5195 Praxis II

Question

Hello Everyone, I will be taking the Spanish praxis 5195 test in February 2011 and am trying to study for it. I was wondering if anyone out there has taken this test and can answer some questions about it. I have test terrible anxiety and a heads-up about the topics would be very reassuring

Bienvenida al foro. Welcome to the forum. - 0074b507, Jan 24, 2011

Answer 1

I took it in October, and it was actually much different than I expected. I knew it was going to be different from the old version, but I didn't realize exactly how different.

If you are a strong reading, writing, and grammar person, the older exam would've been almost easy, but the new exam is more improvisational for lack of a better word. To me, it is much more difficult. You can't really study for it, unless your studying is hands-on conversational practice and listening practice.

There is listening, reading, writing (short prompts), and speaking (prompts again). You'll do well if you can think and speak on your feet in the given scenarios. I am not good at doing that even in English, so those two sections are what lowered my score.

Don't spend too much time studying grammar and culture - maybe a general review of that stuff would help, but there aren't too many grammar or culture specific questions. I guess going through the praxis study guide for the older version would provide a good quick review of simple grammar and some culture, but that definitely won't do the trick over all.

Hope this helps!

Thank you so much for your answer! It helps a lot. Would you mind telling me if you passed because test anxiety make it to where thinking on my feet is a problem for me too. If you passed there might be hope for me! HA! also, Can you remember any of the w - RachH, Jan 25, 2011

writing or conversation prompts? They may not be the same but it would give me a place to guide my thoughts. Thanks. - RachH, Jan 25, 2011

The parts that lowered my score are the ones I wouldn't be able to pass in English either. The times section (20 seconds per question) is not cool! It's okay for the short questions, but the longer ones 25 seconds would be long enough. other students f - dgaz, Oct 12, 2011

Answer 2

I am going to be aking the test, as well. Unfortunately, I have not taken classes in the US about culture, so I don't know what is relevant to study. Can you give more details about that part of the test? Also, to the first person who asked, I don't mind exchanging numbers to practice listening/speaking. I am fluent, and an immersion teacher.

Answer 3

Sorry - one more thing - I just saw that there is finally an ets study guide for this test (they didn't have one before). It's an ebook that you can download for about 23$. I haven't looked through it yet but will probably download it. The study guide I was referring to in my last post was the one for the older version of the test. This one is for the new one - the Spanish World Language test

Thank you so much for your answer! It helps a lot. Would you mind telling me if you passed because test anxiety make it to where thinking on my feet is a problem for me too. If you passed there might be hope for me! HA! Thanks- - RachH, Jan 25, 2011

also, Can you remember any of the writing or conversation prompts? They may not be the same but it would give me a place to guide my thoughts. Thanks. - RachH, Jan 25, 2011

Answer 4

It's been a few years now but I took it. Personally, I felt I overstudied for it. If you have a good ACTFL score and have done well in your methodology classes you should be ok. The point of the test is not what you can cram but what you KNOW.

The study guide you can buy from Praxis is somewhat helpful, at very least it will give you an idea how the test is written and get a feel for what they want.