Preparing for the CSET (multiple subjects)? How did you all do it?

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ilikedesserts328

Rookie
Hi everyone,

I made an account on this website to ask how anyone prepared for the Multiple Subject CSET. I'm currently using the Cliffnotes CSET: Multiple Subjects Test Prep (4th edition book) to help me study. I just started reading Chapter One which focuses on Subtest I: Reading Language, and Literature. I've noticed that I've been having trouble with Domain 1: Language and Linguistics. It's asking me questions about what methods a teacher should use for their student. I realize that I'm not even familiar with the Common Core Standards and the California Curriculum Framework for ELA . How did you learn it?

I graduated from Cal Poly Pomona in Liberal Studies but my college didn't offer any sort of CSET prep classes. I'm really lost about how to study for this. Should I pay and take a prep class while using this book? I'm just so confused.
 
What you're encountering is content related to reading instruction; most teachers learn that stuff *in* credential classes, and since RICA exists I don't know what it's doing in CSET-MS. But if you rummage around the threads in this forum, you're likely to come across some discussions that might be helpful.

You might want to have a look at California's English/language arts framework doc: go to www.cde.ca.gov and look for the link to academic standards and frameworks. This is free for the downloading, let me hasten to add, but if the D of E doesn't yet have the publication version up, you may be downloading a fair bit of stuff. It's worth it, though.
 
Thank you!

I'm currently not in the program yet, but the CSET MS is required to just apply for the program. Have you taken a CSET prep class? If so, did it help? Also, on the framework doc, what exactly do I need to know? The entire thing? A few points? Let me know when you can, thanks!
 
Right: CSUs and UCs as a class require CSET-MS for admission (and I think it wise of them), but the state merely requires that it be passed by the time one applies for the credential.

CSET prep classes or tutoring can be very helpful for the test taker who buys one or more of the standard prep books only to find that, whenever she sits down to study, she suddenly realizes that the dog needs walking or the kitchen counters need to be scrubbed and disinfected, again. (You'd be surprised how many test takers blush and look guilty when asked about this... or maybe you wouldn't. It's fine either way.)

No resource will prepare a test taker for all and only the test questions that she will encounter on a specific date, however, because the test exists in multiple versions and new questions are introduced with some regularity. My long post here addresses some of the points that are implicit in your question about what to know in the framework. Even if you're teaching special education, the onus is on you to know how to teach at least some aspects of reading instruction (and probably the aspects with which you're least familiar: phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, phonics, structural analysis or morphology, fluency).

With all of that said, a candidate who is strong enough in history and in the language-and-literature part of reading, language, and literature should be able to pass CSET-MS I without having a very good grip on the reading-instruction content.
 
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