TExES Core Subjects EC-6 (391)

It is a computer-administered test made up of five Subject Exams: English Language Arts and Reading (901) with 45 selected-response questions, Mathematics (902) with 40, Social Studies (903) with 40, Science (904) with 45, and Fine Arts, Health and Physical Education (905) with 40. All questions are selected-response; there are no constructed-response items.

Yes. Results are reported as Passed or Not Passed because there is no total passing score for the overall exam. You must earn a passing score of 240 on each individual Subject Exam to pass the overall exam. A strong total across the five areas will not offset a weak score in one of them.

The total appointment time is 5 hours, which includes 15 minutes for the CAT tutorial and compliance agreement. Testing time is 1 hour and 10 minutes each for English Language Arts and Reading and for Mathematics, 50 minutes for Social Studies, 55 minutes for Science, and 35 minutes for Fine Arts, Health and Physical Education.

The fee is $116 for the total exam, or $58 for a Subject Exam taken separately. Additional fees may apply. You are required to pay the exam fee when registering to retake an exam, so budget for the fee again if you need another attempt at the overall exam or at an individual Subject Exam.

An exam can be retaken after 30 days, and the first available appointment date will be 30 days from your prior attempt's exam date. You are limited to five attempts, which include the first attempt and four retakes. Beyond five attempts you need a test-limit waiver from the Texas Education Agency.

You may retake a single Subject Exam if you passed all the others, or retake the overall exam if you did not pass two or more. The score for your best attempt on each Subject Exam is retained, so when retaking the overall exam you do not need to respond to questions in Subject Exams you already passed.

If you are affiliated with an educator preparation program, you must request approval from your program to retest. Candidates are also prevented from registering until results from the last attempt have posted to ECOS, so check your account before planning your next appointment.

No. Passing scores on Subject Exams from the retired 291 Core Subjects EC–6 exam cannot be combined with passing scores on 391 Subject Exams because they are separate exams. Candidates who did not pass all five 291 Subject Exams must take and pass all five 391 Subject Exams. Previous 291 attempts do not count toward the 391 attempt limit.

Because every Subject Exam must reach 240, the usual failure mode is uneven preparation: candidates over-study one or two comfortable content areas and under-prepare another, such as Fine Arts, Health and Physical Education, which has the shortest testing time. Study all five areas deliberately and check each one against the preparation manual.

Begin with the official Core Subjects EC–6 (391) preparation manual on the program website, making sure you are using the 391 manual rather than the older 291 version. Review the preparation materials listed for this exam, then work through each Subject Exam's content domain in turn, since each is scored independently.