PRAXIS Middle School Mathematics (5169) Book + Online (PRAXIS Teacher Certification Test Prep)

I just took the Praxis 2 Middle School Math 5169 and passed. It was my second attempt. So I have seen 2 different versions of the test. I used this book as my primary resource on both attempts. I also checked out several other books at the library. This one is by far the closest to the actual test. Some of the reviews cite that the book and tests are full of mistakes. That is simply not true. There are some errors. However, the author has compiled a list and will send you a PDF file of the errors and corrections if you request it by email. In my opinion, no single resource can adequately prepare you for the test. That being said, this book is a “must” if you want to be prepared for the actual “type” of test questions. A few of the questions were actually on the exam. The book includes 4 different tests that are 55 questions in length (Which replicates the actual 5169 exam). It also includes 2 additional 30 question tests. I want to offer some additional advice to test takers. The actual exam is harder that the exams in this book or any other test prep exams that I used. I was averaging 80% on the prep exams and failed the test the first time with a raw score of 26 which is less than 50% correct. That translated to a weighted score 153. (165 is the minimum score to pass in my state.) The weighted score is confusing… I did some research and found some minutes of an official meeting that discussed the difficulty of the 5169 test. The decision was that test takers need to get 31 out of 55 test questions correct in order to pass. That translated to a weighted score of 165. The second time I took the test, I scored a 173 with a raw score of 34. I would also like to recommend another book to help you study for the test. They sell it on Amazon. I am not sure they allow other books to be referenced in a review but it is a teal green color and it is for “beginning algebra” students. You can search for it with the words “A Plus”. I used both books in my preparation. Another word of advice when taking the test… Don’t spend any time on problems you are not sure how to solve. Just guess and move on. Spend your time on the ones that you know how to solve – you only have to get 31 correct. When I got my scores from ETS, I noticed that they had a category of “raw points available”. The number was 45 (but there are 55 questions so I called ETS for an explanation.) The short answer is that you are not going to get credit for 10 questions even if you scored 100%. So there are at least 10 questions that are “very difficult”. I found this to be that case when I took the test.

So, I passed using this book, but it does NOT cover everything that you need to know for the Middle School Math Praxis Exam. Check the updated list of math topics on the ETS Praxis site to be sure you review everything that they could ask questions about. This book does a good job reviewing the basics of many of the middle school math topics, but it leaves others out like relative error, some probability problems, types of quadratic equation formats, and some work on sequences and algorithms, among other things. The pros: It explains the topics in a very easy to follow, straightforward way and gives a couple of basic examples of how each topic applies to problems or questions similar to those on the test. It then gives some more practice examples that provide a basic variety of different types of questions AND most importantly explanations of how to do these problems correctly. It provides an online set of tests along with two in the book itself for practice. These questions do provide some additional content, so plan on doing the ENTIRE book and ALL of the online tests to ensure that you have plenty of time to practice. I did all of them, read the book over completely twice and reviewed all of the sample tests for questions I missed and how to do them correctly. I also spent 7 weeks with the book and some other resources preparing for the test and did very well--thanks.Improvements: As I said, this book needs to be updated with some of the topics that are now covered on the test, but the book does not address. I also would recommend more examples--especially for those types of questions that use linear or quadratic equations where there are many formats of question types that could be asked and the book only focuses on a couple of them. I would also recommend that the online sample tests have a more comprehensive review of how well you do on them--it just gives a percentage of how well they think you are doing rather than a specific targeted list of topics. Just because you do well overall on a section does not mean that you know everything in that area. I also would recommend that the explanations for the online test questions be updated--they use a calculator format(like--\frac(3)(4) is how they show 3/4) to show and explain the answers which is very annoying when trying to review and see what you missed on these questions. This is especially difficult to follow for some complex equations and expressions. I also found several errors or typos in the book itself--so be sure to check on the answers as well.Overall, the book helps review quite a bit, but would be better with some updated content and more examples.

I loved this book - very easy to understand and to work through. Read and work through the ENTIRE book! Also, take every single practice test in the book and online. When your done with the practice tests, look over the solutions. I did that and then also purchased 3 of the ETS practice tests, and also completed 2 Cliffnotes practice tests.All in all, I did the above method for around 2-3 weeks, took the praxis 5169 and passed with a 168!On a side note, Mr. Reiss is beyond gracious and friendly and really roots on the students for their success. Thank YOU again Mr. Reiss for all your encouragement via email.

This book gave a great overview of the topics I needed to understand for the Praxis test, but there were some areas that needed deeper coverage, like statistics (permutations and combinations, for example) and geometry (could’ve used more info on proofs and the geometry concepts that build them, for example). Though I definitely appreciated all the practice tests that came with the book, I found the ETS Praxis practice tests better for pointing out weak areas I needed to study more (ETS practice tests were harder...I purchased all three). I looked up concepts I needed more work in online (Khan Academy, for example) and between that and this book, passed the Praxis test with room to spare.