Elizabeth Zuniga

Praxis Core Exam Analysis

Exam Requirements

All Education and Early Childhood Education students, who plan on graduating from the

College of Southern Nevada, must pass the Praxis Core Academic Skills before they continue with

their bachelor’s degree in education or get accepted to UNLV, UNR or NSA. The passing scores

for each section are 156 for Reading, 162 for Writing and 150 for Mathematics.

Exam Preparation

I was scheduled to take the Praxis Core Academic Skills Combined Test on January of

2018, but I felt underprepared to pass all sections. I only read about the exam and completed one

practice test as a form of preparation for the exam. I knew if I took the test I would not pass. Hence,

I rescheduled my exam to February, about a month later. To prepare, I went to the College of

Southern Nevada library and checked out three Praxis Core Academic Skills study books. I looked

at my practice test results and saw that I did poorly in the mathematics section. Thus, I shifted

much of my focus to mathematics. On the Thursday before my exam, I skimmed and reviewed

information for the reading and writing sections. Since I scored well in these two sections, I did

not allocate much study time to them. The Friday before the exam, I took a practice test in the

morning and scored well in all sections. I felt confident on the day of the exam and thought I would

pass all sections.

Exam Results

I took the Praxis Core Academic Skills Combined Test and passed the reading and

mathematics sections. My score for the reading portion was 172 and 156 was my score for

mathematics. I did not pass the Writing portion; I scored 156. When I took the practice Praxis
exam, I scored in the 62% range with improvement needed meaning I am unlikely to pass this

section of the Praxis Core exam.

Future Exam Preparation

Since I did not pass the writing section of the Praxis Core exam, it will be my primary

focus as I study to retake it. I’ve already checked out two library books and will be studying them

for the exam. I will also visit the College of Southern Nevada Writing Center after I finish each

practice Praxis writing exam. I want help in understanding questions I answered wrong and

guidance as to where I should focus my study on. I looked on MyCSN for any EPD courses that

might be available during the summer, but there were none. I was only six points under from

receiving a passing score for the writing section when I took the real test and scored in the 62%

range of the practice exam. With more studying and help I know I will pass the writing section of

the Praxis Exam.