The CBEST Reading Examination

California isn’t this the only state with a set of rigid examinations dealing specifically with candidates who wish to be teachers in their educational system, but the CBEST examinations in that state are some of the best that can be found anywhere in the United States.

These examinations deal with several serious areas of academic study but one of the more important ones deals with the candidate’s ability to understand and communicate effectively using the English language. To that end, one of the more comprehensive tests in the CBEST arsenal deals with a person’s specific ability to read and understand English.

Like the mathematical portion of the examinations, the reading evaluations are divided up into two subsections—critical analysis and evaluation, and comprehension and research. It should be stressed to anyone considering taking any of these examinations that the scores are not pitted against other candidates and the whole process is in no way a contest. All the results from all the candidates are measured against a series of benchmarks and taking one of any of the available pretest courses will help the candidate identify any areas they need to work on.

So the reading portion of the examination is not designed to be especially difficult or challenging, but only to show the administrators that the person taking the test is able to comprehend basic ideas in the body of the text or manuscript. At first the candidates will be asked to compare and contrast ideas from various sources and then they will be quizzed on the various viewpoints from the source material.

It is important that candidates be able to recognize viewpoint and attitude and the ways that various authors express them. Those taking the test will also be asked to decide if certain arguments presented in the reading material are relevant or not to the overall reading section.

There is also a section testing research and reference skills. There, candidates will be asked to demonstrate their ability to use various indexes like a table of contents to locate certain information in a book. They will also be given a certain quotation or piece of information and then asked to locate it in the source material.

It’s important that all the candidates familiarize themselves with the rules and regulations that test administrators will adhere to. For example, no recording devices of any kind are allowed in the test rooms on the day of the examination and visits by relatives or friends during the course of the tests are strictly controlled and in many cases even prohibited.