A kindergarten teacher asks a student to point to each word while reading a memorized sentence from a big book. The printed sentence is: My elephant is big. The student says "My" while touching My, says "el-" while touching elephant, says "-e-" while touching is, says "-phant" while touching big, and then says "is big" while pointing past the end of the line. The student's performance most clearly shows that the student has not yet developed which of the following?

A stable concept of word, matching each spoken word to one printed word

Automatic recognition of the high-frequency words my and is

Phonemic awareness of the initial sounds in one-syllable words

Left-to-right directionality when moving across a line of printed text

A class builds a forest food web with an oak tree, caterpillars, squirrels, songbirds, and a hawk. A student asks, 'What happens to the hawk when it dies, since nothing in our web eats it?' Which addition to the food web best answers the student's question?

Fungi and bacteria that break down dead organisms and return nutrients to the soil

Oak tree roots, which take in whole dead animals as food directly from the soil

A larger predator, such as a bear, that eats hawks and sits at the top of the web

Sunlight, which breaks down the bodies of dead animals and returns them to the air

During a lesson on the national government, a third grader says, 'The President is the boss of the country, so the President makes all the laws.' Which response best addresses the student's misconception?

Explain that Congress writes and passes bills, and the President signs or vetoes them

Explain that state governors write national laws, and the President approves them

Explain that the President writes laws, but Congress must vote to enforce them

Explain that the Supreme Court writes laws, and the President carries them out

A teacher holds up an open picture book and asks a kindergartner, "Show me where I should start reading." The student points to the picture of a dog at the top of the page. The student's response suggests that the student has not yet learned which concept about print?

The print, not the picture, carries the message that is read

The words on a line are read with a return sweep to the left

Letters are grouped into words that are separated by blank spaces

A book is held right side up with the front cover facing out

A student's informative essay has three body paragraphs: what whales eat, how whales communicate, and why whales migrate. The essay ends: That is all I know about whales. The end. Which concluding sentence should the teacher suggest as the strongest replacement?

Whales eat, talk, and travel in ways that help them survive.

Also, a blue whale can grow as long as a basketball court.

That is all about whales, and I hope you liked my report.

In this essay, I will tell you some interesting facts about whales.

A student writes 6 ÷ 0.5 = 3 and explains, "Dividing by five tenths is just like cutting it in half." Which question from the teacher would best help the student see why the answer is unreasonable?

How many half-cup servings are in 6 cups of juice?

What is 6 cups of juice minus half a cup?

What is half of 6 cups of juice?

If 6 cups are shared by 5 people, how much does each get?

A class takes cuttings from a single coleus plant, so all the new plants are genetically identical. Half are grown in bright light and half in deep shade. After a month, the plants in shade have longer, thinner stems and paler leaves. What do the results best show?

Environmental conditions can affect how traits develop in organisms with the same genes.

Plants grown in shade will pass longer stems and paler leaves to all their offspring.

The plants in shade inherited different genes for stem length from the parent plant.

Stem length and leaf color are controlled only by the environment, not by genes at all.

Which weakness of the Articles of Confederation most directly led to calls for the Constitutional Convention?

Congress could not collect taxes, so the government could not pay its debts

The Supreme Court could strike down any law passed by the state legislatures

The President had too much power and could overrule decisions made by Congress

Large states had so many votes in Congress that small states had no voice

Praxis Elementary Education: Content Knowledge for Teaching (7811)

Free Praxis 7811 Practice Questions

10 sample questions for the Praxis Elementary Education: Content Knowledge for Teaching (7811), with the correct answer and an explanation for each. No account needed. Try each one before you open the answer.

Sections covered on the exam: Reading and Language Arts (7812), Mathematics, Science (7814), Social Studies (7815).

Question 1 · Reading and Language Arts (7812)
A kindergarten teacher asks a student to point to each word while reading a memorized sentence from a big book. The printed sentence is: My elephant is big.
The student says "My" while touching My, says "el-" while touching elephant, says "-e-" while touching is, says "-phant" while touching big, and then says "is big" while pointing past the end of the line.
The student's performance most clearly shows that the student has not yet developed which of the following?
- A.A stable concept of word, matching each spoken word to one printed word
- B.Automatic recognition of the high-frequency words my and is
- C.Phonemic awareness of the initial sounds in one-syllable words
- D.Left-to-right directionality when moving across a line of printed text
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. A stable concept of word, matching each spoken word to one printed word
The student is matching spoken syllables, not spoken words, to printed words, so the pointing gets ahead of the print. That is the hallmark of an unstable concept of word in text. The student does move left to right, so directionality is not the problem, and the task does not measure phonemic awareness.
Question 2 · Reading and Language Arts (7812)
Which genre is defined as a brief story, often with animal characters who act like people, that ends with an explicitly stated lesson?
- A.Pourquoi tale
- B.Tall tale
- C.Fable
- D.Legend
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. Fable
A fable is short, often uses talking animals, and closes with a stated moral. A tall tale relies on exaggeration about a larger-than-life hero, a legend is a traditional story about a real or believed historical figure, and a pourquoi tale explains why something in nature is the way it is rather than stating a moral. A student's informative draft: Most bats eat insects that they catch at night. ______ some bats that live in warm places feed on fruit and flower nectar.
Question 3 · Mathematics
Which of the following are equal to 5.06? I. 5 + 6/100 II. 4 ones + 10 tenths + 6 hundredths III. 50 tenths + 60 hundredths
- A.I and III only
- B.I and II only
- C.I, II, and III
- D.II and III only
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. I and II only
Expression I is the expanded form of 5.06. Expression II decomposes one of the ones into 10 tenths: 4 + 1.0 + 0.06 = 5.06. Expression III equals 5.0 + 0.60 = 5.6, because 60 hundredths is 6 tenths, not 6 hundredths.
Question 4 · Science (7814)
A class builds a forest food web with an oak tree, caterpillars, squirrels, songbirds, and a hawk. A student asks, 'What happens to the hawk when it dies, since nothing in our web eats it?'
Which addition to the food web best answers the student's question?
- A.Oak tree roots, which take in whole dead animals as food directly from the soil
- B.A larger predator, such as a bear, that eats hawks and sits at the top of the web
- C.Sunlight, which breaks down the bodies of dead animals and returns them to the air
- D.Fungi and bacteria that break down dead organisms and return nutrients to the soil
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. Fungi and bacteria that break down dead organisms and return nutrients to the soil
Decomposers such as fungi and bacteria break down dead organisms and wastes, recycling nutrients that producers can use again. Adding another predator only moves the question up one level, since that animal also dies. Plants do not consume dead animals; they absorb nutrients only after decomposers have released them.
Question 5 · Social Studies (7815)
During a lesson on the national government, a third grader says, 'The President is the boss of the country, so the President makes all the laws.'
Which response best addresses the student's misconception?
- A.Explain that state governors write national laws, and the President approves them
- B.Explain that Congress writes and passes bills, and the President signs or vetoes them
- C.Explain that the President writes laws, but Congress must vote to enforce them
- D.Explain that the Supreme Court writes laws, and the President carries them out
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. Explain that Congress writes and passes bills, and the President signs or vetoes them
Under the separation of powers, the legislative branch (Congress) makes laws, the executive branch (the President) carries them out, and the judicial branch interprets them. The President takes part only by signing or vetoing bills. The other responses replace one misconception with another, such as courts or governors writing national laws.
Question 6 · Reading and Language Arts (7812)
A teacher holds up an open picture book and asks a kindergartner, "Show me where I should start reading." The student points to the picture of a dog at the top of the page.
The student's response suggests that the student has not yet learned which concept about print?
- A.The words on a line are read with a return sweep to the left
- B.Letters are grouped into words that are separated by blank spaces
- C.The print, not the picture, carries the message that is read
- D.A book is held right side up with the front cover facing out
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. The print, not the picture, carries the message that is read
Pointing to the picture when asked where to start reading shows that the child does not yet understand that readers read the print. Return sweep and word spacing are later concepts that depend on this one, and the task gave no information about how the child holds a book.
Question 7 · Reading and Language Arts (7812)
A student's informative essay has three body paragraphs: what whales eat, how whales communicate, and why whales migrate. The essay ends: That is all I know about whales. The end.
Which concluding sentence should the teacher suggest as the strongest replacement?
- A.Also, a blue whale can grow as long as a basketball court.
- B.That is all about whales, and I hope you liked my report.
- C.Whales eat, talk, and travel in ways that help them survive.
- D.In this essay, I will tell you some interesting facts about whales.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. Whales eat, talk, and travel in ways that help them survive.
An effective conclusion wraps up the essay by restating the main points and showing why they matter, which the first sentence does. The sentence beginning In this essay belongs in an introduction, the basketball-court fact adds a new detail, and the last sentence repeats the weak ending. A goat who was fond of a snack Chewed the strap off a hiker's backpack. When the hiker cried, "Stop!" He just nibbled a mop, Then he trotted away down the track.
Question 8 · Mathematics
A student writes 6 ÷ 0.5 = 3 and explains, "Dividing by five tenths is just like cutting it in half."
Which question from the teacher would best help the student see why the answer is unreasonable?
- A.What is 6 cups of juice minus half a cup?
- B.How many half-cup servings are in 6 cups of juice?
- C.What is half of 6 cups of juice?
- D.If 6 cups are shared by 5 people, how much does each get?
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. How many half-cup servings are in 6 cups of juice?
Asking how many halves fit into 6 uses the measurement meaning of division, and students can reason that each cup holds 2 half-cup servings, so there are 6 × 2 = 12, which matches 6 ÷ 0.5 = 12. Asking for half of 6 models 6 × 0.5 = 3 and would reinforce the student's error. The other questions model 6 ÷ 5 and 6 − 0.5.
Question 9 · Science (7814)
A class takes cuttings from a single coleus plant, so all the new plants are genetically identical. Half are grown in bright light and half in deep shade. After a month, the plants in shade have longer, thinner stems and paler leaves.
What do the results best show?
- A.Plants grown in shade will pass longer stems and paler leaves to all their offspring.
- B.The plants in shade inherited different genes for stem length from the parent plant.
- C.Stem length and leaf color are controlled only by the environment, not by genes at all.
- D.Environmental conditions can affect how traits develop in organisms with the same genes.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. Environmental conditions can affect how traits develop in organisms with the same genes.
Because the cuttings share the same genes, the differences must come from the environment, here the amount of light. Many traits result from the interaction of genes and environment. Traits acquired from growing conditions are not passed on through genes, and the results do not show that genes play no role.
Question 10 · Social Studies (7815)
Which weakness of the Articles of Confederation most directly led to calls for the Constitutional Convention?
- A.The Supreme Court could strike down any law passed by the state legislatures
- B.The President had too much power and could overrule decisions made by Congress
- C.Congress could not collect taxes, so the government could not pay its debts
- D.Large states had so many votes in Congress that small states had no voice
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. Congress could not collect taxes, so the government could not pay its debts
Under the Articles, Congress could only request money from the states and had no power to tax or regulate trade, and events such as Shays' Rebellion showed the government's weakness. The Articles created no president and no national court system, and each state had one vote, so the other options describe problems that did not exist.

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