CSET Mathematics 110, 111, 112 (XAM CSET) (Paperback)

~ Sharon Wynne (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

CSET Mathematics 112 Includes 17 competencies/skills found on CSET Mathematics Subtests I, II and III and 125 sample-test questions. This guide, aligned specifically to standards prescribed by the California Department of Education, covers the sub-areas of Algebra; Geometry; Number Theory; Probability and Statistics; Calculus; and History of Mathematics.

Product Details

• Paperback: 258 pages
• Publisher: XAMOnline.com (September 19, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1581978065
• ISBN-13: 978-1581978063
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 1.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,323,763 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Full of errors, poorly written., February 26, 2007

By	C. D. Goodman (Northridge, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is full of errors. It looks as if nobody proofread it.
Many errors are typos, others are math errors. Some subjects are mentioned without examples. Given the price, this book is not worth it!
I would not recommend it. I sent a message regarding the errors to the pusblisher, but received no response.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not perfect but definitely a useful study aid, March 1, 2007

By	R. McCann (San Francisco) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I graduated in civil engineering a couple of years ago, and so before buying this book I already had a pretty decent knowledge of most of the mathematical methods covered in the CSET, although not the names of all the theorems and the history behind them.

This book is easy to read and touches on all areas that you need to know for the CSET. I say "touches on", as in some areas the book is a little light on the theory and explanations. However, i still got a feel for everything i would need to know (i guess it's asking a lot to expect a 257-page book to explain in great depth all the theory that is covered in the CSET), and the things i needed more depth in, i could for the most part easily look-up online or in a more specialised book. One of the good things about this book is that it has lots of examples, and also plenty of practice problems and exam-style questions that you can have a go at yourself (answers are in the back). Another good thing is that the chapters are laid out in the same way the subject matter requirements for the CSET are on the CSET website, which means after reading the requirements you can easily skip to the areas that you want to concentrate on.

Having said that, i had a few problems with this book. As the reviewer before me highlighted, there are a few errors in this book, albeit mostly just typographical or otherwise minor, but ones you'd expect a proofreader to pick up. Also, the lack of explanation in some areas became annoying after a while. Here are some examples:

- The book talks about 'synthetic division' and how it can be used to check for roots of a polynomial equation. It shows several examples, but doesn't actually take you through what the method is. It turns the method is very simple, but is not obvious from just looking at the examples.
- A practice problem asks you to solve a system of 3 equations in 3 unknowns using matrices, but nowhere in the book does it actually show you how to write the inverse of a 3x3 matrix.
- The book has only one page and very little explanation on the dot-product, an area which i have seen several questions on in the practice exams online.
- The 'History of Mathematics' section is a joke. It consists of one and a half pages and basically just lists a bunch of names, but doesn't actually explain what any of them did. I gather that the history of mathematics section is a fairly small part of the CSET, but i would still expect more than what was written. I'd recommend "Math Through the Ages: A Gentle History for Teachers and Others" (paperback) which isn't too long and should give you everything you need to know in this area.

In summary, i would say this book is very good for brushing-up with, highlighting areas that you need to study in more depth, and practicing exam-style questions. However, it isn't the best for learning material that is completely new to you. For this you will need more in-depth explanations of the material, and so it is probably best to use this book in conjunction with a few other more specialised books. I haven't yet taken the CSET, but I am sure that having studied with this book will help me to pass.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not complete, April 21, 2007

By	William B. Mccarty Jr. (Orange County, CA, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book might provide sufficient information to enable its user to pass the exam. Not having taken the test, I can't say for sure. But, the book definitely omits coverage of important exam material. For instance, the Linear Algebra portion of Subtest 1 addresses the vector cross product, which is not mentioned in the book. Also, the book does show how to solve a system of linear equations but does not address the issue of solvability, which the exam covers. I did not specifically check, but I presume that similar deficiencies affect other portions of Subtest 1 and other Subtests.

The book also contains many grammatical errors, such as lack of agreement in the number (singular, plural) of subjects and verbs. Clearly, it was not effectively proofread. The publisher should be ashamed.

My take is that the book is useful as a quick once-over before the exam. But, the book seems too costly to use in this limited fashion. I somewhat regret buying the book.