Getting started

The basics

You’ve decided to become a teacher, and passing the Praxis Core exam is part of that journey. This guide walks you through what the Writing exam covers, how it’s structured, and what to expect on test day.

There are three parts to the test—Reading (5713), Writing (5723), and Math (5733). You can take each part separately, or take all three in one sitting by registering for the Praxis Core Combined Test (5752).

The writing test

The writing test is 100 minutes long and has three separately timed sections: a 40-minute selected-response section with 40 multiple-choice questions, and two 30-minute essays.

The selected-response questions are divided into four categories: usage, sentence correction, revision-in-context, and research skills. Usage items underline four parts of a sentence and ask you to pick the one with an error in grammar, word choice, punctuation, or capitalization, with “No error” as a fifth option; sentence correction items give five versions of an underlined phrase, where the first version repeats the original sentence unchanged. You don’t need to know formal grammatical terminology—you just need to be able to recognize what’s right and what’s wrong.

The two essays test your ability to write effectively under time pressure. The argumentative essay asks you to support a position using your own experience, observations, or reading. The source-based essay—called the Informative/Explanatory essay in ETS’s official materials—asks you to read two short passages, identify the most important concerns they raise about an issue, and explain why those concerns are important, citing both sources along the way.

The exam’s content is weighted as follows:

• Text types, purposes, and production (both essays, plus a handful of selected-response questions) - 60%
• Language and research skills for writing (the bulk of the selected-response questions) - 40%

Each essay is scored holistically on a 6-point scale by a trained human reader. ETS also runs an automated scoring engine, called e-rater, alongside the human score to help keep scoring consistent. Your two essay scores are then combined with your selected-response score into a single score on the 100-200 scale. The test may also include some pretest questions that don’t count toward your score.

The Praxis Core exam aligns with the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics and English Language Arts. It measures your academic skills in reading, writing, and mathematics.

Many states use Praxis scores to help determine whether a candidate is qualified to become a teacher. However, some states require both the Praxis and state-issued tests, and Praxis Core isn’t required in every state. Each state also sets its own passing score on the 100-200 scale, so check your state’s requirements to confirm which tests you need and the score you must reach.

Test anxiety

Test anxiety affects many people, including teachers. A little adrenaline can help you stay alert, but too much can make it harder to think clearly under pressure. That pressure is especially real on the essay portion, where a blank page and a ticking clock can make even confident writers freeze up.

It helps to remember two facts:

• You can retake the test as many times as you need to, though ETS requires a 28-day wait between attempts.
• Your score report shows the highest score you’ve earned on each Praxis test in the last ten years, so one weaker attempt doesn’t erase a stronger one.

On test day, treat the exam as another opportunity to apply what you’ve practiced. If you don’t get the score you hoped for, you can review what went wrong, adjust your study plan, and try again.

Best practices

Because this exam tests two different kinds of skill—grammar and mechanics on one hand and timed essay writing on the other—split your practice time between the two.

For the essay portion:

• Outline before you write. Spend about five minutes of each thirty-minute essay organizing your ideas before you start writing. A plan makes it far easier to organize and develop your ideas logically, which is part of what readers score.
• Stick to your outline. Don’t second-guess your ideas partway through just because you feel nervous.
• Use formal diction. Avoid slang and texting language, and don’t address the reader as “you.” Contractions aren’t errors, but a fully formal tone is safest. “I” is fine in the argumentative essay when you describe your own experience, as ETS’s top-scoring sample essay does. Skip filler phrases like “I think” or “in my opinion” because the reader already knows the essay reflects your views.
• Support your points. There’s no single “right answer” on either essay; what matters is that you back up your claims with specific reasons, examples, or evidence from the sources provided.

For the selected-response portion:

• Don’t avoid selecting “No error.” Sentences that are already correct are a real answer choice, not a trap - don’t talk yourself into “fixing” something that isn’t broken.
• Read the whole sentence. An error can hide anywhere in a long sentence, not just where your eye lands first.
• Remember that sentence correction questions often reward the answer that’s clearest and most direct, not the one with the fanciest language.

Create a study plan

You can’t prepare for the Praxis without creating—and following!—a study plan. If you can allocate 20-30 minutes every day to studying, it will soon become part of your routine; as you get closer to your exam, allocate more time for your studies.

As you practice, watch for patterns in your errors and for question types that consistently challenge you. That information helps you pinpoint what to study next.

Make sure you read through the material, click “Complete” at the end of a chapter, and consistently do your assigned reviews. If you’re unsure about the process, review how to use the Achievable study program.

Final thoughts

The final wrap-up chapter includes more details about taking the Praxis Writing exam, including how to register, the cost, and test-taking options.

Work through the course at your own pace, starting with the textbook and continuing to practice problems and exams. Welcome to the Achievable Praxis Writing Online Course!