Everyone at some point has been through tests in grade school. Whether your testing abilities were on a professional level and you aced every challenge to come your way, or you had a hard time handling such pressure and responsibility on a few sheets of paper, there’s was no feeling quite as satisfying than finding that you’ve conquered the scoring sheet. What many people don’t realize is that tests can apply to teachers as well, but thanks to TAP test prep tools, teachers in Illinois can prepare for passing on their knowledge to future generations to come.
Table of Contents
What is TAP?
TAP, or the ILTS (Illinois Licensure Testing System) Test of Academic Proficiency, is a standardized certification test to ensure that any expectant teacher has the right skills to teach in a classroom environment. It’s based almost entirely on multiple choice questions and is administered exclusively by computer.
What Does the TAP Include?
The Test of Academic Proficiency is separated into three or four different subtests, each of which takes no more than two hours and thirty minutes to complete:
- Mathematics: Teachers will be tested on their knowledge of math, ranging from basic Algebra, geometry, data and graph analysis, statistics, word problems, and operations. Teachers should anticipate solving simple to complex equations with or without the use of a calculator in order to pass on their skills to students
- Reading Comprehension: Teachers will be given short passages based on fiction or non-fiction works, and then will have multiple choice questions to answer related to the passage. The topics for these questions range from basic comprehension, critical thinking and reasoning, and intensive vocabulary.
- Language Arts & Writing: For the language arts portion of this section, teachers will be given short passages to read, followed by multiple choice questions concerning editorial content, such as spelling, punctuation, grammar, and sentence and paragraph structure; the writing portion will entail testers to write a short essay using the aforementioned skills to fulfill the requirements of the assignment.
How Do I Prepare for the TAP?
There are several resources online to help you prepare for the ILTS TAP, either by individual subtest or through all three categories. Such resources include intensive courses that feature self-adjusting lessons, interactive exercises, and even full practice tests you can take to gauge your strengths and fine tune your weaker subjects. Websites such as PrepForward will offer extensive courses to help you succeed when you take the official test in the future.
Nervous test takers can rejoice at the wide variety of practice and advice available to help them excel at the TAP test in Illinois. Explore TAP test prep websites online today.
