Praxis Special Education: Core Knowledge and Applications 0354 Teacher Certification Study Guide Test Prep Second Edition, Revised

This book was well-written, interesting, and informative. I've never taken a class on Special Education, so for my first experience with a SPED text, this book was great. However, it didn't cover a lot of stuff I saw on my test (could have been a fluke, but who knows. . . ) For example, Piaget's theory of development, "gentle teaching," the McKinney-Vento Act, and LOTS of questions about early development and preschool classrooms. So while this book is great, it might be worth your while to get another guide as well.

This study guide is pretty good. I just took the exam today and it definitely helped me pass it. It does a good job of reviewing all the concepts and the practice exam is helpful.I studied this guide exclusively until just a few days ago when I also got the official Praxis study guide. The official study guide is pretty bad compared to this one, but I bought it mainly for the practice test questions.If you're going to take this test, I recommend buying this study guide. My advice is to study early and become familiar with the concepts. The practice test is good to help you think the right way during the real exam, but don't expect the same questions to show up on the real exam. If you're nervous about the exam, I would also recommend getting the official study guide just for the practice exam, as those questions are worded more closely to the real thing.That's all I have. I said to myself I would post a review if it helped me pass the exam, and it did, so here it is! Good luck!

I purchased this to study as it had been several years since I had taught special education and wanted to take the Praxis. The one good thing I can say about it is that using the book and going through the study process got me in the right mental frame of mind to take the test. That is about all I can say about it though.In my situation I had taught various kinds of special education for 19 years then moved on to being an administrator. I recently retired from a principal position but decided to go back to work again for a few years as a resource teacher. Decided I needed the Praxis on my record to get a job.My problems with this manual were:Huge focus on secondary issues--I work in elementary edHuge focus on more severe disabilities--I want to return to resourceVERY little of what was covered in the manual was on the testI found many instances where information in the manual was just plain wrong. This complicated my studying as I continued to worry if the info would be wrong on the test as well. Should I learn the incorrect info to prepare for this test, or go with what I knew was right?I decided to ignore incorrect info in the manual and go with what I knew was right which turned out to be the best approach. I got a score of 196/200 which was amazing. In my state you only need a 160 to pass.I think I could have done just fine without this manual. What helped me the most was my long history in education. the other thing that really helped was that I had been prepping for an interview to teach very severely disabled autistic students. The materials used for that helped me in several places on the exam.So, if you have little special ed background this might be better than nothing, but for me, not so much. The other surprise to me was that the questions on the practice test in this book were much harder than the questions on the test! Don't know if that always happens, but in the practice book many of the questions were multi-parts (ie. Pick 2 correct answers, or pick 3 correct answers with each answer having multiple parts to it). In the actual test almost every question had one correct answer.

I studied from this book and passed my special ed praxis with a near-perfect score. However, be aware: some of the terms that this book uses show up on the Praxis under slightly different terms. I suggest studying both this book and the free ETS created materials in order to be fully prepared.

I will recommend this book for anyone taking Praxis 2 in Sped. Its very helpful and informative. I love how this book is broken down into 5 parts that covers the test. Read this book from page 1 to the last page and you'll pass😊

I took my Praxis 5354 yesterday. I've been out of school for a while, so this was my primary source of study material for the test. There was a ton of good information in the book (lots of info that was in the book wasn't on the test I took). The only thing I didn't like about the book was the sample test. The sample test itself was a good source of information, but the question format wasn't like the actual test so much. On the real test the questions were longer and more detailed. YES, the book helped me study, but I think next time I'd try to find a book where the sample test mimics the real test a little more closely.

While the questions in the practice test and the test itself are not all that similar, the way they word the questions are. It gets you prepared for taking a test. The online practice test [...] is actually a bit more similar and some are almost identical. I passed so I would say it helped!

Great resource for special education test with lots of information and concepts. Gets very specific and shows good examples of the objectives needed to pass the test. Sample test questions really showed me where I needed to study more and gave me confidence in areas I already thought I knew. Very comprehensive and easy to use.