Customer Reviews

Review for the Praxis Elementary Content Knowledge Test

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This book is of limited value in helping to prepare for the Praxis Elementary Education Content Knowledge Test. There is very little available to help prepare for the Praxis II series of tests. This was the only review book I could find for this particular test (0014). It was helpful in some areas but DO NOT rely on this book as a sole method of preparation. To prepare, it is best to buy the official PPST guide published by ETS (Educational Testing Service), the people who write and administer the Praxis series of tests. The ETS guide outlines the topics covered on the test, but does not give any content review for these topics. I used the Comex review book to find information on the topics listed in the ETS book, and found it lacking. The Comex book material lined up with the ETS guide in some areas but not in others. Many of the topics listed in the ETS book were not covered at all in the Comex book, and many topics covered extensively in the Comex book were not listed in the ETS book at all. Further, there were mistakes in the Comex book. For example, it listed both Mercury and Pluto as being the smallest planet in the solar system. I found better information on most topics in an encyclopedia. This book was not a complete waste of money: if you don't have much time to study, this book gives a quick, general overview of some topics, but it fell far short of my expectations.
Further, the sample questions and tests in the Comex book were nothing like the actual test. The ETS book gave an excellent practice test (but only one, and that was an abbreviated version). The practice questions in the Comex book were of the type that ETS specifically said would NOT be found on the test. Do NOT rely on this book for realistic practice questions. You can use the questions in the Comex book to test your knowledge of a subject area, but realize that the questions on the actual test will be very different.

I purchased this book because there were limited other resources available. It was helpful to me because I took the Praxis Elementary Content Knowledge test 15 years after I graduated from college. I had forgotten many of the basics in particular, in math and science. The topics were not covered in depth in any way in the book, but there were definition sections and overviews of many of the topics included on the test that were very helpful to me. I used very little other resources to study and scored in the tops 25% of the test. I agree with the other reviewer that the practice questions in the book bore no resemblance to the actual test and that the ETS booklet was much better in this regard. In addition, I agree with the other reviewer that certain topics that the ETS book indicated would be on the test were not covered in this book. Nevertheless, the material was a helpful review for me which I supplemented with some web research on the topics that were not included in the book. I would recommend the book for someone in my situation who has no fresh recollection of certain study areas, e.g. math and science. I found it very helpful to have a resource that had all four topics covered in one softcover book. I was able to bring it with me to study when it was convenient for me. I thought the book was a good value for what was included in comparison to the ETS guide. I believe the ETS publication was $... and included no substantive review material (although the practice test was helpful).

While this book did not go over everything that was on the test (specifically, some detailed language arts professional theories), and went over several things that were not covered, this book provided a very good review for the test. Overall the questions on the actual test were less complicated than those in the practice test, so though I had stressed out a lot about learning everything in the book, it turned out that I felt very well prepared when taking the test. Obviously the material cannot be exactly the same, but it was similar enough to help me figure out what to study. I was much more pleased with this book than several other reviewers, as I used little other material and still felt confident that I did well.

I used this book along with the "Elementary Education: Content Knowledge Study Guide (Praxis Study Guides)." The "Praxis Study Guide" is published by the people who actually write the test. It contains a list of topics you should study, a practice test, and test-taking tips. It does NOT include the actual content you should study for the test. The Comex books does attempt to do that, and is the only one currently on the market that does so.

That being said, the Comex book does NOT do a good job of covering the topics and content area on the test. It appears to have been written by someone who just graduated from college (well, MAYBE graduated from college). It is littered with typos, factual errors, and is not well written.

My favorite part was in the marsupial section, where the author boldly points out "Marsupial babies are born alive, but very young." (page 407).

I used primarily the Language Arts, Social Studies, and Science sections to study, so I will only comment on those.

The Language Arts section is probably the best of the three sections listed above. It provides a general overview of terms. It does not cover stage direction, which (strangely enough) was on the test that I took.

The Social Studies section is abysmal, particularly the history section. It does not go into the detail that you will need to do well on the test. I recommend getting a middle school history text and studying from that.

The Science section, on the other hand, goes into way too much detail. Many/most of the obscurities covered in this section were not on the test that I took. The Genetics section WAS useful however and there were at least a couple questions on my test that were covered explicitly in this section.

That being said, it is the only book out there that attempts to prepare you for the Elementary Ed Content Knowledge exam, and it does get you thinking about all of those topics that you probably haven't thought about much.

If you can afford it, I'd recommend getting a used copy and leafing through it. Studying from middle school texts is probably your best bet though. Good luck!

This book is great! It covers everything you need to know for the Elementary Praxis, but some of the information goes over 5th grade level and makes you panic more than you have to. I found there was a lot of political science questions on my praxis test in the History section. So know our political system and how it works and electing for presidency. That was the only thing I didn't concentration on and there it was!! In my state a 141 in passing and I got a 151. Buy this book and maybe a smaller more specific elementary book. If you were to buy just one book this is it though.
The ETS book sucks BTW it has barely any practice questions. This book is filled with practice questions!!!

The book is dated 2002 so I am not sure how relevant the information will be on a 2008 test.

This test is a pretty broad test. This book is probably overbroad. However, it is useful for reviewing all those things you haven't thought about in a long time. THe practice stuff is pretty useless and it could use a proofreading. But overall, I think it helped me study. Better than the stuff that ETS puts out.

Well, I used this book like 5 years ago and it was very helpful and explains each answer. And I was able to pass the PRAXIS exam!