The Spanish Praxis: Test at a Glance with sample questions.

The makers of the Spanish Praxis offer sample test questions for free with answers to follow. Take the sample test and see how you do. If you do well, then you'll probably do well on the Spanish Praxis. (?) If you don't do well, then calculate the sections with the most errors and use that as your guide on what you need to work on. You will find a variety of high quality reviewed sources that you can use to start reading authentic materials daily and/or listening to authentic speakers daily at www.cs-spanishnews.blogspot.com.

From the ETS link below you will find the following approximate breakdown of the test:

Listening: 30 questions (26%)

Reading: 30 questions (26%)

Culture: 15 questions (12%)

Writing: 18%

Speaking 18%

Prepare for all sections of the test well, but keep in mind that listening and reading are a little more than 50% of the test. That is significant. These skills must be strong. The best way to improve these skills is to start reading and listening to authentic Spanish media daily. You probably already know this, but just a reminder; "authentic materials" are written and spoken media that were designed for native speakers of Spanish, not for second language learners. This is a critical distinction because you will be required to understand "authentic Spanish" on the Spanish Praxis. This blog was designed to help teachers and students find high quality sources of authentic Spanish for lessons and student practice. I hope you will use it to prepare for the Spanish Praxis. Have fun exploring, reading, and listening to all the authentic materials provided in links on this blog. Check out a different one every day! Here is an example of the Argentina BBC link to the left on this blog; first you will see English, but when you scroll down you will see links to authentic newspapers, television, and radio in Argentina. It doesn't get much better than that!

You will know after you take the sample test on the link below where your weak skills are. You can't test your listening skills though on this sample test and it's quite important, so buy their prep book because it has a listening practice component. At least you'll know ahead of time if you are strong or weak in that area. Don't give up if you don't pass the first time. ETS will provide you with a breakdown of where you made mistakes by category, so you will know where to work harder for the next test. Here is the ETS link showing you the breakdown of the test and it includes free sample test questions with answers.

 http://www.ets.org/s/praxis/pdf/5195.pdf

Free prep materials for the Spanish Praxis and a book you can buy.

If you are preparing for the Spanish Praxis, I highly recommend you review all the free preparation materials that ETS makes available. You don't want to be learning how to take the exam during the exam. I purchased their test prep book and was glad that I did. I took it in 2012. I wish they would require testing center to provide a quiet room for each test taker because it's quite distracting to take your test while other people are taking the speaking part of their tests. I took a test in Florida for certification there, not the Praxis, and the testing center provided an individual sound proof room. That was nice! I took the Spanish Praxis at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and there were others testing and talking at the same time. Some test takers even made high pitched screeching noises as they left the room and did other bizarre discracting things during the test. If you find it hard to concentrate in such an environment, you might want to look for a testing center with a sound proof room for individual test takers. Here is the link for ETS's free and for purchase materials.

 http://www.ets.org/praxis/prepare/materials/5195

How to register for the Spanish Praxis.

How to register for the Spanish Praxis: ETS, Educational Testing Services, is the organization that administers the Spanish Praxis. It's worth looking around their website for testing preparation materials because I found them to be excellent, not only for the Spanish Praxis, but for other tests they administer too.

Here is their Web page:

http://www.ets.org/praxis

Listening section of the Spanish Praxis.

The Spanish Praxis listening section of the test is very important. It weighs heavily in your grade. If you have never taken a listen comprehension test like this, the Spanish Praxis is not the place to learn. One of their test prep materials comes with a listening comprehension practice component. You don't want to be learning how to take the test during the Spanish Praxis. That you should already know and I am pleased that the Spanish Praxis Test makers provide this opportunity in their Spanish Praxis Test Prep book. The free sample online test shows you a printed dialogue that you will actually hear, not see, instead of providing a link for an audio of that dialogue which it should. Then you will be asked a series of written questions to which you will reply by clicking the correct answer. If you feel you aren't strong in this area or you scored low on this section of the test, then I recommend that you go to any of the highy quality sources for students and teachers of Spanish at www.cs-spanishnews.blog.spot and start listening daily and often. Watch t.v. in Spanish, listen to the radio in Spanish, buy an audiobook in Spanish that you can listen to in your car. If you are weak in this area try to listen to only Spanish all day everyday for at least a month leading up to the test. Listen for meaning. That's what they are testing you on. Do you know what's going on in the dialogue.

How to prepare for the Spanish Praxis.

Spanish Majors preparing for the Spanish Praxis, here are some tips. Also, paste my blog somewhere convenient so that you have a ready source of authentic high quality sources to read, watch, and listen to. You have always loved learning Spanish, so run with that! Set a goal of reading at least one newspaper or magazine article / story / several pages from a book by a favorite author of yours every single day in Spanish. Listen to Spanish every single day in the form of music, telenovelas, movies, t.v., audio-books. The best listening and reading practice are the media that were not designed for second language learning, but were designed for native speakers of the language. Read for pleasure and meaning only. If you aren't enjoying it, you won't keep it up. So, pick something you would normally enjoy reading in English, but read it in Spanish. Find a Latino music artist or t.v. show that you love. Have CNN en Español feeds coming into your Facebook account and only read what really interests you. Also, read aloud at home to get your tongue and mouth comfortable speaking Spanish.