How to Prepare for the NYS CST Exam for Social Studies

Show your social studies smarts on the NYS CST.

The NYC CST Social Studies exam is a formidable hurdle that individuals interested in teaching social studies in the state of New York must tackle. To attain your New York State teaching license, you must take and pass this exam, which is intended to measure your content knowledge within the area of social studies. This test is administered by the Pearson Education, Inc., and is offered on one Saturday every several months throughout the year. To increase the likelihood that you will pass this test on your first attempt, you must carefully prepare for the examination.

Instructions

1. Familiarize yourself with the test format. This four hour tests consists of six sub areas of social studies information. To ensure that you do your best, learn what to expect from the test. The Social Studies Test Preparation guide, available free of charge on the website listed in the resource section, provides you with detailed information about the test. Review this document for specifics regarding the test as you begin to prepare for it.

2. Review basic historical periods. The first sub area of the test is history. In this sub area, you are asked to order information and place events in proper historical periods. Review your history text books, and revisit any periods with which you are not very familiar to ensure that you know the required information for this section of the test.

3. Study geography. In the second sub area, you are asked to answer questions about geography. Spend some time looking over maps of different Earth regions, and review the locations of countries and capitals, as you will likely be expected to possess this information come test day.

4. Explore Basic Economic systems. In sub area three, you are asked questions about basic world economies, the impact of economics on society and the principles of economics. You will not be expected to have an in depth knowledge of economics, but you are expected to possess a cursory understanding of the discipline. Review any economics class text books, or non-fiction books on this topic, if this is an area in which you struggle.

5. Consider the organization of the American government system and the civic responsibilities of citizens. Sub area four deals with these topics. To ensure that you are ready for this section, review the three branches of government, as well as what bodies fall under each branch, important documents such as the Constitution, The Declaration of Independence and duties of citizens.

6. Review your map reading terminology and chart reading skills. In sub area five, you will be asked to demonstrate that you possess basic social studies skills. These skills include the ability to effectively read a map and to gather information from a chart or time line.

7. Review extended response construction rules. The final section of this test requires that you compose a response to an extended response prompt to demonstrate your understanding of history. While the response is not graded on organization or effectiveness of writing, composing an effective and organized response can help your grade. If you are rusty in the area of essay composition, review the rules of paragraph formatting, thesis composition and essay structure.

References

• NYSTCE: Certification Exams

Resources

• NYSTCE: Social Studies Preparation Guides