We have had a lot of test takers reachout to us for help on passing this exam. We intend for this blog post to be one of the most helpful resources out there.
You’ve Probably Heard This A Lot, But It Has Truth
“Put yourself in the ideal world” “Whatever the perfect world answer is” Etc.
Truth is, that’s kind of close, but not perfect. Another teacher and I were talking the other day, and she was like, “how are test takers suppose to make sense of that? Ideal for who? The teacher? The student? Or the parent? Cause I’m all of those!”. Haha, she had a point.
Let’s get more specific. Pick the answer that best meets the need of the student, in a world where money is no object, time is nothing, and you work for the best school in the world.
You’re probably saying, alright Einstein, SHOW ME!
Let me try. First, lets look at a sample question:
First, let’s break down the question. Keywords I see are “support kindergarten students’ social development” “learning centers”. Show I know I show be looking for an answer to support this.
Then, I’m going into the mind frame of abundance, and that I have all the time in the world, I even have assistant teachers to help me, and life is wonderful.
I don’t like the answer A, because it mentions “quiet”. What “social” setting have we ever been in, that it was quiet? None.
B is warm, so I won’t cross it off the bat right away.
C is devious, because it mentions “skills” and “centers”, but has nothing to do with social. So I will cross this one off.
D is super warm, so I will not cross it off.
I have now given myself a 50/50 chance of getting this right. I have also helped myself, by narrowing my options, so now I can just re-read two answers, and not have to go through all four of them again.
B and D look the same, and that is why Pearson is good at writing exams, and making a lot of money from it. But looks go back to “what is ideal for the student” mind set. The more I read D, the less I like it, from the students perspective. Just because my teacher gave me an “opportunity”, doesn’t mean I’ll actually take it.
But B, for sure would support “social development”, because if you keep a group together over time, they will cultivate some sort of relationship with one another, leading to the support of social development.
B is the correct answer.
But why? Because we live in a well resourced world, and we work for the most well resourced school, and we have assistants, and time. So whatever most helps the student, we can make happen.
Let’s be honest, in our world this would be difficult. As teachers we would have to keep track of the students, and in what groups. We would have to deal with the headache that one student doesn’t want to be in their group, and they want to be in another one. We’re all alone in this process, D would be the easiest answer for the teacher to do, in our real world. But, that’s not how this exam is setup!
When you take this exam, change your mindset to the answer that best meets the need of the student, in a world where money is no object, time is nothing, and you work for the best school in the world.
You might be saying, alright, I kind of get it, but I need questions to practice with.
We highly advise taking a look at Mometrix’s PPR Secrets Guide.
Also, please feel free to comment any questions you may have, on this post. We are here to help you be successful.
1st Year Texas Teachers 