One session
Open Practice. Answer until the wrong ones start clustering. Read the explanation on every one of them. Check Progress at the end and note the worst competency. That is a session.
How to study for a Praxis when you are also working
Most candidates do not fail these exams because the material is hard. They fail because the way they studied did not produce recall, and the exam asks for recall. Here is the method, and how to run it against the 427 competencies in this app.
Start with the weak competency, not the whole outline
The instinct is to work through the outline from the start, because it feels like progress and it is in order. It is also the least efficient thing available. The outline is not sorted by what you are worst at, and you cannot tell what you are worst at by reading about it.
Answer questions first, then read. Every competency on every outline here has at least one practice question attached, and the Progress tab sorts them by accuracy, so the topic costing you marks is the first thing on screen. Read that one, drill it, and let the app pick the next one. That is the whole loop, and it is why this site is an app rather than a list of links.
Five things the research supports
- Do not just reread.
Reading over material feels like studying and is the weakest use of your time. Recognition is not recall, and the exam asks you to recall.
- Answer from memory, then check.
Retrieval practice, meaning self-testing, is one of the best-evidenced study methods there is. It beats rereading and restudying, and it is the one thing a PDF physically cannot do to you.
- Read the explanation either way.
Right or wrong, the explanation is where the learning happens. The wrong answers matter more, because those are the ones you got lucky on.
- Come back tomorrow.
Spacing beats cramming. The same hour split across several days is worth more than the same hour on one night.
- Sit one timed run before test day.
Full length, on the clock, no pausing. Pacing is a skill, and it is learned by doing rather than by thinking about doing it.
A loop you can keep up
This is the version for someone revising between a placement, a night shift and a commute. It is deliberately small, because a plan you abandon in week two is worth less than a small one you finish.
One week
Three or four sessions on different days, plus the flagged questions you saved. Do not start a new exam section until the current one has a rough floor under it, because context switching costs more than the extra material is worth.
The last fortnight
One timed full-length run, held back until two weeks out, so it stays a dress rehearsal rather than something you already know the answer to. Work through the result by competency, not by score.
Test day
It is pacing, not difficulty, that catches people out. Most candidates lose marks by grinding one hard item and then running out of clock on the easy ones. Answer what you know, mark the rest, come back with whatever time is left.
The exact clock, question count, calculator policy and domain weights for each exam are on its format page, so you know the mechanics before you walk in. That is a third of the exam handled in advance.
What your practice score does and does not tell you
A score in this app is not your Praxis score, and nobody here will tell you that you are ready. The real exam draws items from a pool this site does not have and cannot show you. What a practice bank can do is narrower and genuinely useful: name the specific competencies you have not learned, which is the part a single practice score hides.
Use the score for that and ignore the number. If you want a number that means something, register for your actual Praxis exam: ETS includes a free official practice test with it, and that one is worth sitting properly, timed, a couple of weeks out.
Pick your exam and start
Every exam has its own study guide, built on the same method and written against the real outline.
- Praxis 5025 Early Childhood Education
48 competencies, 82 questions, 2 hours on the test.
- Praxis 5047 MS English Language Arts
33 competencies, 67 questions, 2 hours 40 minutes on the test.
- Praxis 5101 Business Education
99 competencies, 141 questions, 2 hours on the test.
- Praxis 5164 Middle School Math
50 competencies, 90 questions, 3 hours on the test.
- Praxis 5622 PLT K-6
61 competencies, 91 questions, 2 hours on the test.
- Praxis 5652 Computer Science
53 competencies, 93 questions, 3 hours on the test.
- Praxis 7812 Elementary Reading & ELA CKT
40 competencies, 63 questions, 90 minutes on the test.
- Praxis 7813 Elementary Math CKT
43 competencies, 63 questions, 85 minutes on the test.