How I Passed CSET … Little Tips and Tricks That Made the Difference Between Pass and Fail

With hard work and, not least, proper preparation for the CSET exam, it should be easy for you to pass the CSET and begin your teaching career.

What you need to know about CSET

Whatever subject you intend to teach, you will find that passing the CSET exam will require you to use two sets of skills: recalling the CSET knowledge you possess about your subject; and answer exam questions quickly and accurately.

Both skill sets are vitally important at CSET.

What is the CSET?

The CSET is a single-subject exam, intended to replace the old single-subject assessments for Praxis II teaching and testing. There are three types of test in CSET:

Single Subject Teaching Credentials they are used primarily in grades 7-12 and authorize a teacher to teach a particular subject.

Multi-subject teaching credentials they allow teachers to teach a variety of different subjects and are generally used in elementary schools for grades K-6.

Education Specialist Instruction Credentials Allow teachers to teach students who have a particular disability or special need in grades K-12.

Each CSET exam contains a series of subtests and lasts up to five hours. However, the subtests themselves are not timed, allowing you to spend more time on the areas that you find difficult and less time on the parts you know best.

Time management will be an important element in getting the score you need to pass the CSET exam and become a teacher.

Two types of questions, two types of challenge

CSET exam questions come in two forms: multiple answer questions ask you to choose the best answer from several options. In these questions, it is important to remember that the better the answer is not necessarily the only one Right answer. You may find that two CSET exam answers seem correct, but one answer will be more correct than the other. (This also means that when two answers look the same, you have a 50/50 chance of guessing the correct one.)

Constructed Response CSET Questions ask you to discuss, describe, analyze, explain, etc. You will often be asked to complete more than one task. Always read the question carefully and make sure you have completed all the tasks.

Tips for Taking the CSET Test for Essay Writing

CSET Exam Preparation: How to Study Quickly and Effectively

Whatever your subject, the CSET exam expects you to have memorized a great deal of information. Some of that CSET information you will know well because you use it every day. But many of the details that will appear on the exam will be the kind of knowledge that will normally have you turn to books to find the answers.

At CSET, you should be able to recall these events from your memory. That means being able to cram.

Top Methods to Quickly Complete CSET Exam Preparation

At some point, almost everyone is forced to study for an exam. It may not be the best way to learn, but it is often the only way to pass the exam.

There are a number of effective techniques you can use to fill your head with the information you need to quickly pass through your CSET exam.

1. Organize your priorities

Nobody excels at everything. Inevitably, there will be some subjects where you will be stronger and others where you will be weaker. You will need to make sure that you spend more time memorizing and learning your weaker than your strongest areas for the CSET.

Don’t worry if there seems to be a big difference between the amount of work you have to do and the amount of time you have to do it. The next step will be to reduce the work and preparation required to pass the CSET.

2. Pick and Store for CSET

Once you have identified the areas that will need more work, read all the information once. Highlight the most important points (don’t just underline – it’s easier to imagine a highlighted page than an underlined sentence).

There are several different methods you can use to store your CSET exam information in your head:

or Dissolve what you need to learn in small pieces. There is a limit to how much you can store in your short-term memory at one time. Take each piece little by little.

or Acrostics Help him remember a list in the correct order by turning them into strange sentences. My dear Aunt Sally is the famous way to remember to multiply and divide before adding and subtracting. You can create your own acrostic for any CSET dataset.

or Convert your CSET notes to music notes. If you can put the words you are trying to memorize into a melody that you like, you will find them much easier to remember. You may not be able to hum on the test, but you can sing in the shower and keep memorizing for CSET in the process;

3. Get the CSET rammed right there!

Cramming only puts the information you want in your head for a short time (using what you’re memorizing will keep you there for the long haul). To avoid dropping what you’ve memorized before your CSET exam, you’ll need to keep watching and reviewing it until you need it that day.

Acing The CSET

The actual content of your exam will depend on the subject you are planning to teach. The official CSET study guides will tell you what you are supposed to know before entering the CSET exam room. You should certainly be familiar with the CSET guidelines that apply to you.

However, what the CSET study guides won’t tell you is how to pass the CSET when you’re not sure of the answer. That’s not because you can’t do it; it’s because they don’t want you to know how to do it.

Here are 5 ways to succeed at CSET (even when you don’t know the answer)

1. Ask the easy questions first

Use the first few minutes of the test to pass the paper. You will surely find some of the questions easier than others. Do them immediately. It will make you feel a little better and give you more time for the tough questions. And if you get stuck on a question, make a mark, drop it, and move on. Come back to the end when you have more time, more focus, and less panic.

2. Use a process of elimination

This is an absolute must on any multiple choice question. There will always be one or two questions that are outrageously wrong. Eliminate them quickly and your score will double.

3. Eliminate language and extreme numbers

One way to choose the bad answers from the good ones is to observe the wording of the answers. Examiners generally prefer the correct answer to be imprecise. Any answer choice that uses words like “all,” “never,” or “always” is probably wrong. Similarly, for math and science questions, the highest and lowest numbers are also often poor choices. Take them.

4. Identify similar responses

Another way to refine the correct answer choices is to choose the answers that look the same. Typically, on the CSET exam, two answers will be extreme, one will look correct and the other will be correct.

The one that looks good has been deliberately put there to confuse you.

The examiners hope that as you fast-forward through the exam, you won’t realize there is a best answer next door and choose the wrong option. That’s bad, but it’s actually doing you a favor. When two answer choices seem similar, one of them is probably correct.

5. Use previous questions

One of the great things about long exams like the CSET is that the answer to a question can often be found elsewhere on the exam. It will be almost impossible for examiners not to repeat a course or duplicate a point. If you’re scratching your head over a question, go ahead and pay attention to it later. There are high chances that they will reveal the game in a different question.

Those are just five simple tactics you can use to pass the CSET test. There are dozens of others and you will need them all to put you in the classroom and in front of the blackboard. To learn all the tactics you need and make sure your CSET exam preparation is on the right track, check out our Study Guide and start your teaching career with top marks.