Preparing to Become Certified

We require a lot of our teachers.  It is one way that society maintains a high quality of education that we require that our teachers go through extensive training and are certified as ready to teach our students before they are permitted to take over a class and carry the title of "teacher".  To fully quality for a full time job teaching in the school systems of this country, college study is required and the teacher must reach at least the bachelors level and preferably the masters or PHD level. 

The teacher's certification test is probably the single most pivotal event in the preparations to become a teacher because with your certification, you can confidently apply for teaching jobs anywhere in the state.  So there are some preparations you do before going for your certification test to assure that you will know breeze through the test and be successful at getting your teacher's certificate.

First of all, each state has different requirements for teacher certification.  You don’t want to spend time on part of the certification process that is not important to the state in which you plan to teach.  So get in touch with the state Teacher's Certification Agency and get copies of the requirements along with the guidelines for preparation for the test.  In that way, your preparation period will be efficient and focused on the test you will be taking when you go to get approved to teach.

As is true of many  important college or career testing processes, there are preparation kits and books that can be extremely valuable to help you get ready for the test in advance.  By finding study guides and sample tests that you can practice with,  your preparation will be honed in on exactly what you can expect when you go for the certification test.  Not only will this drastically increase your chances of success, it will help with your nervousness because it you will go to the test knowing there will be surprises.

The teacher certification board wants you to be successful when you take your test.  In many cases you can actually get a certification board advisor who will work with you to prepare for the test.  This service is offered for free and that advisor knows in detail what you need to do and what you need to know to pass the test.  So don’t overlook this very valuable resource because he or she can make you as prepared as it humanly possible short of taking the test for you.

The key to passing the test is to first identify areas of knowledge where you need to do remedial work and then to devise a study strategy to shore up that area of knowledge.  Practice tests that you will find on the internet or that are provided to you by your board adviser will very precisely identify where you have a weakness in your knowledge.

Most likely the areas that you will need to do remedial study were courses you took but you just need some refresher and review time to be ready to be tested on that knowledge again.  Many times the local junior college offers refresher tests specifically to get you ready for the Teacher Certification Test.  The cost is nominal and it is to the advantage of the school to help you get ready so there are more working teachers available to the schools in your area.  So don't be shy about taking advantage of these and all of these resources that are at your disposal to assure your success in taking theTeacher's Certification Test.