Praxis Middle School Content cheat sheet

Phonological awareness is sound-only (rhyming, syllables, phonemes); phonics is sound-letter correspondence; both precede fluency, which precedes comprehension.

The five essential reading components are phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension; fluency is measured as words correct per minute plus prosody.

Text complexity has three dimensions: quantitative (readability formulas), qualitative (structure, knowledge demands, levels of meaning), and reader/task considerations.

Narrative arc terms: exposition, inciting incident, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution; theme is a message about life, not the plot summary.

Figurative language: simile (like/as), metaphor (direct comparison), personification, hyperbole, idiom, and symbolism; connotation is a word's emotional shading, denotation its dictionary meaning.

The writing process is recursive: prewriting, drafting, revising (content/organization), editing (conventions), publishing; the six traits are ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, conventions.

Argument writing requires a claim, reasons, evidence, and a counterclaim with rebuttal; informative writing explains with structure and evidence; narrative writing uses plot and description.

Grammar decision rules: subject-verb agreement ignores prepositional phrases; pronoun case depends on function (subject vs. object); commas set off nonrestrictive clauses only.

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

Ratios compare quantities; a proportion a/b = c/d solves by cross-multiplication ad = bc; percent change = (new - old)/old x 100.

Slope m = (y2 - y1)/(x2 - x1); slope-intercept form y = mx + b; parallel lines share m, perpendicular slopes are negative reciprocals (product = -1).

Area formulas: rectangle lw, triangle 1/2 bh, parallelogram bh, trapezoid 1/2 (b1 + b2)h, circle pi r^2; circumference = 2 pi r.

Volume: prism/cylinder V = Bh (B = base area); pyramid/cone V = (1/3)Bh; sphere V = (4/3) pi r^3.

Pythagorean theorem a^2 + b^2 = c^2 for right triangles; the hypotenuse c is opposite the right angle; common triples include 3-4-5 and 5-12-13.

Probability of an event = favorable outcomes / total equally likely outcomes; independent events multiply, P(A and B) = P(A) x P(B).

Mean = sum / count; median is the middle value of ordered data; mode is most frequent; range = max - min; the mean shifts toward outliers more than the median does.

Integer rules: same signs multiply/divide to positive, different signs to negative; subtracting a negative equals adding a positive.

The U.S. Constitution separates powers among legislative, executive, and judicial branches and divides power between federal and state governments (federalism).

Checks and balances: presidential veto, congressional override by two-thirds, judicial review established by Marbury v. Madison (1803), Senate confirmation of appointments.

The Bill of Rights is the first ten amendments; the First protects speech, press, assembly, petition, and religion; the Fourteenth extends due process and equal protection to states.

Major eras in order: Exploration, Colonial, Revolution, Constitutional, Early Republic, Westward Expansion, Civil War and Reconstruction, Industrialization, Progressive, World Wars, Cold War, Civil Rights, Modern.

Push factors drive people away (famine, persecution, war); pull factors attract them (jobs, land, freedom); push-pull explains migration patterns.

Economic systems: traditional, command, market, and mixed; scarcity forces choices measured by opportunity cost, the value of the next best alternative forgone.

Map skills: latitude runs east-west and measures north-south of the equator; longitude runs north-south and measures east-west of the Prime Meridian; scale converts map distance to real distance.

Primary sources are firsthand (letters, artifacts, diaries); secondary sources interpret them (textbooks, biographies); corroboration compares sources to test reliability.

Scientific method cycle: question, hypothesis, controlled experiment with independent and dependent variables and constants, data analysis, conclusion; a control group receives no treatment.

Cell theory: all living things are made of cells, cells are the basic unit of life, and cells arise from existing cells; prokaryotes lack a nucleus, eukaryotes have membrane-bound organelles.

Photosynthesis (6CO2 + 6H2O + light -> C6H12O6 + 6O2) occurs in chloroplasts; cellular respiration (reverse) occurs in mitochondria and releases ATP.

Newton's laws: inertia (no net force, no change in motion), F = ma, and equal and opposite action-reaction forces acting on different objects.

Speed = distance/time; acceleration = change in velocity/time; density = mass/volume; weight differs from mass because weight depends on gravity.

Atomic structure: protons (positive, atomic number), neutrons (neutral), electrons (negative) in energy levels; the periodic table groups elements by increasing atomic number and repeating properties.

Plate tectonics: divergent boundaries create new crust, convergent boundaries cause subduction and mountains, transform boundaries cause earthquakes; the rock cycle links igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rock.

Energy flows one way through food webs (sun to producers to consumers, about 10 percent transferred per level) while matter cycles through biogeochemical cycles such as carbon and water.

States of matter change with energy: solid, liquid, gas, plasma; phase changes (melting, evaporation, condensation, freezing) are physical changes, not chemical reactions.