Guiding Candidate Test Preparation

The information available here can help faculty members who are assisting candidates in preparing to take the CEOE.

An academic advisor might suggest to a candidate that they take the following steps in preparing to take the CEOE:

1. Begin by completing the Test Preparation Worksheet—where candidates record their academic background, reason for testing, certification requirements, and testing history—and complete a checklist of preparation steps for testing.
2. Complete the mapping the test framework to courses taken activity for the test the candidate will be taking. This activity involves having candidates review the test framework and their coursework to date, and record on a worksheet whether their studies have covered the knowledge and skills described by each test competency.
3. Meet with the candidate's academic advisor to review the completed worksheets and test preparation steps taken to date, and to obtain assistance in evaluating the candidate's readiness to test.

When meeting with a candidate to review the completed materials listed above, an academic advisor may wish to take the following steps:

1. Review the completed Test Preparation Worksheet to learn the candidate's academic background, reason for testing, certification requirements, and testing history.
2. Review the completed worksheet for mapping the test framework to the courses the candidate has taken to determine if they have completed sufficient coursework to take the test. If there are competencies for which the candidate has not studied the knowledge and skills being assessed, the advisor may wish to recommend that the candidate take additional courses before testing.
3. Review the completed Test Preparation Worksheet to guide the candidate in gathering and using CEOE test preparation materials and, if needed, learning or reviewing test content and test-taking strategies.

Preparation Materials for Candidates

In addition to the processes described above, advisors may wish to review with candidates the official preparation materials that are provided on this website. These materials include general test-taking strategies and sample test questions for every test in the Certification Examinations for Oklahoma Educators.

For some test fields, full-length practice tests are also available with registration and for purchase on this website.

Developing a Plan for Candidates Retaking a Test

Developing a Plan for Candidates Who Are Retaking a Test. If a candidate has already taken a CEOE test without success and is preparing to retake the test, the testing history recorded on the Test Preparation Worksheet, together with the scoring information on the candidate's Individual Score Report, should inform the discussion about the candidate's areas of strength and weakness. Candidates retaking a test should be strongly encouraged to study for it appropriately, even if they must delay retesting until a later date.

Using the Candidate's Score Report. The candidate's Individual Score Report contains useful information about the candidate's performance on the test. In particular, the graphic display of examinee performance on the score report provides information about the examinee's strengths and weaknesses relative to the knowledge or skills described by the test competencies in each subarea on the test. For the selected-response items, examinee performance information is provided for each subarea; for the constructed-response assignments, it is provided for each type of constructed-response assignment (e.g., presentational writing assignment, presentational speaking assignment).

The example below shows the section of a hypothetical score report for the Early Childhood Education test in which a numerical total test score and a performance graph are provided. The Early Childhood Education test contains selected-response items, which are grouped into four subareas as shown below, and one constructed-response assignment. The range of possible scaled scores is 100 to 300, with a total test scaled score of 240 or above representing passing status.

There is an image of a score report in which a candidate receives a non-passing score of 214 on the Early Childhood Education test. The graphic display for the subarea performance shows that the candidate answered most or all items in the Professional Knowledge and Responsibilities subarea correctly and did not score well in the other 4 subareas, including the constructed-response.

The score report shows that the examinee did not pass the test, earning a scaled total test score of 214. An analysis of the report reveals that the candidate was not close to achieving a passing score on the entire test, because their only strong performance was in the Professional Knowledge and Responsibilities subarea, which did not compensate for weaker performances in other subareas. Child Development, Learning, Learning Environment; Communication, Language, and Literacy Development; and the Constructed Response subareas were relatively weakest. The score report further reveals that the Learning Across the Curriculum subarea, which the examinee came just short of obtaining a 240 scaled score, contains the largest number of test items. Focusing a little more preparation time on this subarea could yield a passing score for this subarea.

Using this information, the faculty member might advise the candidate to concentrate most heavily on (a) Child Development, Learning, Learning Environment and (b) Communication, Language, and Literacy Development in which the greatest improvement is needed and, because of the comparatively large number of items in each of these subareas, the greatest opportunity for a score gain may be found. The candidate might also be advised that, while emphasizing these two subareas, they should not neglect the other subareas because improvement in any of those subareas will also move the candidate closer to, or above, the passing score. For example, simply paying greater attention or spending additional "thinking time" while responding to the test items in other subareas—or increasing checking time after completing the test—could produce a score improvement. The candidate might be reminded that examinees taking CEOE tests typically find that they have ample time to complete their tests and to check their work. Starting with the first score reporting date in October 2021, Pearson has added an additional page to the candidate individual score report. This page provides item percent correct by subarea and by competency. This will further allow candidates to gauge their performance on the CEOE tests.