TExES Study Resources and Reviews

A few months back, I took the TExES (Texas Examinations of Educator Standards) exam. It’s the first step in the certification testing process. If you are in any sort of certification program, you will have heard about it so much so that you feel like you are being prepped for the medical license exam. I don’t know about you but that sort of test seems a little bit more intimidating. In the end, the TExES is nothing to stress about.

Over the course of my exam prep, I used a few different methods for studying. Here’s a brief summary and review of those various methods.

240Tutoring - Basically, I saw it as sample tests that help track where you before you study, while studying, and just before the test. 240Tutoring offered study guides, practice questions, and assessments broken out by subjects.

I grade this resource at a A-. Best study tool, overall.

Pros:

• Each study guide subject is broken into topics = not overwhelming. This made it easy to create a “study schedule” (which I’ll cover in a post later)
• Good practice questions and assessments that aligned well with the axtual exam
• Money back gurantee!!! To “Any 240Tutoring student that earns a 95% cumulative score in their study guide on the 3rd assessment and does not pass their exam on the next attempt.”

Con:

• Practice questions and the assessments are repeated every time. I sometimes felt like I was memorizing the answers.

Some tips for using 240Tutoring:

• If you want to print your study material, like I do, use a Mac. Somehow my computer let me bypass whatever lock they have on the files. I was able to print all but 1 section. So be warned: if you aren’t comfortable reading lots of material online, reconsider using this resource.
• When taking practice questions and exams, take breaks between the re-takes so you have time to “forget” some the questions asked. Like I said, sometimes I felt like I was memorizing the questions. If I didn’t retake questions back to back, I felt like I could really assess what I learned from the study material.

TExES Prep by Exam Edge – Plain and simple: All this is is practice exams and a brief explanation of the questions at the end. I used this the last 4-5 days before the test. I felt like I had studied all that I could and could no longer cram information into my brain. This resource really helped me wrap my head around what the test would be like and nearly every possibility of types of questions.

I give this resource a A-/C. I used the 2 different grades because it depends what angle I’m grading it from…from a student perspective and a teacher perspective.

Pros:

• I think they were spot on with the actual look and feel of the real exam.That helped ease a lot of my anxiety.
• From a student perspective, I think it’s a great resource and I accomplished what I wanted from it…practicing the test.

Cons:

• From a teacher perspective, I don’t think it’s the best approach to studying because you aren’t really studying. You are just taking a handful of tests but not learning the material.

Some tips for TExES Prep:

• I recommend using this as a last minute, last resort resource. Use it after you have studied all the material that you can.
• Spend the little extra money and buy a few tests and take 1 a day over a couple of days.

Books I bought, but didn’t use, to study with:

Preparing to Teach Texas Content Areas: The TExES EC-6 Generalist & the ESL Supplement

CliffsNotes TExES: Generalist EC-6

Pros:

• Traditional study approach and highly recommended books

Cons:

• The study books are super overwhelming
• Material not broken up in a way to easily study the material.

If you are looking for an easy way to study for this test, use one of the online resources I talked about. It’s simple to follow and will get you comfortable with the electronic