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How to Prepare for the CSET: California Subject Matter Examinations for Teachers/Multiple Subjects (Barron's How to Prepare for the CSET
The CSET, which is replacing the MSAT in California, consists of three multiple-choice subtests. Subtest I tests in reading, language, literature, history, and social science. Subtest II is in science and math; and subtest III covers visual and performing arts, physical education, and human development. This manual offers in-depth reviews in all test areas, as well as detailed advice in study and test-taking strategies. It also provides two complete practice CSETs with explained answers.
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First published December 1, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 12, 2008
UPDATE! This book is out-of-control, unacceptably bad! I cannot BELIEVE, believe (!) there was not a corrected edition of this book. It is as if no one has read it since it was published, to look for mistakes! Since I wrote my original review (several days ago) and have moved on to study for the math/science section of the CSET, I have found even more mistakes, which include mismatched answers to math questions. Makes me question the veracity of almost any answer in the book, excepting answers I knew beforehand and would not have to look up anyway! I need to get a new study guide, and would appreciate any recommendations. This book, although it does not literally give off a foul odor, just plain STINKS.
*****
I should, at this moment, be studying for tomorrow's CSET test. However, since I just e-mailed Barron's to complain to them about mistakes I found in the book just now, I thought I might fill people here in as well.
I initially found this book at the library; the format is easy-to-use and I preferred it, especially, to one by Cliff's Notes. However, if answers in a test guide are wrong, what does it matter if a book is easy-to-read or not?
Some of the errors include disparities in test quiz answers and the historical info the book provides as the study sections for these quizzes. For instance, according to this book, the first man to found a Christian mission in California was one Father Sierra. Elsewhere in the book, he is referred to as Father Serna. Is this a typo?
The example which caused me to e-mail Barrons', however, is the exclusion of some answers to questions on a test quiz. In one case (the test quiz for American History), the answers to questions 21 through 23 are simply not given. Some of the questions are tricky and obviously I would not be checking the answer key if the answers were obvious.
It's not as if it is unforgivable for a book to have typos or even mistakes. But especially when it comes to a teaching and/or textbook, one mistake is more than enough.
More importantly, these mistakes are not nitpicky and can be found by the casual reader. Therefore, I am moved to ask, just how casual were the editors?
The book did, however, help me study for one of the different parts of the text I took several months ago (visual arts/p.e./human development), and I will most likely refer back to this book when I take the third part of the test in several months.
Maybe mistakes in test guides are comomon. My thinking is, however, that there are not enough competitors in the test guide market - at least the market which makes test guides for relatively obscure tests like the CSET (California's new test for would-be teachers) - to make Barron's spend any more time writing the book than it possibly can. But since one of Barrons' claims to fame is that they publish a wide array of test guides, they are short-sighted to "phone in" these miscellaneous test guides.
I need to find out the real answers to some of the questions in the test guide now...
*****
I should, at this moment, be studying for tomorrow's CSET test. However, since I just e-mailed Barron's to complain to them about mistakes I found in the book just now, I thought I might fill people here in as well.
I initially found this book at the library; the format is easy-to-use and I preferred it, especially, to one by Cliff's Notes. However, if answers in a test guide are wrong, what does it matter if a book is easy-to-read or not?
Some of the errors include disparities in test quiz answers and the historical info the book provides as the study sections for these quizzes. For instance, according to this book, the first man to found a Christian mission in California was one Father Sierra. Elsewhere in the book, he is referred to as Father Serna. Is this a typo?
The example which caused me to e-mail Barrons', however, is the exclusion of some answers to questions on a test quiz. In one case (the test quiz for American History), the answers to questions 21 through 23 are simply not given. Some of the questions are tricky and obviously I would not be checking the answer key if the answers were obvious.
It's not as if it is unforgivable for a book to have typos or even mistakes. But especially when it comes to a teaching and/or textbook, one mistake is more than enough.
More importantly, these mistakes are not nitpicky and can be found by the casual reader. Therefore, I am moved to ask, just how casual were the editors?
The book did, however, help me study for one of the different parts of the text I took several months ago (visual arts/p.e./human development), and I will most likely refer back to this book when I take the third part of the test in several months.
Maybe mistakes in test guides are comomon. My thinking is, however, that there are not enough competitors in the test guide market - at least the market which makes test guides for relatively obscure tests like the CSET (California's new test for would-be teachers) - to make Barron's spend any more time writing the book than it possibly can. But since one of Barrons' claims to fame is that they publish a wide array of test guides, they are short-sighted to "phone in" these miscellaneous test guides.
I need to find out the real answers to some of the questions in the test guide now...
November 13, 2013
I've only read 100 pages and have found at least 1/2 dozen mistakes. I'm just glad I got it from the library and din't pay for it! I've only covered one section and I will be returning this book right away and moving on to another study guide. I can't trust this one!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews