Customer Reviews

How to Prepare for the PPST and Computerized PPST

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This study guide was worth every penny. I just did the computer-based Praxis I, and aced it, thanks to this book. I had forgotten nearly all my high school math (having graduated almost 20 years ago), but this book helped me get back up to speed-- I actually got a higher score on math than on English, amazingly enough!

The practice tests were wonderful preparation, and overall the practice tests were a bit harder than the real tests, which I liked. So when I finally took the Parxis I, I could relax and really breeze through the test. I finished in about 3 1/2 hours, and did not feel the need to second-guess myself or change any answers.

Buy it. You'll be glad you did!

Don't let your scores on the practice tests get you down like the lady from Evansville. The book is an excellent preparatory guide. You may not do too well on the reading practice tests but so what-don't let it worry you worry you. It's the most subjective portion of the test. Just use the strategies posed in the book and do practice questions and you'll do fine. I received a 182 and I never did better than 70% on the reading tests. This book more than prepares you to beat the test.

The math review is excellent. I'm a liberal arts major who is terrible at math and I walked out of the test with a 185. I am still shocked at the score.

The written review section takes you through all the grammar and punctuation rules you have forgotten. The practice tests here are excellent. The guide on how to practice writing the essay was tremendous too.

The reading section is a bit weak but you have the skills or you don't; the strategies on how to approach the test and the techniques to use during the test were invaluable.

I still can't believe I'm writing a review but this book was worth it! Good Luck.

This book was very easy to use, I bought it book on a Saturday, was finished with it on Monday and took the test on the Wednesday. The book was very well organized and helpful. I was nervous about the test, but this refreshed me on all of the inforamtion I needed to take the test. With a 3 day read through of this book I scored a 186 on the math section and a 187 on the reading, my writing scores are not in yet. These scores are way above what I needed to pass and I am so pleased!!

I am currently a teacher in the state of Ohio, but plan on moving to Oregon after I finish my Masters in June. In order to get my teaching license in Oregon, I discovered I had to take the PPST's, which I didn't have to do in Ohio. Being an English and German teacher, and not having taken a Math class in almost 12 years (since I almost failed college Calculus I), I was scared to death about taking and passing the Math portion of the PPST.

I had used the ETS Tests at a Glance materials, and another test-prep book, and really got discouraged by either the lack of help, or the tricky questions. Then, the week before I took the computerized PPST, I bought the Barron's book and started studying. The pre-test really helps, and I especially liked all of the practice problems (with answers), and the post-test, all of which you take before even trying out the practice PPST's (all 3 of them). The practice tests were VERY similar to what was actually asked on the PPST I took yesterday. :) I also liked the answer keys with full explanations.

I needed a 175 on the Math to pass, and I got a 185. :) The reading section in this book also helps, especially with its step-by-step strategies on how to take the test. I needed a 174 on the Reading, and I received a 183. :)

This book was worth EVERY PENNY spent on it, and I can't recommend it highly enough! Thank you Dr. Postman!

This book is definetly the best book to help you study for the PPST. It is worth the price!!! Great information and step by step review. Excellent Math review!!!!!

I have used this book very successfully to help prospective teachers prepare for the Computerized PPST. The subject reviews in the book are excellent. There's lots of practice with explained answers. This is the only book with an up to date Computerized PPST practice test.

I can also tell you the practice PPST tests in this book are just like the real tests. The answers are all explained.

Taking one of these tests for the first time is always a learning experience. You learn how the test is structured, and how to answer these particular types of questions.

Getting in the 70s percent correct the first time is good. The most important thing is not to make yourself crazy because you miss items. That's one of the classic errors of test preparation. The exposure to the test and those missed items will help you do much better on the real test. You may even get a perfect score.

This is an outstanding book that deserves the highest rating.

Looking for terror and suspense to give you the extra edge when preparing for your beginning teacher's exam? What could be better than using a book with incorrect answers, incomplete explanations, as well as answers that contradict its own review information? Barron's should take note of just these few examples and recall this book. Fortunately, I did not waste my time beyond PPST Practice Test 1. Instead of reviewing a final time last night for the test I took today, I spent panicked hours trying to verify the errors in this book. My average scores on these practice tests were 72% correct. Nothing like massive self-doubt the night before a test. In the answer key on page 248, #38 in Sentence completion is answer B, but in the explained answers, #38 lists E as the correct answer. In Reading comprehension, I would make the subjective charge that one is expected to answer far beyond what could be reasonably inferred from many of the passages. For instance, in the Targeted Reading test on page 203, question 9, is a discussion of gingerbread cookies. Apparently from the answer given, one should assume the author is complaining about making politically correct gender references. One can only guess that is the justification for this answer, since the targeted test does not have explained answers for any questions. (Note from the front cover, "All questions answered and explained.) Flipping back to the practice test 1 for an example of an incomplete explanation, we find #28 in Reading. "Only this choice is a logical conclusion." Why? My coup de grace is a math problem. In Math Review on page 137, we find that the FORMULA to find the area of a trapezoid is Area =1/2h(b1+b2) In the Practice test 1, page 240, #16 "If the lengths of the bases in the trapezoid above are doubled, the area of the new trapezoid is given by the formula:" The correct answer according to the book is A=h(b1+b2) with the expanation that we should multiply the b1 and b2 by 2. Actually, the formula for an area will not change. b1 and b2 would be the representative digits if you doubled or tripled the lengths. Your product will change as your values change, but not your formula. So why should you heed this review? The highest score for these tests is 190. Today I got 190 in Math and 185 in Reading. I doubt that those scores are a result of getting 72% correct.

I was thrilled when I read other reviews praising this book. It gave me more confidence when they stated that the practice tests were very much like the actual test. Ohio must have a different test though because the actual test was twice as hard as the practice tests. I barely passed. I needed a 171 and I received a 175. The book itself is great for review, especially when it comes to the metric system and percents but don't count on the real test being similar to the practice tests, at least in regards to the computerized version. I did hear that they throw out a few extra questions occasionally, that don't count, to find out new test questions in the future, so maybe some of those were on my test to make it harder. I didn't use any other practice books so I'm not sure this is a bad book, but it didn't prepare me as much as I would of liked it to have.

Don't let your scores on the practice tests get you down like the lady from Evansville. The book is an excellent preparatory guide. You may not do too well on the reading practice tests but so what-don't let it worry you worry you. It's the most subjective portion of the test. Just use the strategies posed in the book and do practice questions and you'll do fine. I received a 182 and I never did better than 70% on the reading tests. This book more than prepares you to beat the test.

The math review is excellent. I'm a liberal arts major who is terrible at math and I walked out of the test with a 185. I am still shocked at the score.

The written review section takes you through all the grammar and punctuation rules you have forgotten. The practice tests here are excellent. The guide on how to practice writing the essay was tremendous too.

The reading section is a bit weak but you have the skills or you don't; the strategies on how to approach the test and the techniques to use during the test were invaluable.

I still can't believe I'm writing a review but this book was worth it! Good Luck.

This book was GREAT for reviewing the topics covered on the PPST. The math review was excellent and thorough with a lot of practice questions and explanations for all of them. If you are weak in math like me, this book will be great for you. I didn't use the reading reveiw because I didn't feel I needed it, but the writing review was just as complete as the math. The only thing I didn't like about this book were the practice tests. You can tell the writers of the book wrote the practice tests because they are ever so slightly different from the real tests. The questions are not as clearly written as the real tests, the reading passages are different from the types on the real tests, and there are some editing mistakes, so some of the practice test questions are actually wrong, which is frustrating when you are trying to gauge what your score would be like on the real test. Also frustrating about this book was the fact that there is no score conversion table in it (at least I couldn't find it), so I could not know what my score would have been on a particular test (which is not helpful when you need a minimum score to pass!) Overall, buy this book for the excellent review in it, knowing that the practice tests are not the best. For real tests I would buy the book published by ETS (the writers of the actual test) to see what the questions and tests are really like. However, this book has what that one is lacking - a good and thorough review of the material. These two were the only books I used to study with and I scored 186 on the math and 184 on the reading, I don't know my writing yet. I feel like these two books really helped me to get a great score. If you buy both you get the best of both worlds.