WEST-E Middle Level Mathematics (NES 203) study guide
WEST-E Middle Level Mathematics (NES 203) · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The WEST-E Middle Level Mathematics assessment is one of the Washington Educator Skills Tests–Endorsements (WEST-E) suite, listed by the test vendor as test code 203, "Middle Grades Mathematics." It is designed for candidates who are adding a middle grades mathematics endorsement to a Washington residency teaching certificate, and it is one of the NES/WEST-E options the state lists for endorsement purposes. Because it targets the middle grades, the content spans the mathematics a middle school teacher actually teaches rather than the full depth of a secondary mathematics degree: number sense and mathematical processes, patterns and algebraic reasoning, measurement and geometry, and statistics, probability, and discrete mathematics. The WEST-E Middle Level Mathematics (NES 203) study guide has 4 sections and about 1,074 words.
01Mathematical Processes and Number Sense
This domain tests both your number fluency and your habits of mathematical reasoning. You should be comfortable with the real number system and its subsets (natural, whole, integer, rational, irrational), with the properties of operations (commutative, associative, distributive, identity, inverse), and with the order of operations.
295 words, about 1 min02Patterns, Algebra, and Functions
This domain covers algebraic structure and function reasoning. You should understand variables and expressions, simplifying and factoring polynomials, solving linear equations and inequalities, systems of equations, and quadratic equations.
281 words, about 1 min03Measurement and Geometry
Expect questions on measurement units and conversions (metric and customary), perimeter, area, surface area, and volume of common figures, plus angle relationships, triangle properties, congruence and similarity, and coordinate geometry. You should know the Pythagorean theorem and its converse, the sum of interior angles of a polygon ((n−2)·180°), and the relationships among similar figures-corresponding sides proportional, angles equal, and areas scaling by the square of the scale factor while volumes scale by its cube.
260 words, about 1 min04Statistics, Probability, and Discrete Mathematics
This domain spans data analysis, probability, and discrete topics such as counting and logic. Know measures of center (mean, median, mode) and spread (range, interquartile range, standard deviation qualitatively), how outliers affect the mean versus the median, and how to read and interpret data displays (histograms, box plots, scatterplots).
238 words, about 1 min