{"id":817,"date":"2016-07-13T11:17:17","date_gmt":"2016-07-13T18:17:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/praxis\/?p=817"},"modified":"2018-12-15T16:35:29","modified_gmt":"2018-12-16T00:35:29","slug":"difficult-praxis-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/praxis\/difficult-praxis-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"How Difficult is the Praxis II?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>For many teachers-in-training, the Praxis II exam feels intimidating, because the information is so specialized. But how difficult is the Praxis II?<\/p>\n<h2>How difficult is the Praxis II? That depends on\u00a0<em>which<\/em> Praxis II you take!<\/h2>\n<p>There are <a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/praxis\/many-praxis-ii-tests\/\">so many Praxis II tests<\/a>&#8211;at least one exam\u00a0for just about every subject you could possibly teach. The more specialized a Praxis II content area is, the harder a Praxis II exam can be. And on the flip side of that equation, test-takers often find Praxis II tests to be easier if their content is more general.<\/p>\n<p>Let me explain what I mean by\u00a0specific vs. general on the Praxis II. The Praxis II test for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ets.org\/praxis\/prepare\/materials\/5245\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chemistry: Content Knowledge<\/a> is highly specialized. Many of the questions focus on specific chemical compounds, facts about chemical reactions, science experimentation methods, important discoveries in the field of chemistry, and so on. This test requires you to recall a long list of concrete facts about the content area. Even if you&#8217;re very knowledgeable about chemistry, it&#8217;s usually harder to\u00a0master a highly detailed set set of concrete facts for an exam.<\/p>\n<p>So what would a more general Praxis II test look\u00a0like? Well, the Praxis II for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ets.org\/praxis\/prepare\/materials\/5204\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Teaching Reading<\/a> provides one example. This exam doesn&#8217;t focus on the long list of facts you&#8217;d find in a &#8220;hard science&#8221; discipline like chemistry. Instead, a Praxis II exam like this one tests a teacher&#8217;s knowledge \u00a0of\u00a0the\u00a0<em>art<\/em> of teaching. Many of the questions can be answered correctly through a combination of common sense and teaching experience. (The latter of which can be gained through student teaching and practicum.)<\/p>\n<p>Of course, the rule that\u00a0<em>specific factual content = harder<\/em> and\u00a0<em>general skills content = easier<\/em> on the Praxis II is not always true; different test-takers have different abilities. Most test-takers find more specialized content harder and have an easier time preparing for Praxis II tests on the art of teaching. But it&#8217;s possible that you could be more comfortable with fact-oriented testing&#8230;or you might feel uncomfortable\u00a0demonstrating your teaching skills through a standardized test. You will need to look at Praxis II sample questions and prep materials to know for sure if a Praxis II exam will be hard for you personally.<\/p>\n<h2>The Praxis II can be harder for people in alternative certification programs<\/h2>\n<p>The Praxis II is designed to measure years of university-level learning. If you want to take the Praxis II for\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ets.org\/praxis\/prepare\/materials\/5235\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Biology: Content Knowledge<\/a>\u00a0and you have just finished a university degree in biology, the test just might feel like an easy review of content you&#8217;ve already learned. If you need to take the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ets.org\/praxis\/prepare\/materials\/5025\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Praxis II in Early Childhood Education<\/a> and you&#8217;re almost done with a teaching degree int hat area, your professors probably spent years preparing you for the kinds of questions you&#8217;ll need to answer on the test.<\/p>\n<p>In contrast, teachers who are seeking <a href=\"https:\/\/schools.magoosh.com\/schools-blog\/pros-and-cons-of-alternative-certification-programs\">alternative certification<\/a> usually haven&#8217;t taken any teacher education classes, other than some relatively short in-program training. Often, alternative certification candidates also lack a degree in the content area they&#8217;re trying to get certified in.<\/p>\n<p>In this situation, the Praxis II takes a lot of careful study and can be quite challenging. If you are taking a Praxis II in an area you didn&#8217;t major in, make sure you prepare adequately&#8230;and be ready for a real challenge.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.meme.am\/instances\/62040725.jpg\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" alt=\"Difficult Praxis II -Magoosh\" class=\"aligncenter\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For many teachers-in-training, the Praxis II exam feels intimidating, because the information is so specialized. But how difficult is the Praxis II?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2431],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[4914],"class_list":["post-817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-praxis-ii"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v21.7 (Yoast SEO v21.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How Difficult is the Praxis II? - Magoosh Blog \u2013 Praxis\u00ae\ufe0f Test<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"For many teachers-in-training, the Praxis II exam seems intimidating because the specialized content. But how difficult is it really? 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Additionally, he's helped students with TOEIC, PET, FCE, BULATS, Eiken, SAT, ACT, GRE, and GMAT. David has a BS and MA from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and an MA from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MagooshEnglishLearning","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/david-recine\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCra3KQoJlOP7RYwaCyH2qew"],"knowsAbout":["TOEFL","IELTS","TOEIC","PET","FCE","BULATS","Eiken","SAT","ACT","GRE","GMAT"],"knowsLanguage":["English","Italian"],"jobTitle":"Content Creator","worksFor":"Magoosh","url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/praxis\/author\/davidr\/"}]}},"authors":[{"term_id":4914,"user_id":80,"is_guest":0,"slug":"davidr","display_name":"David Recine","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b70c17ee6f3ef87dc4cc5dbdebda911d6dd30dfe15845e4b1d459a3e1b33ef98?s=96&d=mm&r=g","user_url":"","last_name":"Recine","first_name":"David","description":"David is a Test Prep Expert for Magoosh TOEFL and IELTS. Additionally, he's helped students with TOEIC, PET, FCE, BULATS, Eiken, SAT, ACT, GRE, and GMAT.\r\n\r\nDavid has a BS from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and an MA from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. His work at Magoosh has been cited in<a href=\"https:\/\/scholar.google.com\/scholar?hl=en&amp;as_sdt=0%2C50&amp;q=Recine+magoosh&amp;btnG=\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> many scholarly articles<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/minds.wisconsin.edu\/handle\/1793\/65479\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> his Master's Thesis<\/a> is featured on the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.readingwithpictures.org\/2013\/09\/research-highlight-teaching-english-language-learners-with-comics\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Reading with Pictures<\/a> website, and he's presented at the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.witesol.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/2014-WITESOL-Program-FINAL-10-28-14.pdf\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> WITESOL (link to PDF)<\/a> and<a href=\"https:\/\/issuu.com\/interoff\/docs\/nafsaregionv_2014conference\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> NAFSA<\/a> conferences. David has taught K-12 ESL in South Korea as well as undergraduate English and MBA-level business English at American universities. He has also trained English teachers in America, Italy, and Peru.\r\n\r\nCome join David and the Magoosh team on<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCra3KQoJlOP7RYwaCyH2qew\"> Youtube<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MagooshEnglishLearning\"> Facebook<\/a>, and<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/magooshenglish\/?hl=en\"> Instagram<\/a>, or connect with him via<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/david-recine\/\"> LinkedIn<\/a>!"}],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/praxis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/praxis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/praxis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/praxis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/80"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/praxis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/praxis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/praxis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/praxis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/praxis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=817"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/praxis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}