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Free FTCE Practice Test Guide: “12 Best Tips To Find Practice Exams And Pass Now”

If you have a bachelor’s degree, a decent FTCE practice test and study guides, you should pass the Florida Teacher Certification Examinations easy, right?

In a typical year, only 65% of candidates pass the FTCE out of an average of 114,769 Florida Examinations for Teachers test-takers, according to the Florida Department of Education .

Look at the numbers yourself: of the nearly 60 areas possible for the FTCE, 28 FTCE tests showed passing rates of 65% or less. And very few other FTCE exams showed passing rates of 80% or more.

The General Knowledge (GK) (a test all prospective teachers must take), had these passing rates in 2021:

• Writing 71%
• Language 64%
• Reading 61%

Lack of effective FTCE practice tests and study guides is the leading cause of failure and delaying one’s Florida teacher certification.

Because FTCE practice exams help you:

1.) Learn the test content in a ‘hands on,’ interactive manner. –This helps you absorb more material in less time. It’s just a more efficient way to learn and stay engaged while preparing.

2.) You can actually improve your ability to take the test by taking practice tests. This enhanced test taking performance and skill directly translates into higher scores.

Free FTCE practice test questions and study guides are notorious for NOT accurately covering the material that’s actually tested. Worse yet, most practice questions in prep books are NOT at the same level of difficulty as the real exam. Most study guides on the market do not have sample questions structured, formatted or worded at all like the test you’ll take…

Big problem on your testing date!

If you can’t rise over these test preparation challenges, you may fail the exam. This can prevent you from enjoying a healthy salary as a Florida certified teacher. More so, it can cause a great deal of stress, frustration and a huge amount of wasted time.

Do NOT Click On This Free FTCE Video Link: — If You Do, You Boost Your Chance Of Passing-The-FTCE In Just 7 Minutes…

1.) Determine If “Free FTCE Practice Questions” Are Worth The Risk…

Free FTCE practice test questions may help you “feel confident,” but often they’re NOT sufficient to raise your score to passing-level.

Take it from former Florida Teacher Certification Examinations test takers who have been in your shoes. The word “free” in free FTCE practice questions is code for an ok sample and mediocre test practice.

2.) Choose FTCE Practice Tests That Are Up-To-Date

• Has the tested material changed for your specific test? –Remember that the FTCE test gets revised over time.
• Compare different FTCE practice test questions . –Verify they are up to date.

How To Know If A Practice Test Is Up-To-Date?

• Read through all of the information found at your test’s test page on www.fl.nesinc.com.
• Pay particular attention to the Test Information Guide and the Test Blueprint .
• Confirm your FTCE practice exam convers the information that’s listed in the blueprint.

Links To Free FTCE Test Prep Tips And Tools:

• FTCE Practice Test
• FTCE Study Guide
• FTCE Elementary Education K-6
• FTCE General Knowledge
• FTCE Professional Education Test
• FTCE Math 5-9
• FTCE Math 6-12
• FTCE Social Science 6-12
• FTCE Pass Now

3.) Use FTCE Practice Test Questions To Identify Your Weaker Areas And Then Beef-Them-Up

• Evaluate your current test readiness using a sample exam. (Use one that is as close to the actual exam as possible.)
• Be honest with yourself. Allow yourself to admit some areas need work. (More time, effort and focus.)
• Identify gaps between your current content knowledge and what’s missing in order to pass. (Take detailed notes of your analysis and discoveries.) Use these notes to guide your subsequent preparation sessions.

This extra time invested in “gap analysis” and then focusing your time and energy on weaker areas will do more to boost your score than most other test prep strategies.

We tend to avoid or procrastinate the domains or subsections of the exam we feel less comfortable in and do not like. This temptation must be avoided if you expect to pass.

If you keep studying the areas of the exam you like more, already feel comfortable in and are already proficient in, you do little or nothing to boost the sections of the exam (you’re weaker in) that could cause you to fail.

To pass you must get out of your comfort zone. Tackle the tough areas you haven’t traditionally been strong in. The ones you’re less comfortable working with. For some people this is mathematics.

Often a few hours here and there in your weaker subject areas will be enough to bring your competency in that area up to passing level.

4.) Be Confident: Realize Years of Test Prep Research Proves “Practice Tests Raise Scores On Standardized Tests”

Read the research on teacher certification test prep. A meta-analysis done in 2020 showed that taking practice versions of tests can raise scores on standardized tests. Use this scientifically proven fact to build your confidence while taking practice exams.

Just adopting the belief that “FTCE practice can make perfect—or at least passing” can motivate you to prepare better and leverage “test-like” practice questions to get a passing score.

5.) Use “Free FTCE Practice Questions” With Caution

Free FTCE practice test questions may help you “feel confident,” but often those types of sample questions are NOT sufficient to help raise your score.

6.) Your FTCE Practice Exams Are Formatted, Structured and Worded Like The Real Exam

• Use a FTCE practice test that has the same format as the a exam. (If it doesn’t look and quack like a duck, it isn’t a duck.)
• If the FTCE questions in your review are not worded like the real test or are too simple, it could be a waste of your time. Don’t let “look-a-like,” fake imitations of the test to cause you to fail (and delay your teaching career).
• Don’t forget answer selections. Your example exam question should be structured similar to the genuine test to ensure you get true familiarity with your specific FTCE test.

7.) Your FTCE Practice Questions Must Have Full Answer Explanations

The answer key must explain reasons a certain answer is correct and why each of the other answers are incorrect. This is where practice questions serve as an interactive learning tool to master the content knowledge.

Use answer explanations to clarify and enhance material you’re already familiar with. This way if a similar question comes up on the exam, but angled in a different way, you’ll have the highest probability of getting that answer correct.

If you can see patterns of words or phrases in your incorrect choices (as well as your correct choices), you will improve your chances of passing the real test.

8.) Get Realistic FTCE Test Practice

There are a lot of things you need to do to ensure you’re having an effective study session.

FTCE practice exams that that have ‘exam-like’ questions simulate the real test best. When you get the next best thing to seeing your actual test in advance through effective sample questions, your test taking skill and ability rise dramatically. This translates into performing better on the real test and raising your score.

9.) Your FTCE Practice Test Questions Must Be At The Same-Level Of Difficulty As The Real Exam

Have you ever taken some free FTCE practice test questions and thought to yourself, “Are the real questions this easy?”…That because the preparation materials are luring you into a false sense of security. Too often Elementary Education study guides have practice questions worded too simplistic and at an almost grade school level. Those might be worded correctly for middle school students, but I guarantee the FTCE exam you face in the testing center will be a different animal.

Sometimes it is trick and complex wording that’ll throw you off and cause you to get a question wrong. You may know the material, but not get the questions correct because you prepared with over-simplistic practice questions.

The sample FTCE questions at: http://www.fl.nesinc.com/FL_TIGS.asp will give you a good feel for level of difficulty and complexity level of questions asked.

10.) Use The Most Effective Practice Test Methods To Maximize Your Score

What’s the best way to use practice tests to maximize your score?

The article “Rethinking the use of tests: A Meta-Analysis of Practice Testing” shows three things of interest to candidates for the FTCE (and future teachers who want to help their students prepare for exams):

• Use short FTCE test practice sessions. Take some break time between them. Don’t cram for days. Doing this allows your long-term memory to store information.
• Research found: Taking one full-length practice test worked better than taking two or more full-length tests. (That is, if the practice tests were taken one after another in a short period of time.) –Extend the time between practice exams.
• One full-length FTCE sample test taken between 1 and 6 days before the exam had the most impact in improving test score. So, save one of your practice tests for this time period. Make sure you have more than one set of FTCE questions available.

Other findings in test prep research recommend:

• Prepare in 20–30-minute sessions. (Use a timer like cheap wind-up or digital timer.)
• Reward yourself after each FTCE test practice session with 5–10-minute breaks.

Be careful not to let your attention wander and/or start other activities during these short breaks. Use a timer for your breaks to avoid a 5–10-minute break slipping into 20-30 minutes. If you don’t, you could end up taking 2 hours to get 1 hour of productive test prep.

• Do you ever feel unmotivated to do your test prep and dread sitting there for hours studying? Is so, just focus on forcing yourself with a timer to prepare in these short 20-30 minutes blocks. Then give yourself very short reward breaks. Sometimes this allows you to get started vs. procrastinating and losing several hours of productive review.
• When taking FTCE practice tests , remove all distractions and interruptions. Each time you’re distracted by an interruption from another person, alert, ping or anything else, it can take 10-20 minutes to get back into the same level of high productive focus you had before that interruption. Imagine, one interruption one after another over several hours. Suddenly, you’re back to the issue of needing 2 hours of time get to get that 1 hour of effective study time.

So, unless you want to constantly be wasting 2 hours of time to achieve 1 hour of product test preparation you must discipline yourself to cut out all distractions and interruptions.

This might mean explaining to friends or family that you’re taking practice exams for your FTCE. Get them on your side and to support your test prep mission. Ask them not to interrupt or talk until your next break session.

Productive FTCE test practice also means turning off all electronic devices where a text, email or ping so you will not be compelled to see who and what it is. After all, the news and happenings of the moment will soon be forgotten.

Make each minute count in your test prep. If you don’t you’ll quickly find yourself out of time, less prepared than you need to be and facing a rapidly approaching testing date.

Isn’t your future as a teacher more compelling and will have long-term, life-time value, not the candy and shiny object(s) of the moment?

But make certain you know that the real reward will come when you receive a passing FTCE score!

11.) Give Yourself Enough Time To Pass-The-FTCE Test

Depending on your current exam readiness, you should start preparing 1-2 months before your exam date.

In my own personal experience in FTCE prep over many years, I’ve noticed the Florida teacher candidates who commit to doing whatever it takes to pass (e.g., putting in the necessary hours, setting an adequate budget for preparation materials) have been 2-3 times more likely to pass.

I’ve also noticed the FTCE test takers who attempted to cut corners in one way or another were much less likely to pass.

What do I mean by cutting corners? I mean they often tried to save $20 on a study guidebook and then lost a year of teacher income due to failing. Instead of putting in the hours and using test prep strategies to squeeze the most out of each study session, they tried to see if they could pass by putting in less time. When they did study, they took every interruption and distraction as a way to stop studying.

Note: doing what is fun and feels good vs doing what is hard and necessary is a guaranteed recipe for failure on the FTCE exam.

12.) Use FTCE Exam Practice Questions To Boost Your Score In Essay Questions

The essay writing portion of the FTCE test is one of the biggest challenges you’ll face. For this reason, you need to focus on improving your writing skills through your FTCE practice .

You can only improve your essay writing by using a proven essay writing formula. Then practice taking the FTCE using this method to attack essay sample questions.

This test prep tip applies to all tests whether they have essay questions like the FTCE General Knowledge test or only multiple-choice questions like the Social Science, Professional Education, Elementary Education K-6 and Math 6-12.

See: A Bizarre Epiphany That Helped Me Pass-The-FTCE…

Among these things, the most important is regularly using a FTCE practice test as an exercise to improve your familiarity to the examination as well as learning tool. This is most especially true when it comes to preparing for the test’s essay section.

The Florida Department of Education makes sure all teacher candidates to demonstrate their ability to write and reason effectively. Be sure to develop “FTCE focused” essay writing skills no matter how good of a writer you are. Sadly, no matter how skilled in writing you may be, if you answer your essay questions in the incorrect style, you could lose critical points and fail.

A common scenario is your nervous test taker full of adrenaline with less than a clear head. They will often go in the wrong direction or outside the scope of the expected answer and lose critical points. Even worse and also very typical is the teacher candidate who didn’t carefully read the question. Then provides an essay response that misses the target.

Do NOT make the mistake of thinking the harder you work in the essay section and longer you write, the greater number of exam points. Your essay writing response will also be judged on how ‘directly-to-the-point’ you can communicate your ideas and stay on topic.

Most test takers fall somewhere in the middle. They do not get the maximum points for most essays, nor do they get zero points for each essay. The point is take advantage of the “low hanging fruit” in your test prep.

Follow a simple template in writing your essay. If you do that and avoid these common pitfalls, you can gain enough points to push an otherwise failing score to passing level.

Here are some of the best tips you can use in your FTCE test practice:

• A well written essay isn’t just all about the arguments you present. It’s also about how organized your essay is. Use the practice tips to train yourself to write essays in an organized manner. This will effectively help you convey your ideas in a clearer way, thus giving you more points in the exam.
• Before starting to write your essay, create an essay outline. Write the main keywords for the main idea of your essay on your scrap paper. Then make three lines branching out from this main keyword. Write three minor keywords, representing your arguments for the main idea of your essay. Train yourself to do this exercise in your FTCE exam practice questions.
• Once you have your essay outline, it’s time to write your essay. Start with a strong introduction. In your FTCE practice test questions , you can experiment on how you write the introduction of your essay. You can start writing about the main idea then expound on it. Or you can first briefly state the three arguments in your introduction then discuss them to support your main idea.
• Your FTCE exam practice should involve writing about 5 arguments at the beginning of your preparation. The body of your essay should be all about the arguments or supporting points to your main idea. The practice of writing supporting points to support your points will build your test taking skills.
• Write a conclusion that effectively strings all the arguments you have to show its concrete support for your main idea. When prepping with example questions restate your arguments in your conclusion. However, be brief and don’t expound on them any further. End your article by restating your main idea.
• FTCE exam practice advice in many study guide books tell you to choose a stance that you feel passionate about (in responding to essay questions). However, that’s not the best practice method that will yield you the most points. Put your passion aside in favor of a stance that you have more information on. Let your test content knowledge determine the stance you’ll take on your essay, not your passion or enthusiasm. While this advice is not applicable to some FTCE Professional Education tests that do not have essay type questions, it is to other Florida teacher certification exams.
• While taking FTCE practice test questions, get in the habit of inserting as many facts, statistics and evidence you can provide in each essay. That’s what essay scorers are looking for.
• Be sure to support your main points. No matter what position you chose, you’ll have to demonstrate exactly why you support that position.
• Don’t make the mistake in your practice of assuming that the examiner will know what you’re talking about. Even if you’re writing your essay on basic knowledge that any schoolchild knows. No matter what example exams you’re using, get exercise and experience supporting all positions you take. Pack in as much evidence as possible in favor of your argument.
• Imagine in your head that the grader is constantly asking themselves, “why?” when they’re reading your essay.

First try out these methods while doing mock test questions, so you develop the skills in maximizing your score in the essay section. You’ll need plenty of practice for your essay writing skills; however, don’t make the mistake of choosing low-quality practice exams for your writing sessions.

The more FTCE practice test questions that are stuffed into your preparation manual, the better. Remember, even the best writers had to practice developing their writing skills – and with plenty of preparation time invested, you’ll master even the toughest essay question on exam day.

Go to: 7 Lessons Learned From FTCE Test Takers Who Failed…

Author: Mark Dahlson

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FTCE General Knowledge: Essay (825) Exam Scoring Guide

What is the FTCE General Knowledge: Essay (825) Passing Score?

The FTCE General Knowledge Essay (825) consists of (obviously) an essay written in a 50 minute period. A score of 8 out of 12 points is required to pass.

How is the Exam Scored?

Each examinee’s response on the General Knowledge Essay is scored holistically by two raters using the scoring rubric available in the Test Information Guide for the General Knowledge Test, which evaluates both the substance of the essay and the composition skills demonstrated by the examinee. These elements include ideas, focus, organization, style (diction and sentence structure), and mechanics (capitalization, punctuation, spelling, and usage). The two raters’ scores are combined to achieve the examinee’s total score. (If the raters’ scores differ by more than one point, an FTCE Chief Rater resolves the discrepancy.) The scoring rubric ranges from 1 to 6 score points, resulting in combined totals that range from 2 to 12 score points. To achieve a passing score of 8 score points, an examinee’s response would require a minimum score point of 4 from each rater.

When Will I Get My FTCE Score?

Official score reports will be posted to your account within 4 weeks of your test date.

How Do I Understand My Score Report?

This one’s easy: if you pass, you will see the “PASS” status on your score report. If you do not pass, you will see the “NOT PASS” status on your score report with a numeric score.

For those who pass the exam, this is probably the end of what you need to know. For those who fail the exam, you will want to study your comprehensive score report closely in order to dissect what you did wrong so that you can correct it for next time.

For more information on understanding your score report, see here .

What if I Need to Retake the FTCE General Knowledge: Essay Exam?

If you happen to fail the exam, don’t fret, it happens all the time: the first-attempt pass rate for the General Knowledge Test in Florida is only 62%. To retake the exam, you will just need to wait 31 days and pay the exam fee again. No problem!

Please PAY ATTENTION to that ‘31 days’ part: the registration system does not block you from re-registering within 31 days. Instead, it allows you to register and take the exam again, but when your score is processed and the administrators figure out that you didn’t wait the full time, they’ll then invalidate the new score and keep your fee payment (no refunds). So be wary and make sure to wait it out.

Also: if you happen to fail the exam, there is an option called a Score Verification session, wherein for $75 you can review your test and submit scoring challenges for review. This could result in a score being changed from a Fail to a Pass, so it’s an option worth knowing about should you find yourself in this position!

Final Thoughts

The FTCE General Knowledge: Essay (825) can be tough, but it shouldn’t feel daunting. With the right preparation you can go into the test feeling confident, and confidence pays dividends. Please feel free to peruse our resources and put them to full use- we want you to succeed! Good luck and please reach out to us if you have any questions or if we can help in any way.

More FTCE General Knowledge: Essay (825) Resources

• For a full overview of the  FTCE General Knowledge: Essay (825) exam, please see our full exam overview.
• Looking for some study help? Check out our  FTCE General Knowledge: Essay (825) study guide .

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