Mtel Math 03: Prepare for the New General Curriculum Subtest

***9/4/12 UPDATE***I took the exam again this past July and finally managed to score above 220. I'm registered to take it again in two weeks and terrified I'll fail again. I'm dangerously close to losing my job because this is the only requirement I have left to get my license and I might not be waivable anymore. I keep using this book but the random errors make me nervous so I'm afraid to trust it. I've viewed the Webinar, but didn't find it to be anymore helpful.***6/19/12 Update****Well I took the exam again, and failed. I did get a higher score, but not by much, and not enough to get the conditional pass. I'm going to keep reviewing this book, but the errors others have listed make me very nervous.-----Sadly, I'm one of those people with a diagnosed learning disability in mathematics (and some other stuff) who has been trying (and failing) to pass this subtest for a while.When I started grad school (a year before the change) no one had said anything. It wasn't until Fall 08 that my classmates and I were finally told, "hey, you better get on this if you don't want to have to take extra math classes." So we all rushed to do so and most of us failed. No one told us how ridiculous the MTELS are, or how it really is a crap idea to take more than 1 test a day.Cut to present day, I'm an English teacher and I'm two years out of grad school and still struggling with this stupid exam. The last few times I took it, I received the exact same score.Finally I wised up and requested extended testing, which I am getting for the May 2012 exam.An admin at my school let me borrow her copy of this book, but it was a few days before the March test and I didn't have a chance to really work with it. I decided if I failed again, not only would I request the extended testing time (which I should have done years ago), but I'd also buy this book and seriously try to study and retain the information.So far when I go through the practice tests, it all seems relatively simple. Which makes me nervous.The test is next Saturday.I'll update with the results and how much I think the book truly helped.

This Math MTEL is preventing me from graduating this Spring. I have failed the exam 3 times and am scheduled for my 4th try in May. I have been studying Mary's book for the past 3 weeks, going chapter by chapter and taking notes. There are some errors which do cause a person to be a bit concerned (see prior reviews) but all and all, it is a very good format for studying. One thing I am noticing is that some sections are more detailed than others. Questions that pop up in the Practice sections sometimes have problems that she has not discussed at all. For instance: in Chapter 2, Dividing Fractions. Easy enough, huh? But then she includes three practice questions that have 3 fractions, but yet didn't talk about how to divide 3 fractions at once. Which ones do you invert? Out of three fractions, which one is considered the divisor? The second and third one or just the second one? Yes, I can just look in the answer key but I would like to be able to do the practice questions based upon information I just studied prior to the practice quiz. I do have more examples of this...maybe I am just being nitpicky but after 3 times, I am tired...and poor. Let's hope all goes well and I will write an update after May.

I sat down for about 3-4 weeks and went through this book about 2-4 hours a day. I cannot be more thankful for this book! There is no way I would have passed without it. I even passed on my first try! I'm not great at math (and never have been) but thankfully this book is geared for exactly what is on the MTEL. I would go through the book and mark things that I didn't quite understand so that I could go back to them with my boyfriend (who is really a smart cookie!) and then he would help explain things to me in order to help me fully understand. But don't worry, if you don't have someone to further explain the explanations that are written in the book then you may contact Mary Desouza herself. Which is part of the reason why I chose to order this book in the first place! Yes there are some typos, but you'll catch them and you'll be fine. No biggie. What I loved the most is that I can honestly say that as I was sitting through the actual Math MTEL test there were a bunch of questions that when they came up on my screen, immediately a light bulb went off in my head and I could think of the section/page where I did such problems in this book! Also, there were a handful of questions on the test that I would've had NO IDEA how to complete if it weren't for this book. This book is a must-have for anyone taking this test! Thank you so much Mary Desouza!

Passed the MTEL General Curriculum Math Subtest on the first try. My goal was to get through 1 chapter a day of this book, there's a total of 8. Not impossible to do, although the information can be a bit overwhleming at times. It was my primary resource, I used What Every 6th Grader Should Know as a supplementary resource. This book prepared me sufficiently enough to pass the test, though I would recommend looking at the MTEL website and getting the practice test, study guide, and the explanation of each subarea and objective. If you do this at the beginning of your study schedule, you'll understand exactly what you need to review. You can focus on those areas and skip the ones you already know, or the ones that this book covers but are not emphasized on the MTEL. Just don't waste your time studying extra stuff that won't be all that important on the test, and don't forget to review study guide information on the essay portion...which will get you an extra 10% and I thought was the easiest part of the exam!!!