Should I Take Praxis 5001 or 5205 and 5903? A Veteran Elementary Teacher Breaks It Down
The rain was streaking down my kitchen window last Tuesday when Lila pushed her stack of crumpled Praxis study guides across my table. She’s a para at my elementary school, has been working nights and weekends for three years to finish her teaching license, and this is the last big hurdle. A neon pink sticky note was stuck to the top guide, with her question scrawled in blue pen: Should I study for 5001, or 5205 and 5903, or both?
Her dinosaur-themed coffee mug (a gift from a kindergartener she’s worked with for two years) was halfway empty, and the edge of her study schedule was crinkled from being folded and unfolded in her pocket all week. I’d been in her exact spot 12 years earlier, staring at the same question, so I pulled my old teaching binder off the shelf by the table and flipped to the tab marked “Praxis.” There’s my own old note, smudged with coffee, that says “Check requirements first. Don’t be an idiot like me.”
When I was getting my license, I spent three weeks studying for 5001 before I found out my accelerated program actually accepted the two separate tests, and I would have had way more space to study if I’d taken them one at a time. I ended up wasting a lot of time cramming content I didn’t need to focus on all at once. I pointed that out to Lila first, and we pulled up her state’s department of education licensing page on her phone right there. That’s the first thing anyone should do, before you buy a study guide or schedule a test: confirm what your specific program and state actually accepts. Some states only accept the combined 5001 for elementary licensure, some let you choose between 5001 or 5205 (reading and language arts) and 5903 (mathematics), and some programs only require the two core subject tests for your license. Don’t rely on what a random Reddit thread or study guide ad tells you. Pull up the official page, write the requirement down on a piece of paper, and go from there.
In Lila’s case, her state accepts either option, so we got to talk through what fits her life. Praxis 5001 is the combined multiple subjects test. It packs reading, math, social studies, and science into one four-hour testing session, you pay one fee, take it once, and you’re done. That works really well for some people. My cousin got his license two years ago, he was a full-time student just finishing all his content classes, everything was still fresh in his head. He studied for two weeks on spring break, took the test on a Saturday morning, and was hiking with his friends by Saturday evening. He got his passing score a week later and never had to think about it again. If you’ve got a clear block of time to study, you don’t mind long tests, and all the content is fresh, 5001 is the fastest, cheapest way to check this box.
But Lila works 30 hours a week at the school, takes night classes two days a week, and gets terrible test fatigue. She told me the last time she took a test longer than two hours, she spent the last hour reading the same question four times and just guessing to get done. That’s where 5205 and 5903 make more sense. Each test is only two hours, you take them on separate days, and you only study one subject at a time. Lila can spend four weeks focusing just on reading and language arts, take 5205 on a Saturday morning, then take four weeks to focus just on math for 5903. She doesn’t have to juggle multiple subjects in her limited study time after work, and she never has to sit through a four-hour test when she’s already exhausted from a full week of work.
I get why people ask about studying for both. I used to think I should study for both just in case I failed one, right? That’s a waste of time. You only ever need both if you try one first and don’t pass a section. For example, when I took 5001 my first time, I passed everything but the science section. I didn’t want to study all four subjects again just to retake the whole test, so I just took the separate science subject test to make up my score, and that counted. If I’d failed the math section of 5001, I could have just taken 5903 instead of retaking the whole test, so I would have ended up taking both. But there’s no reason to study for both upfront. It just splits your focus and makes you more stressed than you need to be.
If you’re still on the fence, ask yourself these three quick questions: Do I have a free block of 2-4 weeks where I can focus on all required content at once? Can I sit through a four-hour test without burning out? Can I afford the single testing fee upfront? If you answered yes to all three, 5001 is probably your best bet. If you answered no to any of them, split it up and study for 5205 first, then 5903. That’s it. There’s no trick to it, it just comes down to what fits your current schedule.
By the time we finished talking, the rain had slowed to a drizzle, and Lila had to leave to pick up her kid from daycare. She stacked her study guides back in her bag, crossed out the line on her schedule that said “study both tests” and wrote “start 5205, test in 6 weeks.”
She texted me a screenshot of her study plan yesterday. She’s fitting 45 minutes of study in after her kid goes to bed every night, and she hasn’t had to stay up past 10 once. That’s the win right now, even before she takes the test. There’s no one right answer for everyone, but the best choice is always the one that fits your life, not the one that sounds fastest on paper. If it works for your schedule and your study habits, that’s the right path. No one will care which combination you took once you’re standing in front of your own classroom.
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