NYSTCE Study Guide Reviews

While there are study guides available on the NYSTCE website, many teachers find the following guides to be helpful in preparing for the exams. They feature real test questions, content review, and test taking strategies. These 6 books are some of the most highly rated and best selling in the field of NYSTCE test prep. You can purchase them new or used from Amazon.

	REA: NYSTCE Mathematics CST w/CD-ROM This book's excellent review features all required subareas: Mathematical Reasoning and Communication, Algebra, Trig and Calc, Measurement and Geometry, Data Analysis, Probability, Stats, Discrete Math, and Algebra Constructed Response Assignments. Real practice exam questions help you prepare for the NYSTCE and become familiar with the testing environment.
	NYSTCE Mathematics (004) Test Secrets Study Guide The NYSTCE Test Secrets series is one of the most popular study guide series, and teachers value these books for their attention to detail when it comes to exam specifics. If you are preparing for the Mathematics 004 exam, you will find the book invaluable in your preparation. Includes an expert review of material plus test taking strategies to help you ace the NYSTCE subject tests.
	NYSTCE CST Multi-Subject 002 This NYSTCE prep book covers the major categories of English Language Arts, Mathematics, Science and Technology, Social Studies, Fine Arts, Health and Fitness, Family and Consumer Science, and Career Development. At 475 pages, this book is one of the most thorough study guides for teachers attempting the multi-subject exam. The material offers a review of everything from poetry to nutrition to quadratic equations.
	NYSTCE CST Physical Education 076 This comprehensive study guide includes coverage of 22 skills tested on the CST Physical Education exam, plus 139 sample-test questions. The book is aligned with standards set by the New York Department of Education, and it covers these sub-areas: Physical Fitness and Health, Lifelong Movement Activities and Sports, Personal Growth and Development, and Physical Education Programs.
	REA: NYSTCE CST English 003 This comprehensive review covers all areas of the state's teaching exam: Listening and Speaking, Writing, Reading, Fundamentals of Literature, and Language and Literature. The targeted lessons reinforce important concepts and the tutorials emphasize specific abilities you will need to ace the test. Also includes strategies to help you organize and prioritize your studies you can prepare efficiently.
	NYSTCE ATAS Assessment of Teaching Assistant Skills 095 A trusted prep book that includes 15 skills found on the NYSTCE ATAS test and 100 sample-test questions. This guide is specifically aligned specifically to New Yorks standards for teaching assistants, and offer a clear review of Reading, Writing, Mathematics, and Instructional Support.

All About the NYSTCE

► ► NYSTCE Study Guide Reviews

The New York State Teacher Certification Examinations comprise a series of tests that prospective teachers must take in order to teach in New York. According the website of the NYSTCE,

The NYSTCE are criterion-referenced, objective-based tests designed to measure a candidate's knowledge and skills in relation to an established standard rather than in relation to the performance of other candidates. The explicit purpose of these tests is to help identify for certification those candidates who have demonstrated the appropriate level of knowledge and skills that are important for performing the responsibilities of an educator in New York State public schools.

Test questions were developed using textbooks, New York State learning standards and curriculum guides, teacher education curricula, and certification standards. The tests were developed in consultation with committees of New York State teachers, teacher educators, and other content and assessment specialists.

Since the exams are comprehensive and notoriously challenging, it is important to prepare thoroughly and get all the information you can before attempting these exams. Which tests you take, and how many tests you take will depend on the subject area and level you plan to teach. Most secondary and elementary school teachers need to pass at least four exams.

The List of NYSTC Exams

General Tests:

Liberal Arts and Sciences Test (001)
Elementary Assessment of Teaching Skills—Written (090)
Secondary Assessment of Teaching Skills—Written (091)
Bilingual Education Assessments (024–059)
Communication and Quantitative Skills Test (080)
Assessment of Teaching Skills—Performance (Video)

Leadership Tests:

School Building Leader (100/101)
School District Leader (103/104)
School District Business Leader (105/106)

Content Specialty Tests:

Agriculture (068) American Sign Language (061) Biology (006) Blind and Visually Impaired (062) Business and Marketing (069) Chemistry (007) Dance (070) Deaf and Hard of Hearing (063) Earth Science (008) Educational Technology Specialist (071) English Language Arts (003) English as a Second Language (022) Family and Consumer Sciences (072) Gifted Education (064) Health Education (073)

Latin (010) Library Media Specialist (074) Literacy (065) Mathematics (004) Modern Languages (011–020) Multi-Subject (002) Music (075) Physical Education (076) Physics (009) Social Studies (005) Students with Disabilities (060) Technology Education (077) Theater (078) Visual Arts (079)

For complete descriptions of each exam, see the official page of NYSTCE Frameworks.

Which Exams Must You Take?

All teachers of academic subjects must take the LAST, either the Elementary or Secondary Assessment of Teaching Skills, at least one Content exam, and the Assessment of Teaching Skills Performance Video. Teachers of industrial arts and technology must pass the Communication and Quantitative Skills Test, as well as the video assessment.

Additionally, bilingual educators must pass a Bilingual Education Assessment for their chosen language. The available languages are: Arabic, Bengali, Cantonese, Farsi, French, Haitian Creole, Hebrew, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Polish, Punjabi, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Spanish, Urdu, Vietnamese, and Yiddish.

Structure and Format of the NYSTCE Tests

Each exam is different in terms of content, but all the exams contain a mixture of both multiple choice and free response questions. The music exam has a listening component, and the language exams have listening and oral components as well.

For the American Sign Language Exam, test takers will be video taped while producing answers to free response questions in ASL. The Blind and Visually Impaired test requires test takers to transcribe texts in Braille, and so test takers will need to bring a Braille writer.

All exams are paper and pencil with approximately 70-90 multiple choice questions, and 1-10 free response questions. The video teaching assessment is a video recording of you teaching a class.

NYSTCE Scoring

Each exam is scored on a scale of 100 to 300 with 220 as the minimum passing score for each test. Each exam has several subareas for which you will also receive subscores that range from 100 to 300. There are no minimum score requirements for subscores; it is only necessary that your total score fore each exam be at least 220. The subscores merely give you an idea of which areas may need work.

Although the minimum score is 220, because of the competition for teaching jobs, test takers should aim for a higher score when taking practice NYSTCE tests.