Carla Kirkland

Before you get too excited, understand that the following information isn’t actually about how to cheat on the Praxis. It’s really about the most efficient ways to prepare for the exam. But “preparation sheet” doesn’t quite have the same ring to it. Besides, cheating is unnecessary if you know what you’re doing, and sometimes figuring out what to do is actually easier.

If you encounter a right triangle question on the Praxis Core exam, you can use good old Pythagoras' theorem to work out the answer. In some cases, you'll be able to skip the calculations and solve the problem using the properties of common right triangles!Both of the following practice questions can be worked out using the Pythagorean theorem—but if you know your common right triangles, you'll be done before you can say "Eureka!

Some algebraic expressions on the Praxis Core exam may look intimidating, and you may even want to give up on them and move on. As you'll see in the following practice questions, though, you can use some simple techniques—like factoring and combining like terms—to solve them. Practice questions Which of the following is the simplified form of the expression 8x2y – 5xy2 + 12xy2 – 3x2y?

Some questions on the Praxis Core exam involve a simple plug-and-play approach, where you solve an expression by substituting given values for the variables. Sounds easy, right?Well, yes and no: as you'll see in the following practice questions, you still need to watch out for double negatives and you have to know your order of operations.

When you're asked to solve an algebraic problem—for example, a system of equations—on the Praxis Core exam, start by checking the variables. If you can easily isolate one of them, then you can probably use substitution.In the following practice questions, you start by performing a simple substitution within a rational algebraic expression; then, you go a little deeper by performing a more complex substitution to solve for two variables.

When you're asked to solve a system of equations on the Praxis Core exam, start by checking the variables. If the variables in both equations have the same coefficients, then you can solve them using elimination.In the first practice question, you're given a pair of algebraic equations that you can solve with simple elimination.

Some problems on the Praxis Core exam will involve systems of equations. Although they look intimidating, they're actually pretty straightforward to solve if you take the right approach.In the first practice question, you're given two simple equations, and you have to find the solution to the system of equations using elimination.

Problems involving inequalities on the Praxis Core exam will usually require you to do some math—but they may also involve recognizing the symbols on a number line.In the following practice questions, you start by solving an inequality, and then you need to match the inequality to its appropriate graph on a number line.

Some questions on the Praxis Core exam may appear as verbal problems, where an algebraic problem is written using words instead of mathematical operators and symbols.The following practice questions require you to convert a verbal into an equation before you can solve the problem. The first question asks you to find the product of two consecutive even numbers.