Who has to sit it
To work as a teaching assistant in a New York public school you need a teaching assistant certificate, and the test for it is the NYSTCE Teaching Assistant Skills test, NES 519.
The shape of the test
NES 519 is 80 selected-response questions in 2 hours. A 15-minute tutorial comes first and does not count against that time. No reference materials are allowed. Some questions may not be scored, and the number is not disclosed, so treat every question as if it counts.
The four domains
The framework sets out four domains of roughly equal weight, covering twelve competencies in all.
- Literacy. Reading a passage for its meaning, working out what words mean, and seeing what a text is for.
- Language arts. Spelling, punctuation, grammar and agreement, and how a piece of writing is organized.
- Numeracy. Everyday arithmetic, fractions, percentages and ratios, and reading tables and graphs.
- Instructional support. Helping students read, write and work through math, and knowing the limits of the role.
Passing
The passing score is 220 on a scaled score. The way correct answers convert to that scale is not published, so no one can honestly tell you how many questions you need to get right. A practice score is best read domain by domain, to find the area that needs work.
Pacing
Two hours for 80 questions is 90 seconds a question. Most of the numeracy and language arts questions take far less, which leaves time for longer reading passages and classroom scenarios.
Practice the real thing
Three full-length practice exams for NES 519, 80 questions each, are on /teaching-assistant.