Customer Reviews

Spanish: Content Knowledge and Productive Language Skills (Praxis Study Guides)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

If you are taking the PRAXIS, use this guide!

This study guide has several good points:
1. The strategy tips are great!
2. The list of "things to study" is exhaustive (in the case of "culture", possibly even too exhaustive).
3. The practice test is identical in format to the actual test. All of the answers are correct (no typos that I noticed!), and the answer key explains _why_ the correct answer is, in fact, correct. Somebody put a lot of work into this.

Here are some caveats:
1. The practice test is considerably easier than the actual test. I took it once before studying, and got an A. Fortunately, I studied daily for a month anyway, because I still didn't do nearly that well on the real thing. Don't get too cocky based on your performance on the practice test -- just use it to get acquainted with the format.
2. Several reviews say to use Brain Quest Hispanic America cards to study culture (since this study guide pretty much says to study everything about everybody and everywhere). The cards are useful, but not sufficient in themselves. For the price, they're a great start, but make sure you have another plan too. (Sorry, I don't have anything useful to say about what that plan should be ...)
3. These free websites can help you study grammar and vocabulary: www.studyspanish.com (just the free stuff should do it), and www.nationalspanishexam.org. Levels 4 and 5 or levels 4 and 6 practice activities and practice exams are challenging enough to be useful; don't do both levels 5 and 6, because they are identical (unless you have some time to kill). The PRAXIS study guide does not provide practice activities or instruction, only the practice exam, which (as I mentioned) is too easy to be used as anything more than a preview of the format. These websites can help you fill in that gap, and they're free.

This is the only book out there that will actually help you with understanding which questions to focus on for the test. You will need additional materials to study for art, music, poetry and history. Try BrainQuest Hispanic America flashcards for extra cultural and history questions.

I recently took the Praxis test and passed it on my first try because the study guide steered me in the right direction. The questions in the study guide are much easier than the actual questions on the test but they are similar in structure. You will be better prepared for the Praxis test after using the study guide but you still will need to use other resources to help you with culture portion of the test. I hope this review helps.

I bought this book to help me prepare for the MTEL in Spanish because the other books did not get good ratings. It is a great book for preparing for the format of the exam although the real exam was shorter and heavily loaded with cultural and historical questions. The study guide at the beginning of the book is most invaluable because a lot of the questions are taken from there.

The book and CD were a great tool in helping me study for the PRAXIS exam. The situations, and practice questions were very much like the actual test. There were also very good explanations on how the test was graded, and what type of answers would recieve a high score.

This book was published in 2005, and it describes the older, paper-format exams, and not the new Spanish: World Language (5195) exam.

This book is the only study guide I have been able to find anywhere, which is why I bought it anyway. I don't think it is completely useless, but it's very close to being useless. The literature from ETS about the 5195 describes an exam that is very markedly different from the one described in this book. Not only has the format changed, but it appears that the focus of the content on the newer exam has shifted quite a bit, and that large sections of the material in this book are not relevant at all.

If you buy this, just be aware of what you're getting.

the only thing worthwhile about this book is the practice test and even that is pushing it. this is the kind of test where you either know the information or you don't. this study guide scared me even more rather than putting me at ease because it lists an infinite amount of topics that could be on the real test. the majority of what's inside can be found on the ets website. definitely buy it on amazon and not the ets website because its not worth the money they want to charge you.

This book tells you to study EVERYTHING! DUH! The only decent portion of the study guide is the practice test and the explained answers. However, once you take it, it is not useful much. The Content Knowledge Spanish II Praxis is very difficult for those who have not "studied" from a book for some time. I HIGHLY recommend the Practice Makes Perfect Series. This book is another way for ETS to make money, go figure. Where is Teddy Roosevelt when you need him? Someone needs to "bust that trust!"

This book is what it says: A study guide. I bought it for the Content Knowledge test and found it to be very useful in directing my review for the test. The list of topics IS long, but fairly exhaustive. I found the list of culture topics to be very helpful, as it gave me suggestions of people/places/things to study- many of which appeared on the actual test. The listening practice section on the CD (practice test) is easier than the actual test, but definitely helps you to know what to expect. The testing strategies weren't very useful to me, as they aren't very specific and don't tell anything that you didn't know from taking other tests. Also, half of the book is information for a test I wasn't taking.

Overall, I definitely recommend buying the book to help prepare for the test- and buy it here for cheaper. Use it to outline your review topics and to get a feel for the format of the actual test.

I haven't found anything quite as useful as this book to study for the Spanish Content PRAXIS. There is only one practice test, which is my primary complaint, but the test gives you a really great idea of how much studying you need to do. There is also a very detailed section of the book with a list of the topics that may appear on the test (grammr, history, literature, culture, etc) so I used that to study. I haven't taken the test yet, but I anticipate I'll do well.

I recommend studying the list of topics before taking the practice test. Then you'll have a really good idea of how much further studying is necessary.