Customer Reviews

The Best Teache MTEL Mathematics (Fields 053, 047 and 09) (MTEL Teacher Certification Test Prep)

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

 

 

It was helpful to be able to take a four-hour practice test. However, the test itself (09) contained two errors. One question about a rhombus had two correct answers. Another about raising a complex number to a power did NOT have the correct answer, and the explanation made no sense. The supposedly "detailed explanations" of the answers left much to be desired in some cases, particularly for the problems involving statistics--which were NOT described in the review section. I also found numerous errors in the written review, including an incorrect formula for finding the area of a rhombus. Several of these errors were perhaps typos where one mathematical symbol was substituted for another. If you don't already know the math well, you could get into trouble.

If you are prepping for the MTEL, I suggest using the information from the MTEL website to determine what topics you need to study. Then refer to actual text books and math references at your local library. Take a practice test, either from this book (knowing it's not entirely reliable) or another source.

Personally, I found the actual test easier than the practice test in this book, and I found that my textbook-based review had prepared me well.

I purchased this book to help prepare for the MTEL. By the time I got to page 21, I had discovered some serious errors. I would recommend using actual mathematics textbooks for studying instead of this book. An example of one of the errors I found indicated that "in mathematics, multiplication precedes division", which is totally incorrect. This mistake reinforces a common error when applying the order of operations. There were several other errors when I got to the section on simplifying radicals. At p.21, I decided that this book would be of no help to me. I opted to use an actual textbook to assist in my preparation. It was a waste of money.

I bought this book to prepare for test 53. While I haven't found any better materials to help prepare, I don't always find the explanations terribly helpful in this book. It has a lot of procedural information and not enough conceptual. I have found it most helpful to use the book to target areas I need help with, and then talk to someone who understands them. The tests on the CD are the same as the ones in the book, so it is not worth paying extra for a book with the CD-rom.

I used this book to prepare for the Middle School Math Test (47). I went through some of the test preparation material in the beginning of the book, but with limited time, I decided to take the practice test. It has 102 questions with an anwer key and detailed explanations. It allowed me to see better my weaknesses and concentrate on those. Obviously, some good text books are needed for deeper study, which is not the purpose of this work.
I did very well on the actual test and found the book to be a good preview of the actual test.
There were some errors, and to the reviewer that found the supposed error, "multiplication preceds division",I would suggest that even though multiplication and division are the same, but different, (like addition and subtraction), the authors were referring to the well established order of operations: PEMDAS (perenthesis, exponents, *multiplication*, division*, addition, subtraction). It should be, of course: multiplication or division, whichever comes first.

Great book, very handy....It was exactly as described, very helpful and informative, would order it again and recommend to friends

As someone who is trying to career change into teaching math, this was a great review of a WIDE variety to subjects, many that I have not thought about or used in years. I did you other text to supplement this book, and there were mistakes, but over all I felt if prepared me VERY well for the actual 4 hour MTEL exam.

I found that this book contained errors - enough to make me wonder if the time I have put in (and frustration-level I've reached) trying to study, was for not. I struggle with math in general, so for ME to have found mistakes made by the publisher...
As far as content: I feel that the explanations given for answers are poorly demonstrated. I hoped to find a manual that spoke to the layman mathematician, and this one falls short. Again, math is NOT my strong point, so I speak only from that platform, however, I am quite sure there are MANY like me out there...

First my Criticism: The book has a couple of errors and the essay questions were nowhere near as challenging as the essay questions on the real MTEL. Also, when it comes to Trig and Calc there is big difference when preparing for the middle school math exam (47) which does not require a calculator and the high school math exam (09) which does require a calculator, however, the book doesn't differenciate this. It toggles back and forth with its explanations of Trig problems -- some necessitating a calculator to do. Additionally, the Stats section in this book is more challenging (tho really not that challenging) than the Stats questions on the MTEL Middle School exam. Thus, this section is written for 09 test takers, but that's not such a bad thing if you are taking 47.

Good Points: What I liked about this book is that it has all the different topics on the MTEL math exam in one review book--so you won't need a seporate book for reviewing Pre-Algebra (ie: radicals and exponents), Algebra-I, Geometry, Stats, etc.--tho you will need other texts to study because of what the "type" of questions on the MTEL which I describe below. Also, the layout, font, graphs, etc. in this book blows away the XAM prep-book. Don't buy any of the XAM prep-books! I also found the explanations of how to solve the problems of basic math and pre-algebra, algebra (of which it combines Alg-I & II together), geometry, and statistics to be excellent. (Trig and Calc explanations I didn't really get but that could just be me.)

NOTE: The MTEL Middle School Math (47) is about 50% "math sauviness" questions in which it gives you a short word problem of which you need to figure out the problem in order to solve it, and about 50% actual problems. This test prep book (as well as math textbooks) only helps with the later. Therefore, you'll need to find another book to get practice at word problems. I used a book called something like "1001 Math Problems." Although just some of the actual problems on the MTEL were like these (tho those were exactly identical!), working through the final 300 questions in this "1001" book (the first 700 were too easy) built up my overall math sauviness. An example of a math sauviness question is: Juan can paint a house in 3 days, while it takes his brother DeJesus 4 days. If they painted a house together then how long would it take? I also used parts of the first approx. 100 pages of a Business Calculus textbook and a Finite Math textbook to study because the first 100 pages of these books were a review of Algebra-II and functions, and the half a dozen word problems in the first 100 pages of these textbooks are/were similar to at least one of the the essay questions on the MTEL. One MTEL essay question is always a complex Algebra-II question about either break-even analysis, an inequality, or a function (ie: given this data, x hours later what pct. will the concentration of the mixture be?; and write the equation), while the other essay question on the MTEL is usually a complex geometry question. Don't even bother reviewing Calculus for the #47 exam as there are only two multiple choice Calculus questions on the entire exam (at least this was the case both times I took it).

It's been 20 years since I took a math class (a D+ in Business Calculus and a B- in Statistics-I) and I scored a 230 (240 is passing) the first time I took the MTEL Middle School Math exam only using this REA book for my preparation. The parts of the other books were necessary to get me over the top. So in sum, buy this REA book--it'll give you the "base" of your preparation--but you'll also need parts of other books which you can get at the library to fill in the gaps so you are totally prepared.

DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK!!! It is replete with serious errors and does not include answer keys for its problem sets. It is a complete waste of money and of your time. DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK!