UCI Open welcomes you (back!) to its CSET preparation resource for Science Subtest II. Please keep in mind that the current CSET exam format includes both multiple-choice and constructed-response questions. Our review material includes only multiple-choice questions. For more information about the CSET exams, please visit the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing websiteLinks to an external site..
For best results displaying mathematical equations, please use the Firefox web browser.
Costs
This course is free of charge and freely licensed (CC-BY 3.0). You are free to use, reuse, remix, revise and redistribute materials found here. Attribution should be given to the University of California, Irvine - Division of Continuing Education.
Objectives
1. The prospective teacher will be able to quickly identify areas of potential weakness before taking the CSET Science Subtest II exam.
2. In areas of weakness, a prospective teacher will use provided practice problems, guided examples and content refreshers to allow for quicker recall of previously learned topics in science.
3. A prospective teacher will be able to assess whether further formal coursework is needed before attempting the exam.
Where to begin
As you can see from the above objectives, this is not a traditional course. Go through each module one-by-one, rapidly eliminating from your course of study topics in which you are confident in your knowledge. Click on the Modules link to start now or explore the organization of this course further in the tabs below. You should expect to spend between three and ten hours per module.
Notice that the term "course" was avoided in the title above. That's because this is not a traditional course. It neither has an instructor nor a fixed period of time for completion. Instead, it is a self-study resource designed for a prospective CSET Science Subtest II test-taker. You will be encouraged to skip quickly through topics with which you are familiar and thereby have the time and focus to concentrate on areas that require more of your attention.
Who is this study resource for?
As already mentioned, you are likely to be signed up -- or thinking of signing up -- to take the California Subject Exam for Teachers Science Subtest II. Or you may be about to take a similar exam in another state or even country and are looking for review resources. If you are outside of California, be careful about the topics that are covered here and confirm that they are similar to the ones you need to study for.
We made a lot of assumptions about you. We know that you are either entering teaching and are required to pass this exam to teach secondary science or that you are changing subject areas and are looking to meet the new subject matter requirements, one of which is the relevant CSET exams.
We also suspect that you are already very busy, either with your current teaching load or a combination of student teaching, taking coursework, and/or working. From our experience monitoring this course, we find that those studying (consistently) for the exam tend to start 3-6 weeks prior to the exam. So the study resources are designed for that timeframe and the plan of study is not intended to substitute for having already had coursework in science. It may be ten years since you last had formal study in science, so you are looking for the refresher resources that are part of every topic, but you have some familiarity with most of the topics covered in the study resource. Or it may be that you simply need to go into the exam feeling more confident by having recently reviewed the breadth of topics on the exam. In either of these cases, you are the kind of person who can benefit.
When to Study
We strongly recommend not waiting until the last minute. Having said that, we see typical usage starting between three-to-six weeks before the exam. Like an athlete, you should never start practicing the day before the game, but train over a much longer period of time. Each module is expected to take about six hours to complete, although individuals will vary widely.
How to Study Using this Resource
This resource addresses topics that are covered by the CSET science exam(s) in alignment with California K-12 content standards. Each module follows the same pattern:
Diagnostic Questions - Diagnostic questions allow you to rapidly ascertain your own level of comfort with the topic matter. If you find them to be easy, and you correctly answer the questions, you can move on to the next topic if you do not need a certificate of completion. If you want to present your school district with evidence of course completion and you feel like you don't need additional help on this topic, there is a quiz at the end of this topic that you can take immediately. In this manner, you will only spend time on areas where you need to strengthen your understanding.
Guided Examples - The guided examples are a second level of help. If you answered the diagnostic questions correctly, but have doubts as to the depth of your understanding, these step-by-step solutions can help. Following this example, you can try answering a new diagnostic question. If you just needed something to jog your memory, this may be sufficient and you can move to the next lesson.
Content "Refresher" - The "refresher" is designed to provide just-in-time instruction to reinforce your understanding, particularly if you have struggled with the diagnostic questions. These screens provide further examples and opportunities for practice along with an explanation of the topic. Another diagnostic question follows the refresher. These refreshers are necessarily brief and far from inclusive of the full depth of the area of science. However, it may be enough for someone who previously learned the material through coursework and needs to brush up before taking the CSET exam.
One final note: No online resource can really substitute for a full course, whether online or in the classroom.
In each topic, you are likely to see an NMRx.y notation. What does this mean? In 2002, the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing approved new Subject Matter Requirements (SMRs). These SMRs are the subject-specific knowledge, skills, and abilities identified by panels of subject mattter experts and aligned with content standards. If you live outside of California, it is quite likely that teacher preparation programs and subject matter exams have similar, but not identical requirements.
In this study resource for Subtest II, for example, Number and Quantity is SMR 1. Within that domain, there are topics, such as Number Theory, that are numbered as SMR 1.2, or the second topic within the content domain of number and quantity.
FAQ
About the CSET. The California Subject Exam for Teachers is a set of exams that are part of qualifying a teacher to be teaching specific single subjects at the secondary level. While there are CSET exams for primary teachers, our resources are only for the single subjects in science and mathematics. For more information about the exam, exam preparation, and registration, see the official site hereLinks to an external site..
Display of Mathematics. Even though the display of mathematics is handled by the learning management system, errors could still have been introduced when we input complicated equations in LATEX or MathML. Please send us an error report. Otherwise, modern browsers should be able to display the mathematical notation correctly (use Firefox for the best results). If you have taken one of our study resources earlier on an open.uci.edu or ocw.uci.edu domain, you will have received different (and outdated) advice.
How to report an error. Please send bug reports directly to open@uci.edu and write CSET Science Subtest II error in the subject. In the email, please indicate exactly where you found the mistake by module and the name of the content page, assignment or quiz.