Customer Reviews

Praxis II: Mathematics Content Knowledge Test, 0061 (CliffsTestPrep)

5 star:		(5)
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3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I used this book as my only study aid in preparing for the November 2006 PRAXIS II Math Exam (0061). This book is very thorough and gets right to the point, providing all the definitions, theorems, formulas, etc. that you need to know.

I only completed one of the practice tests, but glanced through the others. My only complaint is that the practice tests are easier than what I saw on the actual exam. As a matter of fact, one of the practice test questions was the exact same question I saw on the **MIDDLE SCHOOL** Math PRAXIS II (0069) that I took the same day.

However, if you take time to go through each section (and don't wait until the last minute to cram), you should do fine on the High School Math PRAXIS II (0061). I have never had any discrete math, but as a result of studying that section in this book, I got every discrete math question right on the test.

As a matter of fact, I got a 190 (the test is scored on a 100-200 scale, 128-157 was the middle 50% on this edition, and 165 is always the 85th percentile) on my first attempt as a result of using this book, so if I can pull that off using this guide, I'm sure others can have the same success.

The only thing that I could see as a potential turn off to some people is the fact that the topic sections do not contain any examples (only definitions, theorems, and formulas). The only examples you'll see are what is on the practice tests (each question has an explained solution in the answer key section).

While this text does provide a good, albeit condensed, overview of the content covered on the exam, the practice tests were NOT NEARLY as difficult as the actual Praxis exam. I easily answered 45+ answers correctly in the allotted 2 hours on each practice test, sometimes with time to spare. I left my actual test session today wondering if I even passed! I think the lack of difficulty I had with these practice tests made me overconfident when I began my test session. To be fair, a number of the questions I was able to answer quickly as a direct consequence of studying this book, but the wording of many of the actual test questions is much more lengthy and convoluted than the questions in the practice tests. In a pressure situation, it is difficult to be calm enough to get through the question and decipher what it is even really asking. I wish I had been prepared to expect this so I would have been calmer when I encountered these questions. Also, some of the types of questions on each practice test were repetitious, covering some topics very thoroughly, but leaving others unaddressed.

Also, as with any newly published math book, there are some significant typographical errors that could lead someone in the wrong direction, but I guess this is normal.

As the previous poster stated (and I wonder if we were at the same exam today and you were the one I spoke to afterwards!), the difficulty level of the practice exams in this book are not even close to the difficulty level of the actual exam.

This book is a good refresher, and may help you figure out what areas you need to brush up on, but by no means is it complete as to the type of questions you may be asked. There are no exercise questions to help you practice, either, just the practice exam questions which, again, are overly easy. Lots of typos in the book, too.

The [[ASIN:0738603309 Praxis II Mathematics Content Knowledge Test (Test Code 0061): The Best Teachers' Test Preparation book isn't very good if you are contemplating that one over this one. It has somewhat good content coverage (though not as good as this one) and it does have practice exercises, but it is filled with typos and its exams are also too easy.

I'm not sure what the best way is to study for this exam. You need a good background knowledge, which this book can help with, but the actual exam questions require you to take this knowledge and extend it - reminded me a lot of the type of knowledge you need on an IQ test. Use every review book you can, and study up as much as you can in areas you are shaky in. I found Probability For Dummies (For Dummies (Math & Science)) and The Complete Idiot's Guide to Geometry, 2nd Edition (Complete Idiot's Guide to) excellent if you need help in those areas. Also, the review tests at [...] are outstanding.

Good luck!

This book is great. It is cheap and it tells you all the areas you need to review to do well on the PRAXIS II exam. That is not to say that it is a thorough review of everything in math up to calculus. It is not intended for that. It is intended to show you what concepts you need to understand as a teacher.

I used this book to help me focus what I needed to brush up on. The best approach for this book is to go through the review section first. If you find something that you are a little rusty on, pull out your old textbook on that subject and go through the section covering it. After doing this take the first practice test. Then review any areas you may have done poorly on while taking the practice test. Take the last two practice tests a week or two apart from each other as your test date approaches. I followed this strategy and got a score of 167 the first time, well over the 141 I needed for Maryland.

Remember the math content exam is a long test and you may not be able to complete it on time. Don't worry though, take your time. Most of the problems are not overly difficult; they just take many steps and require you to pull different areas of mathematical thinking together. Keep a clear head and you'll do fine. Also, buy this book! It is well worth the money just for the practice tests in the back.

Some comments:
Other reviewers had good points: book does not show enough examples in the review section. This would be the quickest way to get a point across. Book has some typos and incorrect answers in sample tests.
Tests in this book seemed easier than actual Praxis.

Some good points: Book is very focused on the 0061 test - inexpensive way to focus effort on useful subjects. This book was more useful than the programmable calculator I bought for the test.

FWIW, I have an engineering background have not taken a math class in about 20 years, studied for a week with this manual and got a 192. One disclaimer: I'm good at taking standardized tests.

I think the praxis math customer base, and review community of test-takers have very high expectations for this study guide, and many others which are online, as a one-stop-shop or math cook-book. As other amazon product reviewers have noted, ClifsTestPrep for 0061 can be used as a study guide when properly used with a mathematics text book for the specific content area under consideration. This product may serve you through the introduction of the basic concepts underlying calculus, probability, statistics, sequences, and series, and so on. Methodology, and problem solving techniques beyond direct calculations are challenges that are not within the focus of this study guide, but these issues must be addressed to pass the 0061 ets exam for teacher certification. However, most of the ets test-takers who ace the praxis ii 0061 high school mathematics content of knowledge exam are currently are studying near-graduate level math in college, and know how to exploit their calculator. The other sub-set of test-takers for the 0061 exam is most likely career-changers who haven't done math at the calculus level in years, and may not even own a TI 83, plus, or 89. We at praxismathexamforum think it is important to keep in mind that all the Praxis 2 subject tests seek to qualify the test-takers knowledge beyond the grade-level which they intend to teach. Most of the people I have spoken with ran out of time on the 0069 exam, and ran out of information or memorized formulas for the 0061 exam. Our best advice would be learn how to leverage your graphing calculator, and also to combine the CliffTestPrep 0061 study guide with something on the order of a technical math text for a solid foundation and complete exposure to the depth and nature of questions one would expect on the actual praxis ii 0061 math exam. Also, a review of the available math functions, formulas, etc that a graphing calculator has to avoid calculating unnecessarily on the praxis ii math exam. We have set up a decent online community over at praxismathexamforum dot com with all the necessary tools to help anyone in need, and we are available on the forums to point you to an adequate resource if necessary. Separately, if you click my username here on Amazon you will find a running list of relevant books which can help you prepare for the 0061 and 0069 praxis subject tests.

We hope this post helps, and good luck on test-day.

Cheers,

Admin
PraxisMathExamForum

I would definitely recommend this study guide over the ETS guide. The review information is pretty thorough, however, there are no examples. I used this book in preparation for the Praxis and did see some of the exact same type questions appear on the test. Be aware that there are several typos in the book. Also be aware that the real test is much harder than the practice tests in the book. I haven't had a math class in 14 years but studied the topics in this book and passed by a wide margin. I would recommend it.

This study guide gave me about three useful hints which actually helped on the Praxis test, but otherwise it did more harm than good. I studied this guide, took all three practice tests, and aced them -- I averaged >90% correct on each one, in about half the alloted time. I went in to the actual Praxis 0061 exam feeling confident based on this book, and I couldn't have been more surprised. The actual Praxis exam was much more difficult -- instead of answering all of the questions in 45 minutes like I did from this book, I didn't even finish all the questions on the real test in the two hour limit!

I was not the only one who felt this way after taking the test; the phrase "false sense of security" was heard throughout the room after the exam, and it was all based on this particular exam guide.

Perhaps if you are completely unprepared for the Praxis exam this guide might be OK for you. Otherwise, purchase the study guide directly from ETS and you'll be in much much better shape. I'll update this later on after I see if I pass the test!!!

The actual test was NOTHING like this book or the practice exams within. While it is not that the book is not good-it provides a thorough review of math concepts but it did not help me prepare for the test. The questions were phrased completely different and at a much higher level.

I just took the Praxis Math Content Area exam, and I feel like because of this book, I did pretty well. There are plently of practice tests, and this book covers everything on the math content area praxis. However, it briefly goes over things without explaining them in great detail. For example, it tells you that a data set can be represented by a box and whiskers plot, but doesn't bother to explain exactly what that is. You'll have to look it up online. There are also many typos and such in this book. However, it's one of the very few books that's exclusively praxis II math, so if you want something cheap that can help you, then shoot for this.