There are some strategies you can use to respond to a multiple-choice item. First, items on certification tests generally count toward your score, not against it. This means that leaving any question unanswered detracts from the amount of points you could have possibly earned if you had guessed the correct answer! It is always best to choose an answer to every item, even if you have to guess. It doesn’t detract from your score if you get the answer wrong. If you get the answer correct, you’ve just earned points towards your cut score!
Example of a multiple-choice item
Practice Answering These Items
To feel confident on test day, you should practice with items that reflect those that will be on your test. Passage Preparation courses provide you with practice tests and engagement activities to help you prepare. Additionally, our practice tests not only reflect the types of items you will encounter, but we have item banks of over 300 items, which means that you will see new items each time you take the practice test. This is designed to ensure that you are not just memorizing the items you see in your course, but can actually demonstrate mastery of the concepts being tested.
Multiple choice, or selected response, items are included on most of your teacher certification tests. These items are typically structured so that there is an item stem, or question to which you will respond. They also typically include four answer choices. This is why they are called multiple choice items. These answer choices are usually labeled A., B., C., D. You are usually required to select the best possible answer to the item stem out of the four answer choices.
There are usually two response options that you can eliminate quickly in a selected response item. You are then left with the correct answer and the distractor. A distractor is a response option that makes sense given the item stem, but isn’t the best answer due to a specific detail or context within the item stem. By preparing with Passage Preparation courses, you will be able to identify the correct answers for items in your content area.
The short answer is “the test you have to take”. Learn more about this question in our article What is the Hardest Teaching Certification Test to Pass?
A diagnostic assessment is an assessment you take prior to studying to identify content areas and standards which you should prioritize while you study. Passage Preparation™ courses include a diagnostic assessment at the beginning of your course, which includes approximately 40 multiple choice, or selected response, items. These items are aligned to the overarching standards, sometimes called domains or content categories, covered on your teacher certification test.
Once you submit your diagnostic assessment in a Passage Preparation™ course, you will receive feedback on the correct and incorrect answers, including information about why the correct answer is correct and why the incorrect answers are incorrect. You will also receive an overall score in your Canvas course and a Diagnostic Assessment Report through your Passage Preparation™ account, which shows you your level of mastery at each standard.
You can then use these results to develop a study plan to help you work through the robust, in-depth content offered in all Passage Preparation™ courses.
Passage Preparation partners with expert and experienced teachers and teacher educators to examine content covered on state licensing exams closely. Developed by these expert educators, our courses demystify the content and structure of your test and provide you with interactive items and practice assessments aligned to the structure of your test, which help you prepare to recall the content you have mastered and to expertly approach the types of items you will see on the exam. In other words, your subscription to Passage Preparation provides more than just practice tests because we provide a deep and extensive overview of the content you need to know to be successful on your certification exams.
- If you haven’t already, log into your Passage Preparation website account. You can access it by clicking here or the “Account Access” button at the top of the page.
- From My Account > click on Course Subscriptions from the menu along the left
- Find the subscription you would like to cancel and then click the ‘Cancel’ button to end that subscription. A confirmation of the cancellation will appear, and the actions button will change to ‘Reactivate’
If you accidentally cancel a subscription you have not completed, you can click the ‘Reactivate’ button to turn it back on.
Passage PreparationTM courses include diagnostic and practice tests, which include test items that reflect your licensure tests. The diagnostic assessment allows you to identify a study plan by providing information about your current mastery of the content covered on your test and in your course. You only need to take this test once. The practice assessment includes the entirety of the licensure test, including selected and multiple-choice items that reflect those you will see on your licensure test. You can take this test as many times as necessary to reach your desired level of mastery. Your practice test reports will be maintained in your Passage Preparation account so you can see your progression over time.
You can access these reports through your Passage Preparation account. After submitting each of these assessments, you will also receive an email with a link to these reports.
Passage PreparationTM Practice Assessments
Passage Preparation courses include practice assessments that reflect the structure of your certification test. Our courses include banks of hundreds of test items that mirror your licensure exam test items, so you can take our practice tests multiple times and experience new items, all aligned to your test’s standards, each time. If your certification test includes constructed response items, our course aligned to that test will include multiple examples of responses that would reach a passing score on the test rubric and opportunities for you to practice constructing responses to these items.
Additional Features
In addition to our practice assessments, your Passage Preparation courses will always include a diagnostic assessment at the outset. This assessment will allow you to identify content standards you should prioritize as you study for your test to prepare for teacher certification.
Feedback
You will also receive feedback on your responses, highlighting the correct response to each item and why it is correct based on the standard or content, as well as why the incorrect response options are incorrect.
Finally, you will receive an assessment report through your Passage Preparation account each time you take one of our practice tests. This report will show you the domains or standards you have mastered and the competencies or substandards you should study further. This is an easy way to identify areas for further study and can also serve as evidence of your preparation if you are required to take a preparation course to register for your teacher certification test.
A practice assessment is a test that is designed to help you prepare for the certification test or licensure test for which you are studying. These tests should reflect the length and structure of your actual certification exam. If your certification test includes both multiple choice, or selected response, and constructed response items, your practice assessment should also include both item types.
Taking practice tests help you prepare in multiple ways:
- Experience the structure and wording of different items
- Get comfortable with various item types
- Learn and understand how your items will be scored
- Receive feedback on your responses and apply this understanding to further study and your actual certification test
- Identify areas where you should focus your continued study
Item Types
Most certification exams include selected response items, or items which include a question stem and answer choices. In many cases, only one answer choice is correct. In some cases, your assessment may include a “Select All That Apply” option, which requires you to identify any and all answer choices that are correct responses to the question.
Constructed response items are typically short answer or essay questions in which you are presented with a stimulus such as an image or an equation to which you must write a response based on the directions. These are often scored with a rubric which describes the level of detail and analysis your response must show to reach a certain score point.
Passage Preparation™ offers discounts when purchasing vouchers in bulk for your candidates. Vouchers can be purchased in 30-day or 90-day increments.
You can easily issue vouchers to your candidates by accessing your Passage account and either adding each candidate’s email individually in your account home page or uploading candidate information in bulk. The video below provides instructions for both methods.
Passage Preparation offers discounted vouchers that can be purchased in various quantities to meet your needs. After purchase, individual voucher codes will be provided to you for distribution to your students/candidates. These voucher codes can be used during the checkout process to reduce the cart total by the valued amount of the voucher purchased.
Students/candidates will be responsible for the any automatic subscription renewal after the initial purchase using the voucher has reached its completion.
Learn more about our voucher tiers and discounts here.
If your educator preparation program or school district has shared a Passage Preparation voucher code with you, you can redeem this code at passprepproduc.wpenginepowered.com. To do so, follow the link to passprepproduc.wpenginepowered.com that you received in the email from your program or school. Click on “Individuals” in the top right-hand corner. Then, navigate to the state for which you are preparing for licensure.
Identify the course that aligns to the test you are preparing to take. Click on that course and then select either a 30 or 90-day subscription. The email you received will indicate which subscription to choose. Add to cart, and then copy and paste the voucher code from the email to the “Voucher” field. Click “Apply,” and then check out.
On your confirmation page, click “Access My Courses,” which will take you to your Passage Account. From your account, click “Access my Online Courses.” This will take you directly to your Canvas dashboard, where you will see the courses for which you have redeemed a voucher.
Upon completion of a voucher purchase, your voucher codes will be generated and available in both the emailed purchase receipt as well as on the Payment History tab under My Account. These voucher codes are one-time use codes.
It is our recommendation that you paste these codes into a spreadsheet or word processing document to keep track of when and to whom each code is distributed to in order to make management easier.
At this time, you are unable to provide information on which codes have/have not been used for a purchase so it is important to keep track of your own distribution log.
A 30 day initial subscription grants 30 days of access to the course before the automatically renewing monthly subscription period begins. The 90 day initial subscription grants 90 days of access to the course before the automatically renewing monthly subscription period begins.
Students who have technical questions about the Learning Management System provided by Canvas, may access the Canvas Help center via their Canvas Dashboard. Students may also contact Passage at 877-787-7828 or info@passagepreparation.com for questions about their account or vouchers.
We understand that completing courses can be a challenge, which is why our courses are designed to be completed within a reasonable time frame of 30-90 days. We take a unique approach to test preparation, focusing on ensuring that you understand the concepts covered on the test, rather than just memorizing data. We know that test preparation can be daunting, and we want to make it easier for you. Our goal is to help you prepare for the classroom and enable you to confidently take and pass your test.