Customer Reviews

Kaplan NYSTCE: Complete Preparation for the LAST & ATS-W, Second Edition

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

 

 

I bought several review books for these tests and this one was the best. The questions for the ATS-W are right on the mark, actually slightly harder than the actual exam but exactly the right kind of questions. The material review is brief and it doesn't tell you much about education, but knowledge of education is actually not so important for passing this exam. What it does tell yout is how to pass the test: what the test makers want you to know and say, how to identify correct answers and how to recognize incorrect ones, how to write the essay. For effiecient studying to pass the ATS-W, it's perfect. As for the LAST, it's mostly reading comprehension- not a hard exam but very hard to study for so don't waste too much time trying. Good luck.

I moved to NY from another state and had an English BA and an MA with only 6 credits of education. I was very nervous about passing due to my lack of teaching experience and education. This book was excellent and helped prepare me for what to expect and how to time myself during the exams, especially the essay. I passed both exams with high scores on my first try. I also purchased another study guide for the NYSTCE and found it to be lacking and found the sample questions not very accurate to what was actually on the exam. This is a wonderful guide.

I got a few books to get ready for the LAST. This book is a book of tests without any real reading or writing review or examples of essays. The LAST is a reading and writing test and a good reading and writing review should be there. The LAST tests in the book were not like the LAST I took which had many more long readings and some long readings had just one question. After the test many people I talked to did not feel that good about the test and a lot of them said that they could have used more time so do not worry if you feel that way. Some people did not leave enough time to do both the reading test and the essay. I heard you just have to get near to 70% correct do well on the reading test. Good luck on the test. I am pretty sure I will pass but this book did not help me improve my score.

This book has a lot of websites that did not help me with the test. I found better sites just searching on line. I do not recommend this book.

This book is just a back up for the Barrons book. Do not use it for your main preparation. I was very disappointed and you probably do not need it at all.

Having just failed the CST in February, I was EXTREMELY nervous about taking the LAST & the ATS-W in April. I knew I couldn't go in cold turkey. So I went online and ordered this review book (based pretty much on price!) and was very satisfied. I just found out today that I passed both exams and this book was a big help. It gave several sample questions, webpages with information and other useful info. (I wish it had more sample questions, but what can you do. I also wish it gave more info about scoring- even though I know that info isn't released.) But anyway it was a good book, and very helpful. If only they made review books for the Content Specialty exams!!

I thought that this book was a very good preparation tool. I had already taken the LAST when I bought it, so I did not use it for that part, but the ATS-W prep was very appropriate. Many of the questions that were on my ATS-W were almost verbatim of the practice questions that were in the book. The explanations defending each answer also helped to understand the test makers' philosophy and helped me to get other practice questions correct based on that. In order to do well on the ATS-W test, you need to have experience in the classroom and understand the profession of teaching. If you have that, then the practice tests here will help take you the extra step. In order to do well on the LAST, you need to have been born with a functional brain.

I used this study guide (and this one only) for the ATSW and I passed it the first time. It was a good representation of the questions asked on the test and the explanation of all the possible answers in the sample questions was very helpful.

This book is very useful for those future teachers who would like some guidelines for taking the certification exams. The practice exams were very realistic and very similar to what the actual tests were like. It was especially helpful in demonstrating how you should outline and structure your writing for the essay questions.