ABCTE PTK PRACTICE TEST EXAM QUESTIONS AND
ANSWERS GRADED A+
✔✔Which of the following student activities would BEST introduce a middle school unit
on economics? - ✔✔Remember and list five times when you traded things with a friend
or family member. Pick one of them and write a paragraph describing it. Answer
Explanation: Each of the other choices involves higher-level processes and/or concepts
that are not appropriate subject material for an introductory lesson.
✔✔An art teacher plans to lead students through a survey of the various schools of
American art since the nineteenth century over the course of several weeks. How can
she ensure that her students retain the important ideas about each school of art? -
✔✔Have students compare and contrast each new school of art to the previous ones.
Answer Explanation: Students retain information better when they use it, especially in
analytical ways. By comparing and contrasting each new school of art to the earlier
ones they have studied, the students will access previously taught information and think
about the new information they are learning.
✔✔During a class discussion, a teacher asks a student to evaluate President
Roosevelt's Public Works Association for its effectiveness as a means to alleviate
unemployment while benefiting the community. How long should the teacher wait for a
response? - ✔✔10 seconds Answer Explanation : Ten seconds is an appropriate length
of time to wait for an answer to a question that calls for high order thinking such as
evaluating.
✔✔Which of the following would be the MOST relevant homework assignment for a
lesson on the structure of a rain forest? - ✔✔Create a cluster diagram in a class labeled
"Layers of the rain forest" in the center and with the four rainforest layers as main ideas.
Ask students to fill in details and examples at home. Answer Explanation: This graphic
organizer focuses on the structure of the rain forest and helps students organize the
lesson material.
✔✔Which question below is MOST likely to generate the widest range of answers and
discussions among students? - ✔✔Why would the author have ended the book this
way? Answer Explanation: This question allows for both a wide range of answers and
discussion of those answers. The discussion is likely to be interesting because there are
so many possible answers to the question.
✔✔Why should a teacher always spend time explaining classroom rules during the first
few days of class? - ✔✔To establish clear expectations for performance and behavior.
Answer Explanation: Students benefit from clear, firm guidelines from the outset. The
rules should be changed only when necessary, not casually or according to student
demands, as implied in choices A and C.
,✔✔Which of the methods below will BEST hold students accountable for their full
participation in cooperative learning groups? - ✔✔Assign each student in the group a
specific role in accomplishing the objectives of the activity. Answer Explanation: If each
student has a role in meeting the objectives and the activity is well structured, then all
students will be drawn into participating because they all have something to do.
✔✔When teachers share standardized test results with parents, there is a large amount
of information in the score report to be discussed. Which information will be of MOST
use to the typical parent? - ✔✔Specific areas of academic strength and weakness.
Answer Explanation: Parents will generally benefit most from specific information about
how to help their child succeed. When parents know their child's weaknesses, they can
emphasize working to improve them.
✔✔Suppose your objective for a lesson is "The student will demonstrate an ability to
differentiate among igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks." Which of the
following is the BEST activity for introducing students to the attributes of each type of
rock? - ✔✔Students examine rocks belonging to each group and identify the similarities
and differences. The activity is followed by a group discussion in which the teacher
brings out the important characteristics of each type. Answer Explanation: Students
learn best when they are actively involved.
✔✔A group of students wants to produce an electronic magazine that publishes original
student writing and art. Their adviser is planning a unit to train them how to use a word-
processing application to create pages that include features such as images, multi-
column layouts, sidebars, headers, footers, links, and page backgrounds. Which of the
following would be the BEST culminating activity for this portion of the training? -
✔✔Small teams producing a document under proctored conditions, using specified
features, and within a time limit Answer Explanation: The purpose of the training is to
prepare students to apply what they learn. The team and time limit conditions make the
performance more realistic; the whole activity promotes retaining and transferring what
has been learned.
✔✔Which of the following is MOST likely to promote effective transfer of knowledge to
students? - ✔✔Having students work on their own with specific information related to a
topic before giving an organizing lecture. Answer Explanation: Studies indicate that
topics need to be organized and connected in order to promote the transfer of
knowledge, but that a large number of topics covered quickly will hinder student transfer
because students have too little time to connect and organize the information.
✔✔Students are about to take a paper and pencil test. If there is time for only one of the
following activities, which would BEST prepare the students for the test? - ✔✔Students
should make a chart of the important topics with notes on subtopics below each.
Answer Explanation: Organizational structures help students to connect and remember.
, ✔✔Which of the following learning objectives uses a higher order thinking skill? -
✔✔The student will create a metaphor to describe an emotion. Answer Explanation:
Bloom's Taxonomy identifies thinking skills in increasing order of sophistication as
knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.
✔✔Which of the following would provide the BEST introduction for a lesson on writing
bibliographic references? - ✔✔Demonstrate to students the specific procedure and
order expected. Answer Explanation: Writing bibliographic references is a procedure,
and procedures are best taught through demonstration.
✔✔Which of the following phrases BEST completes the following sentence?
"Vocabulary should be taught... - ✔✔in every subject area in order for students to
master the subject matter." Answer Explanation: The English department cannot
possibly teach all of the vocabulary intrinsic to a particular subject.
✔✔A social studies teacher wants students to consider the role of geography in
population patterns. She asks her class, "What role did geography play in the growth of
Chicago as a major U.S. city?" What should she do next? - ✔✔Tell students not to call
out responses but to raise their hand when they think of an answer and wait to be called
on. Answer Explanation: Students need various amounts of time to think through an
answer to a question, particularly for complicated questions.
✔✔Consider the following two questions a teacher might ask a high school social
studies class. I: According to our textbook, what does the public welfare system do to
solve the problems of poverty? II: What are some ways our country might solve the
problems of poverty? Which of the following best describes the differences between
these questions? - ✔✔II invites more divergent thinking than I. Answer Explanation:
This question is a matter of relative convergence and divergence. Question I converges
on the textbook; that is, good answers will stick to what the textbook says. Question II
allows for answers that may draw from sources other than the textbook. Both questions
are open-ended.
✔✔How should a teacher generally begin almost every class? - ✔✔By telling students
what they will be covering that day. Answer Explanation: Telling students what they will
be covering helps focus students' attention.
✔✔What activity would BEST help students in a middle school social studies class
understand why different Native American tribes had different trading practices? -
✔✔Assign a tribe to each group of students and give each group handouts that identify
needs and oversupply for a particular tribe. Then stage trading activities among groups
and have students identify important aspects. Answer Explanation: Students engaged in
active participation are more likely to learn and understand complex interconnections.
ANSWERS GRADED A+
✔✔Which of the following student activities would BEST introduce a middle school unit
on economics? - ✔✔Remember and list five times when you traded things with a friend
or family member. Pick one of them and write a paragraph describing it. Answer
Explanation: Each of the other choices involves higher-level processes and/or concepts
that are not appropriate subject material for an introductory lesson.
✔✔An art teacher plans to lead students through a survey of the various schools of
American art since the nineteenth century over the course of several weeks. How can
she ensure that her students retain the important ideas about each school of art? -
✔✔Have students compare and contrast each new school of art to the previous ones.
Answer Explanation: Students retain information better when they use it, especially in
analytical ways. By comparing and contrasting each new school of art to the earlier
ones they have studied, the students will access previously taught information and think
about the new information they are learning.
✔✔During a class discussion, a teacher asks a student to evaluate President
Roosevelt's Public Works Association for its effectiveness as a means to alleviate
unemployment while benefiting the community. How long should the teacher wait for a
response? - ✔✔10 seconds Answer Explanation : Ten seconds is an appropriate length
of time to wait for an answer to a question that calls for high order thinking such as
evaluating.
✔✔Which of the following would be the MOST relevant homework assignment for a
lesson on the structure of a rain forest? - ✔✔Create a cluster diagram in a class labeled
"Layers of the rain forest" in the center and with the four rainforest layers as main ideas.
Ask students to fill in details and examples at home. Answer Explanation: This graphic
organizer focuses on the structure of the rain forest and helps students organize the
lesson material.
✔✔Which question below is MOST likely to generate the widest range of answers and
discussions among students? - ✔✔Why would the author have ended the book this
way? Answer Explanation: This question allows for both a wide range of answers and
discussion of those answers. The discussion is likely to be interesting because there are
so many possible answers to the question.
✔✔Why should a teacher always spend time explaining classroom rules during the first
few days of class? - ✔✔To establish clear expectations for performance and behavior.
Answer Explanation: Students benefit from clear, firm guidelines from the outset. The
rules should be changed only when necessary, not casually or according to student
demands, as implied in choices A and C.
,✔✔Which of the methods below will BEST hold students accountable for their full
participation in cooperative learning groups? - ✔✔Assign each student in the group a
specific role in accomplishing the objectives of the activity. Answer Explanation: If each
student has a role in meeting the objectives and the activity is well structured, then all
students will be drawn into participating because they all have something to do.
✔✔When teachers share standardized test results with parents, there is a large amount
of information in the score report to be discussed. Which information will be of MOST
use to the typical parent? - ✔✔Specific areas of academic strength and weakness.
Answer Explanation: Parents will generally benefit most from specific information about
how to help their child succeed. When parents know their child's weaknesses, they can
emphasize working to improve them.
✔✔Suppose your objective for a lesson is "The student will demonstrate an ability to
differentiate among igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks." Which of the
following is the BEST activity for introducing students to the attributes of each type of
rock? - ✔✔Students examine rocks belonging to each group and identify the similarities
and differences. The activity is followed by a group discussion in which the teacher
brings out the important characteristics of each type. Answer Explanation: Students
learn best when they are actively involved.
✔✔A group of students wants to produce an electronic magazine that publishes original
student writing and art. Their adviser is planning a unit to train them how to use a word-
processing application to create pages that include features such as images, multi-
column layouts, sidebars, headers, footers, links, and page backgrounds. Which of the
following would be the BEST culminating activity for this portion of the training? -
✔✔Small teams producing a document under proctored conditions, using specified
features, and within a time limit Answer Explanation: The purpose of the training is to
prepare students to apply what they learn. The team and time limit conditions make the
performance more realistic; the whole activity promotes retaining and transferring what
has been learned.
✔✔Which of the following is MOST likely to promote effective transfer of knowledge to
students? - ✔✔Having students work on their own with specific information related to a
topic before giving an organizing lecture. Answer Explanation: Studies indicate that
topics need to be organized and connected in order to promote the transfer of
knowledge, but that a large number of topics covered quickly will hinder student transfer
because students have too little time to connect and organize the information.
✔✔Students are about to take a paper and pencil test. If there is time for only one of the
following activities, which would BEST prepare the students for the test? - ✔✔Students
should make a chart of the important topics with notes on subtopics below each.
Answer Explanation: Organizational structures help students to connect and remember.
, ✔✔Which of the following learning objectives uses a higher order thinking skill? -
✔✔The student will create a metaphor to describe an emotion. Answer Explanation:
Bloom's Taxonomy identifies thinking skills in increasing order of sophistication as
knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.
✔✔Which of the following would provide the BEST introduction for a lesson on writing
bibliographic references? - ✔✔Demonstrate to students the specific procedure and
order expected. Answer Explanation: Writing bibliographic references is a procedure,
and procedures are best taught through demonstration.
✔✔Which of the following phrases BEST completes the following sentence?
"Vocabulary should be taught... - ✔✔in every subject area in order for students to
master the subject matter." Answer Explanation: The English department cannot
possibly teach all of the vocabulary intrinsic to a particular subject.
✔✔A social studies teacher wants students to consider the role of geography in
population patterns. She asks her class, "What role did geography play in the growth of
Chicago as a major U.S. city?" What should she do next? - ✔✔Tell students not to call
out responses but to raise their hand when they think of an answer and wait to be called
on. Answer Explanation: Students need various amounts of time to think through an
answer to a question, particularly for complicated questions.
✔✔Consider the following two questions a teacher might ask a high school social
studies class. I: According to our textbook, what does the public welfare system do to
solve the problems of poverty? II: What are some ways our country might solve the
problems of poverty? Which of the following best describes the differences between
these questions? - ✔✔II invites more divergent thinking than I. Answer Explanation:
This question is a matter of relative convergence and divergence. Question I converges
on the textbook; that is, good answers will stick to what the textbook says. Question II
allows for answers that may draw from sources other than the textbook. Both questions
are open-ended.
✔✔How should a teacher generally begin almost every class? - ✔✔By telling students
what they will be covering that day. Answer Explanation: Telling students what they will
be covering helps focus students' attention.
✔✔What activity would BEST help students in a middle school social studies class
understand why different Native American tribes had different trading practices? -
✔✔Assign a tribe to each group of students and give each group handouts that identify
needs and oversupply for a particular tribe. Then stage trading activities among groups
and have students identify important aspects. Answer Explanation: Students engaged in
active participation are more likely to learn and understand complex interconnections.
