Customer Reviews

CliffsNotes Praxis II: Middle School Mathematics Test (0069) Test Prep

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I've been studying for the middle school Praxis for about 3 months now. I took it in Aug. and failed. Recently I have purchased the REA book, but I can see now that it's VERY outdated. The New Cliff's prep is extremely helpful. If you don't already own one, I would recommend purchasing a graphing calculator. This reivew is not too lenghty, and points out the important parts of the test. It also provides the key strokes for the calculator, so it saves time on the actual exam. There are 3 practice tests, and, unlike previous testing materials, I have yet to encounter a mistake. This CAN be your sole study material. I took the Praxis again a week ago, so I am await the results.
PS the only other advice I can give to the future Praxis examinees, is to practice, practice, practice. Get an old Geometry or Algebra book, and make your study meaningful. Remember what you've practiced for.

I used this book as my primary resource for studying for the MS Math Exam. I scored a 191 (passing for my state was 148). I hadn't had a math class in 10+ years but I used this book to outline my studying and it gave me a good guide for the exam. The level of material in the book I found to be quite a bit harder than what the actual exam contained but nonetheless if you know what is in the book you will be fine. The practice tests in the book are MUCH, MUCH HARDER than the actual exam.

My only complaints are that some topics are not explained in enough detail and there are very few practice problems other than the practice tests. I used [...] (free) as a great resource for more detailed explanation on certain topics.

For more practice tests I also used [...] (not free, I think it was like $10-15 per test) to take practice tests that were much more comparable to what actually appeared on the test.

Hope this helps...

BP

THERE ARE NO SHORTCUTS TO PASS THE MATH EXAMS. If you do not have a well-rounded knowledge of the definitions, proofs and theorems of the subjects covered on the test, you will not do well.

I gave this book a "3" because of the practice tests. That is the only ONE AND ONLY benefit of this study guide. ETS only provides one abbreviate test and one full-length practice test, which is not enough. Most people who take the Praxis have not taken a 2-hour test of this type in many years. Even most college exams are only 1 hour. So test anxiety and mental fatigue are real dangers. I took me 30 minutes to calm down while taking the middle school math test and I was mentally whipped by the end of the test! I have never been nervous before any math test in my life until that. It was because had not taken a test in 15 years! So, doing the practice test helps with test anxiety and mental fatigue. When you are nervous and/or mentally fatigue, it is almost impossible to reach far into the memory to recall the formula you need a for a problem. So, just the experience of taking several practice tests for a couple of months leading up to the test is HUGE!!!

We must keep two things in mind. First, ETS IS A BUSINESS that produces practice materials. Second, ETS is well-aware of the other materials. It would completely invalidate the test if there were study guides that actually summarize the test! So, the belief that any study guide is a summary of the test is foolish. Would you want someone who did not really know mathematics to pass the test by just reviewing a study guide that had half of the answers? I think not! Such a thing does not exist. Just look at the other reviews. Chasing some short-cut will just cost you a lot of time and money from having to take the test over and over (which is not free).

The practice tests are not a SUMMARY of the actual exam. It is possible to ace the practice tests and still BOMB the actual test. It happens all the time. ETS actually uses 5 COMPLETELY different tests each year. So, EVEN IF the study guide was good at some point in the past, it is quickly outdated. The State of Virginia no longer uses the PRAXIS I. Several other states have followed suit. That means that ETS lost many thousands of dollars. So, they have fulltime professionals to make sure that there are no shortcuts to passing the test in order to preserve their contract. If the States do not believe that the tests are an accurate measure of teaching knowledge, they will begin creating their own tests, as a few states have done.

From my experience, I notice that the people who fail the test make the mistake of focusing on COMPUTATION! WRONG! Any smart 12-grader can work math problems. Unfortunately, people do problems in various math books and feel confident that they can pass the test, ESPECIALLY since it just covering middle school math. The problem is that the test is designed to see how well you can TEACH. Therefore, they are testing THEORY, not computation. This means that the examinee must know the FORMULAS AND THEOREMS. If you are using texts books, I would focus on the WORD PROBLEMS, not the computation! In other words, if you can do the word problems found in the chapter reviews at the end of the units of most math books, you will do well. WORD PROBLEMS!! WORD PROBLEMS!! WORD PROBLEMS!! WORD PROBLEMS!!

For example, on the high school test, they asked about the properties of an inflection point ( c, f(c) ). You had to know that for ANY inflection point, the 2nd derivative at "c" is equal to zero or it is undefined. So, a person can know how to do every derivative under the sun. But, as you can see with that question, no computation is involved. You had to know the THEOREM! That is the insight they give on ETS study guide. The same applies to the middle school test.

The thing that kills people on the middle school test is the Constructed Response questions. The ETS study guides and practice test provide actual examples of responses by examinees on real tests. They show how they are graded and explain why they graded them as they did and everything. This is because ETS provides the grading rubric. You can only get that information from ETS. If an ex-grader from ETS put that information in a study guide, they would get sued. So, the other study guides are FORCED leave you in the dark as to how the constructed response questions are graded and what they are looking for. If a person nails the Constructed Response section, they will pass with no problem.

I took and passed both the Middle School and High School Math exams. I actually did better on the High School test than the Middle School test because I used the ETS materials for the High School test. The study material provide by ETS were right on-point. What they say will be on the test is actually on the test. So, I would start from the ETS study guide and practice test, then move on to other material if I had plenty of time to study. But, if I only had a few months to practice, I would not use a book by another company that is several years old. I would be $500 that ETS review the other study guides and make their tests incompatible with it. Remember...ETS is a business! They love it when people take the test three and four times...$$$$$$!

I have been teaching middle school math for 3 years and will be moving across the country. In order to become certified in new state, the Middle School Math Praxis is required. I ordered this book to review and was ASTOUNDED at the level of the material and my failing scores on the practice tests in the back of the book. This material DOES NOT COME UP in middle school math textbooks. Feeling dejected, I completed the Praxis exam anyways since I had already registered for it. The Middle School Math Praxis is NOTHING LIKE THE PRACTICE EXAMS IN THIS BOOK. While I cannot refuse credit to an extensive (with frequent mistakes) review of math content in the book, the practice tests did not offer a real example of the actual test AT ALL. Buy the book for the review, but be well warned that the actual test is MUCH EASIER and related to middle school mathematics content than this book lets on.

As some of the other reviewers have mentioned, this book is not completely accurate to what I experienced on version of this test. I took the test in May of 2010, and overall found the test significantly easier than the practice tests in this book. There were numerous concepts and skills reviewed in this book that did not appear on the test. However, that does not mean that they do not appear on other versions of the test - this was just my personal experience. I think the book was very helpful for reviewing concepts I have not used in awhile, since I had not taken a math course in six years. I took this test to expand my teaching credentials (just in case) as I currently am a middle school music teacher. I do feel the book helped to prepare me for the test, and in fact might have overprepared me in numerous areas. I did pass the test quite easily, which is a testament to this book as it is the only form of review/study that I used. I think for the price, it worth checking out and using, even if it is not entirely accurate to the actual exam.

Great book for those who need a quick review of basic algebra, geometry, data analysis and discreet math. It was concise and helped me a lot. However, I would only recommend this book if you already have a notion of what you are doing in math. It is not for the very beginner as it assumes some background knowledge. On the other hand, if you are preparing to take the PRAXIS II for Middle School Math,I would hope that you already have some background in math.

I found parts of this book helpful but didn't feel it was adequate as a sole source of preparation for the Praxis II Middle Grades Math 0069. After using this book as my first study source, I felt the need to purchase the REA study guide by Mel Friedman (separate review).

I found the best study strategy was to take a practice test closely resembling the actual test, thoroughly evaluate my practice test, and focus study sessions on the areas that I got wrong.
The Good: The book helped with this in that the three practice tests were of a similar format to the actual test. The answer keys for the practice tests provided explanations of the answers so that I could see if my errors were due to mistakes or lack of concept knowledge.
The Bad: The book seems to be written by someone who is a math person, so the explanations in the chapters aren't always clear. Also, the chapters didn't offer ample opportunities for practice of concepts introduced. I didn't feel that the chapter reviews at the end of each chapter and the three practice tests were enough practice. Finally, the book does not offer an index, which made searching for topics more tedious than it needed to be.

Overall, I would say this book is a good resource for the Praxis II Middle Grades Math 0069. It works well when used in tandem with other study materials. However, if I was only going to get one book due to budgetary or time constraints, this would not be my choice.

This book had me in a total meltdown state by the night before my Praxis. Thanks to it's emphasis on discrete mathematics, complicated logic sets, and advanced geometry and trig I was getting no more than 75% of the multiple choice questions right (and about 5% of that score was guessing) and only being able to even try 2 out of the 3 short answer questions. Often, the short answer questions were along the lines of "prove it," with no structural guidance of how that should look to a scorer. Since my state has one of the higher score requirements I was really freaking out.

Cut to test day - it was a relative breeze! Multiple choice was challenging but not gibberish and the short answer questions were well guided and tested algebra concepts, not applications of Pascal's Triangle. Now, this may seem like an IDEAL study guide because at least I was over-prepared, right? I would argue no. In favor of memorizing orthocenters and "if P, than Q" quantifiers, I did not spend as much time on some alegbra concepts and shortcuts that would have made the test easier. I was overthinking everything. And I spent a lot of time in an upset-tummy, super-cranky, self-defeating depressed state that I really shouldn't have.

I purchased this book in hopes of getting a great refresher for some of the topics on the test. Only two of the topics in this book was on the test and that was only like 2 questions on the test! Get some current middle school and high school textbooks to study from. There were terms that on that test that they did not use when I was in school. It has 3 tests to practice in the back of the book which is great. It lets you know where you are lacking and what you need to study more.

I would only recommend this book to learn basic definitions and theory. As far as actual test question practice I found the Cliffnotes to be lacking greatly.

Ron Roberts