Study plan
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This section assumes you have not taken any computer science coursework beyond what UB's CS teacher preparation program. It summarizes what our programs emphasize, compares that with what the test expects, and rates the gap for each part of the test. It ends with study priorities. Work through the content summary in Part 4 alongside it, using the gap ratings to decide where to slow down.
How the test differs from our program#
UB's computer science teacher preparation programs aim to prepare teachers who are effective with all of their students, supporting their intellectual growth, their future opportunities, and their ability to use computing toward goals of their own, and who help redesign K-12 computer science to reflect the communities it serves. The program's learning goals span four areas: content knowledge of computing, organized around the CS&DF concepts; pedagogical knowledge; pedagogical content knowledge, such as teaching with computational media and supporting learner identities; and leadership, including equity and interdisciplinary connections. The program handbooks describe these goals and the structure of the programs in full. The courses most relevant here are Making With Code I and II (LAI 676 and LAI 677), which teach programming, data, networking, information, and AI through projects in Python; LAI 605, Critical Computational Literacies, which asks how and why computing should enter K-12 education; and LAI 516, Infrastructure for K12 Computing Education, which studies standards, curricula, and computational media. Across these courses, the programs value depth over coverage, making over recognizing, and critique over compliance. Those are deliberate choices, and they shape the differences below.
Breadth over depth. Our courses go deep on a few ideas through extended projects. The exam spreads across many topics at a recognition level, and you will rarely reason from first principles in 90 seconds.
Code comprehension, not programming. Our courses build fluency mainly by writing and running code, with the computer giving you feedback, and the labs include some guided code tracing, though not a lot. The exam never asks you to write or run code. Most of competency 0002 asks you to read unfamiliar typed pseudocode and trace it by hand: predicting output, finding a bug, or choosing the code that completes a program. Strong programmers can still lose points here. Build on the tracing you did in the labs by practicing it on your own, without guidance or a computer to check your work.
Networks and security carry much more weight. These two competencies make up 42 of the 90 selected-response items. In our sequence, they get two of the units in MWC2.
AI and data science carry much less weight. AI fills a full MWC2 unit and part of LAI 605, but it is a very small share of the practice test. Data science fills a full MWC1 unit, but the practice test doesn't ask about visualization or regression, although indicators 0002.b and 0002.c cover data collection and analysis tools.
Impacts means something different. In LAI 605, the impacts of computing raise questions of power, race and identity. Bias appears on the exam, but most of competency 0001 is practical professional knowledge: laws and policies, accessibility features, licensing and open source, business models and careers.
"Best" answers accept the question's premises. Many items ask for the best action within an institution as it exists, such as which step a district should take under its current policies. You may reasonably want to challenge the premise, and our courses encourage that. On this exam, choose the best option among those offered, and save the critique for your teaching.
What to study#
The tables below estimate gaps between the test framework's content what our courses teach: none means our courses cover it, low means you know the ideas but may need the test's vocabulary or notation, medium means our courses touch it only in part, and high means it is new. Each competency and indicator links to its section of the content summary, and each row links to practice questions for that indicator.
0001 Impacts of computing#
0002 Computational thinking and programming#
0003 Networks, the Internet, and system design#
0004 Cybersecurity#
0005 Pedagogical content knowledge#
Test-taking tips#
- Answer every question. There is no penalty for a wrong answer, so a blank can only cost you. If time is running out, go back to every unanswered question and choose an answer, even a guess.
- Manage your time. A difficult question is rarely worth a long struggle. Make your best guess and move on, and keep a list of questions to return to if time allows.
- Manage your emotions. The test doesn't measure how smart you are or whether you are a good teacher. Think back to how you have felt in earlier testing situations, and plan how you will stay calm during this one.
- Find out what a question is asking before reading its details. Skim the question first, then read its scenario or code closely. If a question asks about an error on line 08, for example, you want to know that before you start reading the code.
- Look for patterns in the options. Often the four options are the combinations of two factors, such as what a problem is and what causes it. If you know the answer to just one factor, you can rule out two options and double your odds.
- On the written response, think like a scorer. Know exactly what the scorers are looking for, which the framework's indicators for competency 0005 describe, and organize your response so that each element is easy to find. The lesson is hypothetical, and you aren't scored on how realistic it is, so invent details about your students or school whenever they help.
Study priorities#
- Learn to read the test's pseudocode, using the reference sheet and From Python to typed pseudocode in Part 4. Competency 0002 is the largest, and it mostly tests code comprehension, so practice tracing code by hand as well.
- Study the sections with high gaps between the test framework and what our courses teach (see the tables above). If you have additional CS background knowledge, evaluate which sections you most need to study.
- Practice with the included questions. Use the practice questions that accompany this guide to check your understanding of each section of the content summary as you study it. There are five for each topic, with answers and explanations.
- Practice the written response using the framework's indicators and the official sample constructed-response item, in 60 minutes or less, at a grade band you don't usually teach.
- Take the official practice test once you have studied, as a check on your readiness under timed conditions. Its feedback shows which competencies still need work.