Excelsior Literacy Instruction in the Elementary School

[P00057870]

Congratulations on that A, Linda!

[Lindagerr]

Thank you, it was a nice surprise. TESC will only give me a pass I think, but I will know.

[suganique]

I promised myself I that would give feedback on this exam and my study habits when I passed. I got a B which surprisingly is higher than I originally aimed for, but given the amount of study time and stress, an A would have been nicer . Either way I’m happy I passed. I will tell you what I did, not make suggestions on what you should do because I do not know you. If you are like me or not like me hopefully you can make your own comparison and make a decision about this course/exam and your study style.
I consider myself an average student. I had to pass this test to go back to work as a substitute teacher so there was a lot of motivation. While studying for this test I was not working full time, and enrolled in 2 other courses.
Against my wishes, I purchased the practice exams for the additional $75 (you get two practice exams), and ALL mandatory books. The texts are redundant, but some cover areas the other books do NOT. So rent or buy all. I only have a year of substitute teaching experience, plus my own childhood school experience. It’s possible to do well on this test without studying if you have education experience, but for me much has changed in teaching style since I was a child, so it was necessary for me to study all material.
After I took one practice exam, I was able to determine my weak and strong areas. I made a study plan, studied my strengths first by reading all chapters pertaining to that area according to the study guide. Then read chapters pertaining to the weak areas. This way the information would be fresh in my mind closer to the test date.
I anticipated taking A MONTH to study ALL material, but that was impossible. The good part is you can push the test back as much as needed without any cost. In the end I studied for 2 months (8-10) weeks. After reading 85% of the material, I took the 2nd practice exam. Saw what areas my scores improved in, and dedicated time reviewing the chapters in the areas my score did not improve.
A couple days before the test, I reviewed ALL practice test questions, most notes that I took, and some of my highlighted text/notes. Mostly I reviewed the test questions and glossary. After a while you get a feel for what is important to know, and what’s irrelevant because the books mention the same key concepts so much. Some questions are straightforward like “what is the onset of this word”, and some ask questions based off theories that must be internalized in order to pick the correct answer. That’s why rereading about the same concepts really helped me. Repetition is key.
As far as the chapter and pictures BOOKs they asked you to be “familiar” with, I looked up all books on AMAZON and read the summary. That was enough for me to answer the 3 questions on the 130 question test regarding the books. It took me about an hour to research the book summaries.
On test day, I answered all easy ones first, and flagged the harder ones to go back to. Then I answered the tougher ones. Then went through each question again, as I was not playing! I wanted to make sure I didn’t make any mistakes. I Pressed submit, and passed with a B.
So given the amount of time I put into this exam, not working, and being your average student and getting a B, it’s safe to say this is an exam that you will have to put some elbow grease in to study for. Some are gifted and may pass with an A without studying; some may put a lot of effort and pass with a C. Be honest with yourself and a make a good decision on how to study. Don’t think based off what you read in this or other reviews that the test is too hard or too easy. If you rush you will stress yourself out. I did lol. Just read everything, review and have a positive attitude so you can take the test with a calm alert mind. God Bless with your studies 

[Sarahs28]

Hi. I am taking the exam this Friday. If I study the practice exams and read the book will I get a B? Also were some of the ques from the practice exam on the actual computerized exam? Please help!!!!!

[happydayruth]

I took and passed the Literacy Instruction in the Elementary Schools UEXCEL today!!!!!!!! I'm so thrilled because the 6 credits were the last credits I needed for my degree.

I put this test off, because of the lack of feedback available and because I was just scared of it. I ended up purchasing used copies of all of the recommended textbooks, but to be honest, I didn't read much of them. The textbooks just completely overwhelmed me. I was at the end of the journey and did NOT want to read another textbook!!!

So here's what I did:

I purchased the practice tests. They are an excellent resource!!! BUY THEM!!!
I copied and studied every scrap of feedback I could find from this forum.
I used the exam guide (from UEXCEL) as a loose reference guide. Even trying to cover every single thing on it seemed overwhelming.
I took the first practice exam almost cold and scored a 66. After that I used it and the feedback to familiarize myself with the vocabulary, and most importantly, the concepts this test covers. There really are some basic underlying concepts that make sense in the context of the test.
I looked up the book summaries and made notes about the themes.
I studied nightly for about two weeks. I took the second practice test on Wednesday and scored an 88. I actually was afraid of over-studying. I felt like I personally would do better to get the big idea and then make good guesses. This worked well for me. There were a few questions on the test that I had no idea about, but for the most part I felt confident on a lot of them.

One of the biggest things that helped me was that Study.com has videos for this test!!! I signed up for the free 5 day trial and used the videos as I felt they accorded with the exam guide. They are not one-to-one with the textbooks, but a LOT of the same concepts are covered.

As others have said, choosing the most PC or optimistic answer actually works because of the theories that many teaching practices are built on these days.

I got an A on the real thing. THIS TEST IS NOT THAT BAD!!!!!

Some concepts that were helpful to be familiar with:
explicit and implicit phonics approaches
bottom-up/top-down approaches
Clymer's generalizations
cuing systems
writing process stages

[joemmami]

Hi, happydayruth, I need to take this exam to continue to substitute teach. Do you think a month will be enough time? I ordered the Fountas book and am studying flashards on Cram.com, FlashcardMachine.com and Quizlet. I am so nervous because, like you I know I won't t be able to study the text. If I do the study.com free trial and practice tests, together with the flashcards, do you think I will be prepared? I am only asking because I don't have the textbook yet. Just wondering what you think, if you have any idea. I appreciate any feedback you could give. Thanks! emily

I have also taken Human Growth and Development, Foundations of Education, Intro to Educational Psychology and Lifespan Developmental Psychology. I am wondering if knowing the info from these subjects might help. ??? Again, thanks! emily

[happydayruth]

Hi, happydayruth, I need to take this exam to continue to substitute teach. Do you think a month will be enough time? I ordered the Fountas book and am studying flashards on Cram.com, FlashcardMachine.com and Quizlet. I am so nervous because, like you I know I won't t be able to study the text. If I do the study.com free trial and practice tests, together with the flashcards, do you think I will be prepared? I am only asking because I don't have the textbook yet. Just wondering what you think, if you have any idea. I appreciate any feedback you could give. Thanks! emily

I have also taken Human Growth and Development, Foundations of Education, Intro to Educational Psychology and Lifespan Developmental Psychology. I am wondering if knowing the info from these subjects might help. ??? Again, thanks! emily

Hi Emily! I think a month will be plenty of time if you don't procrastinate like I did. :-) And it sounds like you've got a great plan in place! The UEXCEL practice tests were absolutely essential so I suggest spending the money on them, and then continuing to study the question & answers on them after you take them. Also, if you read through any posts you can find on this forum about the test, they may be helpful too.

Also, use the UEXCEL exam guide as a guide so you don't end up studying material you don't really need. Also, I looked up book synopses for almost all of the children's books listed on the exam guide so I knew what the books were about: main characters, themes, lessons "taught" through the books, etc. That was important.

Best wishes!!!

[joemmami]

Thank you sooo much for getting back to me so quickly. I really appreciate it! You are very kind. By the way, you mentioned continuing to go over the questions and answers on the practice exams after taking them. Are you allowed to save them or print them out?

[joemmami]

Hi, happydayruth!

I took this exam today and got an A! Not because I have been studying for 2 months. On the contrary. I put off taking it because I just couldn't get motivated to study. But your tips were invaluable to me and it seems like we study/learn the same way. What I DID do back in Sept. and Oct. was this:

I used several FREE study websites such as Flashcard Machine, Quizlet, CourseHero, Study.com (the free 5 day trial like you did) and Cram.com.

Last week I discovered the website Reading Rockets. It is produced by PBS (t.v.) and is very comprehensive. It's great

Last week I took my first practice exam and got a 63. 4days ago, I took a 2nd practice exam and got a 78.

All I did this past week was review the exams. Several questions on my practice exams came up EXACTLY on the real exam.

Re: the children's books, I took the advice of suganique from his/her post here and looked up the synopses on Amazon.com and took notes. There were only about 3 questions on the books and the questions they did ask, gave a hint to the answer.

As you said, there were questions where you had to obviously pick the most pc answer, which I did even though I had no idea what the answer was specifically.

So, here are my suggestions:

Purchase, take and constantly review the practice exams. I learned more in the one week before the exam by doing this than anything else I did to prepare. It is INVALUABLE.
The free study websites give a very good foundation.
Pick the pc answer, not the ones that give an absolute, i.e., always, never, etc.
Study the following concepts:

Cueing systems. I had about 5 or 6 questions on these.
Constructivist theories.
Bottom-up, top-down processing.
Language Experience Approach
Minilessons.
Shared Reading.

The above concepts are not that complex although the cueing systems will require some thought.

So, as you have said, this exam is NOT that bad. A lot of the info they tell you to study never came up on the exam and,so is unnecessarily intimidating.

I thank everyone on this site who so thoughtfully contributed their insights and tips. One thins I suggest is to not freak out. After taking this exam. I can't believe it was worth 6 credits, but all the better for us!

Best of luck and thanks, happydayruth!

[Charlesspacely]

Hello joemmami,

I’m taking this exam in January. I see that is been a while since you took it. Please if there’s any material you can provide me with to help me pass this exam that will be appreciated. I need this exam to resume work as a sub-teacher. Thank you.

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@joemmami or anyone else in this forum that can help, how are you able to review your practice exam? Do they give you the correct answers after the exam? I need help please! Thank you