Praxis Core study guide
Praxis Core · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
Praxis Core is ETS's academic-skills test for people entering educator preparation and licensure. In the ETS catalog it appears as Core Combined (5752; subtests 5713, 5723, 5733) and is described as measuring "academic skills in reading, writing, and mathematics for a career in education." It is typically taken early - by candidates applying to teacher prep programs or clearing a basic-skills requirement before subject-area tests - though each state sets its own certification requirements, so check your state's rules before registering. The Praxis Core study guide has 3 sections and about 836 words.
01Reading: Main Idea, Inference, and Evidence
The Reading domain tests whether you can extract and support meaning from passages. The core concepts are main idea (the central claim the whole passage serves), supporting detail (evidence that backs the main idea), inference (a conclusion that follows necessarily from the text), author's purpose and tone (why the writer wrote it and the attitude conveyed), vocabulary in context (a word's meaning as used, not its most common dictionary sense), and structural relationships (cause/effect, comparison, contrast, sequence).
300 words, about 2 min02Writing: Usage, Sentence Structure, and Revision
The Writing domain assesses grammar and usage , sentence structure , and revision in context . Key concepts: subject-verb agreement (especially with intervening phrases), pronoun agreement and clear reference , verb tense consistency , modifier placement , parallel structure in lists and comparisons, punctuation (comma splices, run-ons, semicolons joining independent clauses, commas with nonessential elements), and rhetorical revision (choosing the sentence that best fits purpose, audience, and flow).
278 words, about 1 min03Mathematics: Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry, and Data
The Mathematics domain covers number and quantity (fractions, decimals, percents, ratios, proportions), algebra (solving and setting up linear equations, interpreting expressions), geometry (perimeter, area, volume, angles, similar figures), and statistics and probability (mean, median, mode, range, simple probability, reading tables and graphs). You also need word-problem translation -turning a described situation into an equation-and estimation to check reasonableness.
258 words, about 1 min