The Praxis test is a test taken by individuals who want to enter the teaching profession. The test measures the academic skills and subject-specific knowledge required for teaching. It is part of the certification process required by many states and licensing organizations.
There are three different Praxis tests:
- Praxis Core Academic Skills for Educators (Core): measures academic skills in reading, writing, and mathematics.
- Praxis Subject Assessments: measure subject-specific knowledge and evaluate general and subject-specific teaching skills.
- Praxis Content Knowledge for Teaching Assessments: measure subject-specific content knowledge with a focus on specialized knowledge used in elementary teaching.
Praxis tests last either 1, 2, 2.5, 3.5, or 4 hours long. Each test has selected-response questions, essay or constructed-response questions, or a combination of bother types. Tests cost anywhere from $60 to $200 depending on the exam plus additional service fees. Nevada charges a $5 state surcharge fee per test. A full table of fees can be found on the Educational Testing Service site.
On most tests, each selected-response question answered correctly is scored as one raw point. The raw score the candidate receives is the number of questions answered correctly on the exam. The raw score is converted to a scale that adjusts the score based on the difficult yof the exam. Constructed-response questions are scored by two or more professional educators who practice in the appropriate content areas The scaled range of possible scores for most Praxis exams is between 100 and 200 points. This is with the exception of the ParaPro Assessment, which scores between 420 and 480.
State Requirements
The Praxis tests are used by most state education agencies to help determine the licensing of new educators. Praxis tests are not required in Florida and Texas.
For the Praxis Core Mathematics exam, the passing score required is 150 for all states, except for Washington, which requires 142. For the Praxis Core Reading exam, all states require a minimum score of 156. All states have a minimum passing score of 162 for the Praxis Core Writing exam except for Washington, which requires 158, and North Dakota, which requires 160.
While there are many subject exam state requirements, it is easiest to give an average range of passing scores that encompass all 50 states. ETS provides data on average score ranges to give an idea of study benchmarks and the difficulty of various exams.
Below are the test names and the score range for passing.
- Elementary Education: Reading and Language Arts Subtest: 162-179
- Elementary Education: Mathematics Subtest: 161-186
- Elementary Education: Social Studies Subtest: 156-177
- Elementary Education Science Subtest: 161-179
- Praxis PLT - Grades 7-12: 169-183
- Praxis PLT - Grades K-6: 169-183
- Speech-Language Pathology: 171-184
- Elementary Education - Content Knowledge: 160-179
- Praxis Mathematics - Content Knowledge: 137-169
- Praxis Social Studies - Content Knowledge: 157-178
- Praxis English Language Arts - Content Knowledge: 171-186
- Special Education: Core Knowledge and Applications; 165-181
- Middle School Mathematics: 157-180
- ParaPro Assessment: 462-276
For more specific score requirements for each state, ETS compiled a Praxis Minimum/Passing Score Requirements page that contains each state’s minimum score for every exam.