about having enough money to live and provide for a family some day.
Good thought, but the Pedagogy exam (which I passed) is 100 questions in length, and the subtests are either 50 and 40 questions in length, and many of the questions are long and complicated (like 1/3 of a page of text), so it makes remembering them very difficult - unless you have a photographic memory, which unfortunately I don't.
Maybe you might remember what the questions asked specifically, but you might recall what topics they discussed?
I didn't say the answer needed to be ONLY yes or no, futuremathsprof. I suggested a direction for elaboration: CSET-MS isn't Indiana's test, but it is an elementary-education test that covers similar ground, and so examples drawn from it are likely to be accepted as bearing on the original poster's concerns. Other directions are certainly possible. But any such elaboration should be at least as relevant to the asker's concerns in the post (elementary-education test, difficulty passing the test, frustration, Indiana, etc.) as to the answerer's - and the burden of establishing that relevance lies with the answerer, not the asker.
If I gave a test and only 15% of my students passed, I would be in deep doo doo, and would likely do some re-teaching, re-assessing, etc. Pearson just wants to sell some of its practice tests to ya.
It is easier to hold those ideals when you are young and don't have a family. Once you have kids of your own, want a house or a nice car, then these financial concerns can become all-consuming. I advise all young people against teaching in Indiana. Do anything else. You are not going to save this state from the classroom. Be a success elsewhere, and leverage your success to make substantive change in our legislature.
I've read up on Pearson's global operations and objectives. It is no stretch to say that they want the money that can be made by taking control of all education on the planet. Education in the hands of a for-profit, global corporation is the stuff of dystopian nightmares.
Well, the good news is that I passed the Science subtest. I was actually shocked that I did so well on it. Bad news is that I did not pass the math, not even close! Does anyone know why I need to be tested on calculus and regression analysis when I will be teaching k-6? Does anyone know any elementary school students who are in 6+ year advanced math??
Congrats on the science!!! I do know plenty of elementary students in advanced math. No one comes on here with "C'mon! Why I gotta know readin???" Having an equivalent respect for math isn't asking too much---your students deserve someone who knows what mathematical topics they will see in the future, and you can be that person who anticipates for them if you keep at it!!!
I had to take a class on teaching students in grades K-3 how to read, plus else, even though I teach high school math and have a single subject teaching credential. It’s only fair that you are tested on math since we math teachers had to take a lot of reading nonsense that had nothing to do with our subject matter either.
I Indiana, to be licensed for elementary teaching, we all must take a main Pedagogy exam plus 4 generalist subtlest covering all subjects. Math is actually my strength as I was in two year advanced math in high school and took an elective math course in college. I’ve earned straight A’s with the exception of an A- in high school trigonometry and A- in Calculus. The problem is not a knowledge deficit for me, problem is the test. 60 minutes for 50 questions, including 10 “distractor” questions that Pearson throws out of your score. They score 40 of the questions and use this environment to trial test the other 10 new questions, but of course the test taker has no clue which 10 of the 50 are counting for your score and which are bogus ones. The result is even the best mathematicians are time strapped with only enough time to spent average of 70 seconds per question. (Remember the Purdue University Math Prof who has been teaching math for 30 years couldn’t pass because she ran out of time). The Indiana DOE is waiting for a recommendation about what to do about the low pass rates (as low as 15% pass rates) and teacher shortage crisis from a state task force. This is supposed to happen the first week of January. If you are in Indiana and you think these Pearson tests are flawed (I don’t know anyone in Indiana who DOESNT think they are seriously flawed), I encourage you to contact Indiana DOE. It appears DOE’s solution to this problem is to grant more emergency temporary teaching permits and to allow school corps to waive the requirement for a teacher to have passed the exams! What is wrong with them??!!!
Trademark Ter, I suspect you are not in Indiana but if you are, have you taken the math subtest recently? I agree that there is value in having me, as a future second grade teacher, know what my 7 and 8 year olds will face in their college math classes - but my point is that the tests are flawed and it is causing a teacher shortage in Indiana because people cannot pass the ridiculously unreasonable exams. My good friend graduated in May with a 3.85 Magna Cum Laude in elementary Ed from Purdue and could not pass these tests, so she went to work as a Pharmacy Tech and makes 25% more than she would as a first-year teacher. Now she is headed down a different career path as she was forced to make a living where she can and has since given up her dream of being an elementary school teacher. This is what is happening in Indiana, and this is why we have a teacher shortage. The Indiana DOE is delusional. They have even said that the tests are seriously flawed, and "We have a serious problem with the exams", yet they do NOTHING!
