I will be the first to admit that I postponed starting my practice for the Praxis.  I don’t know why, but this specific test had me in quite the state.  I had taken several Praxis exams before and never had such anxiety about it. 

And so I did what every other overworked teacher with two small children that is taking three courses does, I conveniently did not find time to start studying. Which I realized was the exact opposite of what I tell my students to do for their tests.  And yes, I am aware of the hypocrisy. 

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I crammed the day or week before.  I am not that type of person.  So maybe, I’ll just start in February, when I actually got around to registering for the test to begin with. 

Once I completed the registration, I downloaded the accompanying study companion.  All 45 pages of it.  Immediately I was overwhelmed by the sheer size of the PDF I was looking at.  It should also be noted that this first foray into Praxis-readiness was happening at 8:30pm.  Right around the time this Cinderella turns into a pumpkin. 

So, I downloaded the study guide, that counted for something right?  Well, it turns out that downloading the study guide and actually using it were two completely different activities that were separated by more days, okay weeks than I’d like to admit. 

Daunted by the 45-page PDF, I turned to the other study option available to me from the Praxis website, which was the Practice test.  Feeling particularly confident one day in March, I sat down and took the 120 question practice test.  Which I prompted did NOT do well on. 

That was when the panic set in.  The questions were over material that I was completely unprepared for.  Did I turn to the study guide? Nope! I did what most of my students do when I ask them a question, I Googled. 

In hindsight, I should have started making flashcards then.  Right after my first calamitous practice test.  Maybe it was pride in my usually excellent test-taking skill that kept me from the flashcards.  Or maybe it was exhaustion.  Again, these practice attempts were being made late at night by a partially pumpkin-ified heroine. 

Then the two week mark before the test came and I suddenly got serious.  I found online flashcards and started working on them throughout the day.  Not just at night when I couldn’t concentrate, but during breaks at work and in the afternoons.  I took the practice test two more times and with each attempt, my score climbed a little higher.  

By the time Friday afternoon rolled around, I was ready.  I truly had put in as much effort as I possibly could and I felt that beyond that, there wasn’t more I could do. 

The questions were NOTHING like what I prepared for.  With each passing question, I had to calm my nerves and steady my breathing.  Out of the 120 questions I answered that day, I probably marked about 59 as ones I need to come back and look at.  

So I slowed down and I looked at each question carefully.  I found key words in the question and tied them to key words in the questions.  I paused before moving on to make sure I did not miss anything.  I went back over the whole test when I was finished.  When I saw my raw score I wanted to cry in relief.  I’m still waiting on my actual test results, but this whole experience had me wondering. 

Is it more important to cram as much information in between your ears before the test or is it more important to calmly take the test and use the information in front of you as intelligently as possible? Or is it a combination of both?