Beating the Cset! Methods, Strategies, and Multiple Subjects Content for Beating the California Subject Examinations for Teachers (Subtests I-III)

Overall, I feel this book is the best way to prepare for the CSET. I purchased the online study program and the Cliffs Test Prep and they were okay. Beating the CSET has an entire chapter devoted to stategies on taking the tests, as well as comprehensive outlines for the essay sections. There aren't any practice tests in this book, but memorizing practice tests is NOT a good method to study anyway. Besides, there are practice tests available online for free, if that's your thing. The only other advice I can give for passing the CSET is to take each subtest separately, unless you are exceptionally bright and/or live for stress. Best of luck to you!

I had only five weeks to prepare for the CSET. I purchased this book after reading reviews from other members, and I also purchased the Cliffs Test Prep book. I found that the content covered in "Beating the CSET" was very comprehensive. While there are not actual practice tests, there are numerous examples of test and essay questions. If you want sampe practice tests, the Cliffs Test Prep book would be good to use in conjunction with "Beating the CSET." The suggested strategies worked very well for me. I took all three subtests on the same day, and the time management strategies were very effective in my case. The book is also very helpful because it tells you exactly how many questions you need to get right on each subtest in order to pass. There may be some minor errors and mistakes in "Beating the CSET", but I would still recommed it. I just got my results back, and I passed all three subtests on the first try. I believe this book was a big part of my success.

I bought this book, along with the REA book with the CD and the Cliffs book. This is the best book out of the 3. If you only want to buy one book, I would recommend this one. I read this book last and I feel like it was very good in covering many subjects, and was especially helpful for the History & Social Studies section because it was organized in such a concise, easy manner with tables showing the key concepts. I was really lacking in knowledge in this area, and reading this book is what really helped me feel confident in taking the test. There are tables showing the main concepts such as causes of Civil war, the Constitution compared to Articles of Confederation, comparison of Egyptian geography culture, and scientific advances compared to Rome and Greece. The Human Dev, Art and PE sections were all excellent, and it contained a good explanation on reading music. The math section was good, but I am strong in math so I didn't study math at all. The science section was good with the right amount of detail, I was surprised how easy the science section of the CSET test was. The only thing that lacked was the low quality picture of cell division, but I didn't have any cell division questions on my CSET test. The reading acquisition and Language arts section was thorough but I have to say it was a bit long winded. There was almost too much information presented, so that I didn't absorb it as much as if it were shorter and more concise. I liked the Cliffs version better for language acquisition. There are no sample tests, but there are examples and answers of test questions in the very beginning chapter that are helpful. This book really has the most content included in it, it is long and the font is pretty small compared to the other books.

I'm a CSet trainer in the valley. We use this text exclusively to prepare our candidates. They are very pleased with the book, the thoroughness of the information, and their final results. The author even sent us sample exam info, which was very valuable. Normally, I would not write a review of a test prep book, but its nice to find something of actual value and use out there.

This book was the best of all the books I bought to prepare for CSET Multiple Subjects. It covered all of the content areas from all the subtests in sharp detail and offered lots of information about the test's weaknesses and how to cap on them (way, way, way beyond the process of elimination stuff that I knew already). In all, it's a great book (and heavy) and worth the investment of time and money. I credit this text and my own study skills with helping me to take and pass the exam in one sitting. Good Luck!!!!