20 free Praxis Core practice questions

Correct answer: B · A library is now valued more for its teaching than for its collection.

Identifying the main idea of a reading selection is the first skill ETS lists under Key Ideas and Details. The passage opens with the old measure, collection size, and then shows what librarians do now, so its central point is that a library is valued more for what it teaches than for what it holds. The claim that libraries buy fewer books is never made: the passage says the measure changed, not the budget. Nothing compares how much students trust websites and printed books. Helping teachers plan research is one detail among several, and the passage does not say it fills most of a librarian's day.

Look for this next time: A main idea covers the whole passage; a single detail, or a claim the passage never makes, cannot be the main idea.

Correct answer: D · At first, the town had not clearly shown visitors how to pay.

ETS lists identifying inferences that can reasonably be drawn from directly stated content under Key Ideas and Details. Visitors were ticketed because they did not know the app existed, and the town's next step was to post signs explaining how to pay, so the passage supports the inference that payment instructions for visitors were unclear at first. The idea that older drivers could not learn the app runs against the passage, which says the expected complaints from them did not come. The passage gives no figures on parking money, so a claim about revenue has no support, and nothing describes what residents preferred.

Look for this next time: A supported inference connects stated details, such as the tickets and the new signs; it never adds facts the passage does not give.

Correct answer: A · By making the waggle part of its dance last longer

Identifying accurate paraphrases of supporting ideas and specific details is a Key Ideas and Details skill in ETS's Reading topics. The passage states that the longer the waggle portion is, the farther away the flowers are, so a longer waggle signals distance. The angle of the dance carries direction compared with the sun, not distance, so a steeper angle answers a different question. The passage never says how many times a bee repeats the dance. It also says nothing about where on the comb the bee dances, so dancing near the hive opening has no support in the text.

Look for this next time: For a detail question, find the sentence that answers it and match its meaning, not just its words.

Correct answer: A · It describes a problem and then a response to that problem.

ETS's Craft, Structure, and Language Skills category includes describing how a selection is organized, for example as problem and solution or as cause and effect. The first sentence names a problem: too few lifeguards and shortened hours. The second gives the cities' response, paid training in exchange for a season of work, and the third reports the result. That is a problem followed by a response. The passage never sets two cities against each other, it raises no argument against any claim, and it covers several cities over an unstated period rather than one summer told in order.

Look for this next time: To name a passage's structure, label what each sentence does: problem, response, result.

Correct answer: C · open and fully honest

ETS lists identifying the meanings of words as they are used in the context of a reading selection under Craft, Structure, and Language Skills. The sentence after "candid" explains it: the report listed every missed deadline and overrun and did not soften anything, which describes a report that is open and fully honest. A brief, selective report would leave things out, but this one listed every failure. Nothing in the passage sounds hopeful or upbeat about the failures. A vague, cautious report would blur the details, which is the opposite of what the committee did.

Look for this next time: Use the sentences around an unfamiliar word as its definition; here, "listed every" and "no attempt to soften" define candid.

Correct answer: D · Late arrivals fell at a similar school that made the same change.

Determining whether evidence strengthens, weakens, or is relevant to an argument is part of ETS's Integration of Knowledge and Ideas category. The principal predicts that a later start will cut late arrivals, so the strongest support is evidence that the same change had that effect at a comparable school. Teachers' preference for an early start is about adult convenience and, if anything, works against the plan. New bus routes describe a cost of the change, not whether it reduces lateness. Students enjoying first period does not show whether they would arrive on time under either schedule.

Look for this next time: Evidence strengthens an argument only when it supports the specific conclusion, here that a later start reduces lateness.

Correct answer: B · East-side residents borrow fewer books partly because the main library is far away.

ETS's Integration of Knowledge and Ideas category includes determining the assumptions on which an argument is based. The editorial jumps from lower borrowing on the east side to a new east-side branch, which only makes sense if distance from the main library is part of the reason for the gap. The argument does not need west-side residents to stop visiting the main library, since it says nothing about their habits changing. It also makes no cost comparison between a branch and new books. Whether both sides like the same kinds of books has no bearing on where a branch should go.

Look for this next time: An assumption is the unstated link between the evidence and the conclusion; ask what must be true for the conclusion to follow.

Correct answer: C · independence is a goal worth building in young children

Recognizing points of agreement and disagreement between two texts is an Integration of Knowledge and Ideas skill in ETS's Reading topics. The authors disagree about whether early homework builds independence, but both treat independence as a goal worth building in young children: one says homework builds it, and the other objects that homework can practice dependence instead. Neither author calls for eliminating homework. Only the first author mentions ten minutes a night, as an amount that can work, not as the right amount. The second author objects to adults guiding every step, so that choice contradicts Passage 2.

Look for this next time: In paired passages, look for the shared value beneath the disagreement.

Correct answer: C · The new tutoring program has greatly improved the results of our ninth graders.

ETS's Text Production: Revision topic asks you to choose words that convey ideas precisely and to keep style and tone consistent. "Game changer" is slang for a large positive change, so the best revision states that change in formal words: the program greatly improved results. "Really shaken things up" swaps one informal phrase for another and no longer says the change was positive. "Super helpful, honestly" adds conversational filler that a board report would not use. "Changed a few things" is formal enough, but it shrinks a large improvement into a small, neutral change, so the meaning is lost.

Look for this next time: A good revision fixes the tone without weakening or changing what the sentence claims.

Correct answer: A · High schools should require the course, since graduates soon face loans and budgets.

ETS's Writing topics describe the argumentative essay as one that supports a claim with relevant evidence and sustains a clear focus or thesis. The thesis that says high schools should require the course and gives a reason, the loans and budgets graduates soon face, takes a position the essay can defend. The list of what such courses cover is informative and takes no side. Saying that people hold many opinions describes the debate without joining it. Announcing that the essay will discuss the courses names a topic, not a claim, so the reader still does not know the writer's position.

Look for this next time: An argumentative thesis takes a clear position and points to the reason the essay will develop.

Correct answer: D · According to Source B, about 40 percent of the district's buses are over 12 years old.

For the informative/explanatory essay, ETS's Writing topics include integrating and attributing information from multiple sources while avoiding plagiarism, and the Study Companion tells writers to cite the source of the information they use. The sentence that opens "According to Source B" credits the statistic and reports it accurately. Calling the figure something most people know removes the credit to its source. Presenting it as a personal belief turns a reported figure into opinion and still omits the source. Claiming the figure proves waste adds a conclusion Source B does not support, and it drops the attribution too.

Look for this next time: In a source-based essay, name the source each time you use its facts, and report them without adding claims.

Correct answer: B · Neither the coach nor the players were ready for the early bus.

ETS's Language Skills topics include subject-verb agreement and the use of correlative conjunctions. When a singular and a plural subject are joined by neither...nor, the verb agrees with the part of the subject nearer to it, as Purdue OWL's agreement rules put it; here that is the plural "players," so "were" is correct, and "neither" pairs with "nor." The version with "was" makes the verb agree with "coach," the farther subject. The version with "neither...or" breaks the correlative pair. The version with "is" repeats the agreement error and clashes with "yesterday," an inappropriate shift in verb tense.

Look for this next time: With neither...nor or either...or, match the verb to the nearer subject, and keep each pair intact.

Correct answer: D · A recommendation from a national association of doctors who specialize in children

Assessing the credibility and relevance of sources is one of the research skills ETS lists under Language and Research Skills for Writing. A recommendation from a national association of doctors who specialize in children comes from experts in children's health and directly answers how much sleep teenagers need. The mattress company's post has a commercial motive, because it promotes a product the company sells. A poll of students' bedtimes shows what teenagers do, not what they need. A forum thread of family routines offers personal experience, which can be useful background but is not an authoritative recommendation.

Look for this next time: Judge a source by its expertise, its motive, and whether it answers your exact research question.

Correct answer: C · 12.5%

Solving problems involving percent is a Number and Quantity topic in ETS's Mathematics outline, and its discussion questions ask whether you can calculate percent change. Percent increase is the change divided by the original amount: 720 − 640 = 80, and 80 ÷ 640 = 0.125, or 12.5%. Dividing the change by the new total, 80 ÷ 720, gives about 11.1%, which uses the wrong base. The answer 80% treats the change of 80 students as if it were already a percent. The answer 8% comes from dividing 640 by 80, the upside-down fraction.

Look for this next time: Percent change = (new − original) ÷ original; the base is always the starting value.

Correct answer: B · 12

Solving problems involving ratios and proportions is a Number and Quantity topic in ETS's Mathematics outline. A ratio of 3 to 5 splits the class into 3 + 5 = 8 equal parts, so each part is 32 ÷ 8 = 4 students, and the walkers are 3 × 4 = 12. Twenty is the number of bus riders, five parts of four. The answer 4 is the size of one part, before multiplying by 3. The answer 19.2 treats walkers as three-fifths of the whole class, but 3 to 5 compares two groups, so walkers are 3 of 8 parts; a count of students must also be a whole number.

Look for this next time: For a part-to-part ratio, add the parts to find the whole, then scale each part.

Correct answer: A · 3 hours

ETS's Number and Quantity topics include constant rates, such as gallons per minute, and problems involving units and unit conversion. At 12 gallons per minute, 2,160 gallons take 2,160 ÷ 12 = 180 minutes, and 180 minutes ÷ 60 minutes per hour = 3 hours. The answer 180 hours keeps the number of minutes but changes the unit without converting. The answer 18 hours divides 180 by 10 instead of 60. The answer 1.8 hours divides 180 by 100, as if an hour had 100 minutes. Writing the unit beside each number makes the conversion step visible.

Look for this next time: Find the time in the rate's own unit first (minutes), then convert to the unit the question asks for.

Correct answer: D · The mean is greater than the median.

Measures of central tendency, such as the mean and the median, are in ETS's Data Interpretation and Representation, Statistics, and Probability category. The mean is (2 + 3 + 3 + 7 + 15) ÷ 5 = 30 ÷ 5 = 6. With the values in order, the median is the middle value, 3, and the mode, the most frequent value, is also 3. So the mean, 6, is greater than the median, 3, because the large value 15 pulls the mean up. That rules out a median greater than the mean and a mean of 3, and the mode equals the median rather than exceeding it.

Look for this next time: One large value pulls the mean toward it but barely moves the median.

Correct answer: B · Breakfast and grades are associated, but cause is not shown.

ETS's Mathematics outline lists differentiating between correlation and causation in the Data Interpretation and Representation, Statistics, and Probability category. The survey shows that two things tend to rise together, a positive association, but a survey alone cannot show that one causes the other: another factor, such as sleep or family routines, could affect both. Saying breakfast causes higher grades claims more than the data show. Saying high grades lead students to eat breakfast reverses the direction, still without evidence. Saying there is no relationship contradicts the pattern the survey found.

Look for this next time: An observed association, even a strong one, does not by itself show cause and effect.

Correct answer: A · 40 + 25m = 240

Writing an equation or expression that models a real-life problem is an Algebra topic in ETS's Mathematics outline. The total paid is the one-time fee plus $25 for each month, so 40 + 25m = 240; solving gives 25m = 200 and m = 8 months. Subtracting the fee, as in 25m − 40, would describe a discount rather than a charge. Swapping the numbers, as in 25 + 40m, charges $40 a month and $25 once. Combining them into 65m charges the sign-up fee every month, which the problem rules out by calling it one-time.

Look for this next time: In a model, a one-time amount is a constant and a per-month amount multiplies the variable.

Correct answer: C · 4 × 2 × 1.5 = 12

Using the formula for the volume of a rectangular prism (box) is a Geometry topic in ETS's Mathematics outline, and the Study Companion lists V = lwh among the formulas for this test. Soil fills the inside of the box, so multiply all three dimensions: 4 × 2 × 1.5 = 12 cubic feet. Adding the dimensions does not measure space at all. Multiplying only length and width gives the area of the bottom, 8 square feet, and ignores the depth. The expression that totals 34 is the surface area, the outside of the box in square feet, which would matter for paint, not soil.

Look for this next time: Volume multiplies three dimensions; area multiplies two; surface area adds the areas of the faces.