CliffsNotes Praxis I: PPST, 4th Edition

411 Pages·2009·8.142 MB·English

by  Jerry Bobrow

.92 spine
Praxis I®: PPST® Praxis I: PPST
® ®
4th Edition
P
r
a
About the Contents:
x
i
Part I: Introduction
s
(cid:127) Overview of the test (cid:127) Proven study strategies and test-taking tips
I
(cid:127) FAQs (cid:127) The computer-based test
®
:

Part II: Analysis of Exam Areas
P
(cid:127) Reading
P
(cid:127) Mathematics
S
(cid:127) Writing—Multiple-choice and essay
T
Part III: Mathematics Review ® Proven test-taking strategies

(cid:127) Symbols (cid:127) Arithmetic 4
(cid:127) Terminology (cid:127) Algebra t Focused reviews of all exam topics
(cid:127) Formulas (cid:127) Geometry h
4 model practice exams

E
Part IV: Selective Review of Grammar and Usage
d
i
Part V: Four Full-Length Practice Tests
t
i
(cid:127) Three in paper-based format
o
(cid:127) One in computer-based format
n
(cid:127) Complete answers and explanations for all questions
Dr. Jerry Bobrow was a national authority in the fi eld of teacher certifi cation test preparation. His test-prep
company, Bobrow Test Preparation Services, continues to administer test preparation programs.
B
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r Jerry Bobrow, Ph.D.
$19.99 US B o
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978047045454-1_RB2.pdf

CliffsNotes
®
Praxis I®: PPST®
4TH EDITION

CliffsNotes
®
Praxis I®: PPST®
4TH EDITION
by
Jerry Bobrow, Ph.D.
Contributing authors:
Ed Kohn, M.S.
Joy Mondragon-Gilmore, M.S.
Jean Eggenschwiler, M.A.
About the Author Publisher’s Acknowledgments
Jerry Bobrow, PhD,was a national authority in the field of Editorial
test preparation. As founder of Bobrow Test Preparation Project Editor:Greg Tubach
Services, he administered test preparation programs at over Project Editor: Christina Stambaugh
25 California institutions for more than 30 years. Dr.
Bobrow authored over 30 national best-selling test prepara- Production
tion books, and his books and programs have assisted more Proofreader: Melissa D. Buddendeck
than 2 million test-takers. Each year, the faculty at Bobrow
Wiley Publishing Inc. Composition Services
Test Preparation Services lectures to thousands of students
on preparing for graduate, college, and teacher credentialing
exams.
CliffsNotes®Praxis I®: PPST®, 4th Edition
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Dedication
This book is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Jerry Bobrow, award-winning author and educator
who assisted thousands of prospective teachers in reaching career goals. Dr. Bobrow died prior
to the publication of this book after a two-year battle with cancer. His life-long commitment to
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PPST. Dr. Bobrow recognized that all people have unique abilities, and believed that one’s
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Acknowledgments
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manuscript; to Linnea Fredrickson and Melinda Masson for proofreading the revised edition;
and to Christina Stambaugh of Wiley Publishing for her dedication and careful attention to
editing details during the production process.

Table of Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv
Study Guide Checklist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii
PART I: INTRODUCTION
Introduction to the PPST Pre-Professional Skills Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Pre-Professional Skills Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Questions Commonly Asked about the PPST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Getting Started: Five Steps to Success on the PPST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Taking the PPST: Two Successful Overall Approaches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
The “Plus-Minus” system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Paper-based strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Computer-based strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
The elimination strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Paper-based strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Computer-based strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Taking the Computer-Based PPST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Computer-based tutorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Computer screen layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
PART II: ANALYSIS OF EXAM AREAS
Introduction to the Reading Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Reading Test Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Ability Tested . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Basic Skills Necessary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Directions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Analysis of Directions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Suggested Strategies with Sample Passages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Active Prereading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Paper-based . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Computer-based. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Marking the passage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
A short sample passage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Understand what is given . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Eliminate and mark out choices that are incorrect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Understand what is implied in the passage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Another short sample passage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Make sure that your answer is well-supported by the information in the passage . . . . . . . . 22
Understand meaning, style, tone, and point of view of the passage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Know where to look for information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
A longer passage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Always look for the main point of the passage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Be aware of information not directly stated in the passage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Watch for important conclusions or information that supports a conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Understand the meaning and possible reason for using certain words or phrases . . . . . . . . 26
Eliminate those choices that are not supported by the passage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
General Procedure for Answering Reading Comprehension Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
CliffsNotes Praxis I: PPST, 4th Edition
Five Key Questions for Understanding and Interpreting What You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Main idea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Style and tone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Difficult or unusual vocabulary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Introduction to the Mathematics Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Mathematics Test Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Ability Tested . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Directions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Analysis of Directions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Suggested Approach with Samples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Mark key words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Pull out information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Plug in numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Work from the answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Approximate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Make comparisons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Mark diagrams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Draw diagrams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Try possibilities in probability problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Interpret special symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Determine the method in procedure problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Interpret data—graphs, charts, and tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Focus on the words of formal mathematical reasoning problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Tips for Working Math Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Introduction to the Writing Test Multiple-Choice Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Multiple-Choice Writing Test Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Part A – English Usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Ability tested . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Basic skills necessary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Directions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Analysis of directions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Suggested approach with samples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Focus on the verbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Check the verb tenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Look for pronoun errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Check the adjectives and adverbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Notice parallelism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Consider idioms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Watch for dangling elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Pay attention to comparisons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Notice capitalization and punctuation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Practice in English Usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Part B – Sentence Correction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Ability tested . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Basic skills necessary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Directions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Analysis of directions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Suggested approach with samples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Focus on the verbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Check the verb tenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
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