Praxis Core Math (5733): What's Tested and How to Prepare

What's on Praxis Core Math? The three content categories

Praxis Core Math is ETS's test 5733, one of the three Praxis Core Academic Skills for Educators tests, and it is scored on its own. Its Study Companion lists 56 questions in 90 minutes across three content categories: Number and Quantity (about 20 questions, 36%), Data Interpretation and Representation, Statistics, and Probability (about 18, 32%), and Algebra and Geometry (about 18, 32%). The counts are approximate and include pretest questions that do not count toward your score. Preparing well means rebuilding the skills in the table below and practicing the test's three question formats with its on-screen calculator.

Two details in the outline are easy to miss. First, ETS assumes you know basic U.S. customary and metric units, so a conversion such as inches to feet or centimeters to meters may sit inside a word problem without a reminder. Second, many problems combine skills: the Study Companion says that many of them require integrating several skills to reach a solution. A percent question may also need a unit conversion, and a geometry question may need a ratio. Full Praxis Core prep is planned around the same weights: see how planned Praxis Core Math practice splits 442 questions into 159, 142, and 141 by category.

What question types and tools does Praxis Core Math use?

The Mathematics test uses three kinds of questions, and each one rewards a slightly different habit.

• One answer from five choices. These show ovals beside the choices. Eliminating clearly wrong choices still works here.
• One or more answers. These show square boxes. At least one choice is correct, and the question may or may not say how many to select, so check every choice on its own.
• Numeric entry. You type an integer or decimal into one box, or a fraction into two boxes, one for the numerator and one for the denominator. ETS accepts equivalent forms such as 2.5 and 2.50, but it expects the exact answer unless the question asks you to round. If an exact answer will not fit, ETS says that may be a sign your answer is wrong.

During the test, you have an on-screen four-function calculator. ETS's bulletin explains why: it reduces the chance that a wrong answer comes from a simple arithmetic slip, so the questions can test reasoning. A four-function calculator adds, subtracts, multiplies, and divides; it does not set up the problem for you. The Study Companion also prints a short formula list for this test: the area and circumference of a circle, the area of a rectangle and of a triangle, and the volume of a rectangular box. Knowing when each one applies matters as much as knowing it. For formulas and rules you want to recall quickly, see how the 166 Math flashcards planned for Praxis Core prep are split by category.

Worked examples for the Praxis Core Math categories

These three problems are original, written to match skills ETS lists. Each shows the step that most often goes wrong.

Number and Quantity: a percent of a percent. A $60 textbook is marked 25% off, and then an extra 10% is taken off the sale price. What is the final price?

1. Take 25% off: $60 × 0.75 = $45.
2. Take 10% off the new price, not the original: $45 × 0.90 = $40.50.
3. Check the shortcut that fails: adding the discounts to 35% gives $60 × 0.65 = $39, which is $1.50 too low, because the second discount applies to a smaller amount.

Data Interpretation and Representation, Statistics, and Probability: a linear model. A teacher fits the line y = 4x + 60 to her class's data, where x is hours spent studying and y is the quiz score. What score does the model predict for a student who studies 5 hours?

1. Substitute: y = 4(5) + 60 = 20 + 60 = 80.
2. Read the slope in words: each extra hour goes with about 4 more points.
3. Keep the limit in view: the line describes an association in this class's data. It does not prove that studying one more hour causes a 4-point gain, and that difference between correlation and causation is a skill ETS lists in this category.

Algebra and Geometry: a Venn diagram word problem. In a class of 30 students, 18 play a sport, 12 play an instrument, and 5 do both. How many students do neither?

1. Count students in at least one group, removing the double count: 18 + 12 − 5 = 25.
2. Subtract from the class: 30 − 25 = 5 students do neither.
3. The trap is 30 − 18 − 12 = 0, which counts the 5 students who do both twice.

Is Praxis Core Math hard? What ETS's score data show

ETS's score statistics give a useful reference point. Each Praxis Core test is reported from 100 to 200. In ETS's Understanding Your Praxis Scores for 2026–27, test 5733 shows a median of 166 and an average performance range, the middle 50% of scores, of 150 to 180. ETS calculated those figures from test takers who were college freshmen, sophomores, or juniors or had an associate degree, using each person's most recent score from August 2023 through July 2026.

A median is not a passing score. ETS says passing scores are set by the state or licensing agency, not by ETS, and that they vary by state. So the number to aim for is your own state's or agency's requirement, which you can look up on ETS's Passing Scores by State page.

How to prepare for Praxis Core Math, step by step

1. Start with a short diagnostic. The 20 free Praxis Core practice questions include seven math items across all three categories, with an explanation for every option. Note which category each miss came from.
2. Rebuild Number and Quantity first. It is the largest category at 36%, and its skills, percent, ratio, rate, and unit conversion, can show up inside data and algebra problems too.
3. Work every category by hand, then check with a calculator. The four-function calculator is there for arithmetic, so practice writing the setup first: the equation, the formula, or the fraction.
4. Practice the formats, not only the math. For one-or-more questions, test each choice separately. For numeric entry, give the exact value unless the question asks you to round.
5. Rehearse the clock. 90 minutes for 56 questions is about 1.6 minutes per question. ETS's score guide says that on most Praxis tests each correctly answered selected-response question is worth one raw point, so don't let one long problem take the time of several short ones.

When explanations matter more than another round of questions, full Praxis Core prep planned for launch explains every Math answer, right or wrong. To turn the steps above into dates, the free Praxis Core study plan splits your days by category and lets you choose Mathematics as the only test, which suits a candidate who has already met the Reading and Writing requirements.

For what the Reading and Writing tests cover, the essays, fees, and when Core Combined 5752 makes sense, see the Praxis Core study guide to all three tests.