CSET Multiple Subjects cheat sheet

Phonemic awareness is the ability to identify and manipulate individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words; phonics is the mapping of those sounds to letters.

The alphabetic principle holds that letters and letter patterns systematically represent the sounds of spoken language, enabling decoding of unfamiliar words.

Reading fluency combines accuracy, automaticity, and prosody; it bridges word recognition and comprehension.

Comprehension strategies include predicting, questioning, visualizing, summarizing, and monitoring; they can be used before, during, and after reading.

Narrative elements are plot, setting, character, conflict, theme, and point of view.

Figurative language: simile uses like/as, metaphor makes a direct comparison, personification gives human traits to nonhuman things, hyperbole is exaggeration.

The writing process is prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing.

A complete sentence needs a subject and a predicate; a clause contains both, while a phrase does not.

Chronological reasoning: BCE dates count backward, so 500 BCE is earlier than 300 BCE.

The Declaration of Independence (1776) asserts natural rights and government by consent of the governed.

The U.S. Constitution (1787) separates powers among legislative, executive, and judicial branches and builds in checks and balances.

The Bill of Rights consists of the first ten amendments and protects speech, religion, assembly, and due process.

Federalism divides power between the national government and state governments; reserved powers belong to the states.

California was admitted in 1850 as a free state; the Gold Rush began in 1848 and the state constitution was drafted in 1849.

Congress makes laws, the President enforces them, and courts interpret them.

Scarcity forces choices; opportunity cost is the value of the next best alternative given up.

Scientific investigation: pose a question, form a hypothesis, run a controlled experiment, collect data, and draw conclusions.

Variables: the independent variable is changed, the dependent variable is measured, and controlled variables are kept constant.

Photosynthesis uses sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water to produce glucose and oxygen; chlorophyll captures light energy.

Cellular respiration converts glucose and oxygen into carbon dioxide, water, and ATP energy.

Plate tectonics: lithospheric plates move over the asthenosphere; boundaries are convergent, divergent, or transform.

Rock cycle: igneous rock forms from cooling magma, sedimentary from compaction of sediments, metamorphic from heat and pressure.

Newton's laws: inertia, F = ma, and action-reaction pairs.

Earth-Sun-Moon system: seasons result from axial tilt, moon phases from orbital position, and eclipses from alignment.

Place value: each position is ten times the value of the position to its right.

Fraction operations: addition and subtraction need a common denominator; multiply numerators and denominators; divide by multiplying by the reciprocal.

Order of operations: parentheses, exponents, multiplication and division left to right, then addition and subtraction left to right.

Perimeter is the distance around a figure; area is the space inside; rectangle area A = lw.

Circle: circumference C = 2πr and area A = πr².

Triangle area = ½bh, and the sum of interior angles is 180°.

Mean = sum ÷ count; median = middle value of ordered data; mode = most frequent value.

For independent events, P(A and B) = P(A) × P(B).

Pythagorean theorem: a² + b² = c² for right triangles, where c is the hypotenuse.

Health-related fitness components: cardiovascular endurance, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, and body composition.

FITT stands for Frequency, Intensity, Time, and Type.

Aerobic activity uses oxygen for sustained effort; anaerobic activity is short and high-intensity.

Locomotor skills move the body through space (run, hop, skip); non-locomotor skills stay in place (bend, twist).

Motor development proceeds cephalocaudally (head to toe) and proximodistally (center outward).

Estimated target heart rate range: (220 − age) × 0.60 to 0.85 for moderate-to-vigorous activity.

Skill-related fitness components: agility, balance, coordination, power, reaction time, and speed.

Safety practices include warm-up, cool-down, hydration, appropriate footwear, and progressive overload.

Piaget's stages: sensorimotor (0-2), preoperational (2-7), concrete operational (7-11), formal operational (11+).

Object permanence emerges in the sensorimotor stage; conservation is achieved in the concrete operational stage.

Vygotsky's zone of proximal development is the gap between independent and assisted performance; scaffolding supports learning in that zone.

Erikson's psychosocial theory has eight stages, each with a crisis, such as trust vs mistrust in infancy and identity vs role confusion in adolescence.

Kohlberg's moral levels: preconventional (obedience and self-interest), conventional (social approval and law), postconventional (universal principles).

Attachment patterns include secure, anxious, and avoidant; responsive caregiving supports secure attachment.

Language milestones: cooing and babbling in infancy, first words around 12 months, two-word combinations around 18-24 months.

Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems are microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem.

Elements of art: line, shape, form, color, value, texture, and space.

Principles of design: balance, contrast, emphasis, movement, pattern, rhythm, unity, and variety.

Color theory: primary colors are red, yellow, and blue; secondary colors are orange, green, and violet; complementary colors sit opposite on the color wheel.

Music elements: melody, harmony, rhythm, tempo, dynamics, timbre, and form.

Theatre components include actor, script, stage, and audience; a tableau is a frozen picture created by performers.

Dance elements are body, action, space, time, and energy (BASTE).

Visual arts media include drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, and digital media.

National Core Arts Standards are creating, performing or producing, responding, and connecting.