Praxis Core Practice Questions (2026) — Free Sample Questions with Answers

Answer: A

Teen game night: Correct. Attendance rose by 655 − 410 = 245 visits, and 245 ÷ 410 is about 60 percent, the greatest percent increase in the table.

Adult language conversation: This program had the largest increase in visits (260), but that is a 50 percent increase on 520, less than teen game night's.

Story time (ages 0–5): Story time had the highest attendance, but it grew only 80 visits, about 4 percent.

Computer basics: Computer basics had the largest change, but it was a decrease (960 to 600).

Author talks: Author talks grew by only 15 visits, a 5 percent increase.

Percent change compares the change with the starting value; the largest raw increase is not always the largest percent increase.

Answer: C

A hospital buys the newest imaging machine as soon as it is released.: This describes quick adoption of a new tool, the opposite of keeping an old one.

A factory abandons a tool after it produces a single faulty part.: The log line was kept despite known errors; it was not abandoned after one.

A small school keeps an inexpensive attendance system that sometimes errs, because staff can catch its mistakes and no better option is available yet.: Correct. Like the log line, the system is cheap, imperfect, checked by people who know its weaknesses, and kept "until a better tool came along."

A museum displays an antique compass because of its historical importance.: The log line was kept for practical use, not preserved for its historical value.

A laboratory pays a high price for an instrument because it is extremely precise.: The author says the log line endured "not because it was accurate" and partly because it was "cheap."

For an application question, list the features of the original case (cheap, simple, flawed, checked, temporary) and pick the situation that shares all of them.

Answer: A

a good deal of outdoor lighting is poorly directed: Correct. Passage 1 says lighting "spills upward and sideways," and Passage 2 concedes that advocates "are right that much outdoor lighting is poorly aimed."

converting to shielded fixtures saves money right away: Passage 2 says towns "may wait years" to recover conversion costs, and Passage 1 never says the savings are immediate.

residents' sense of safety is the most important consideration: Only Passage 2 raises safety; Passage 1 says the community gives up "almost nothing."

every streetlamp in a town should be converted at once: Passage 2 explicitly recommends proceeding "street by street" instead.

older residents walk less after streets are dimmed: This survey finding appears only in Passage 2; Passage 1 does not address it.

Agreement questions hinge on concessions: look for the place where one author grants part of the other's point ("are right that...").

Answer: A

the direction of the food relative to the sun: Correct. The passage says the angle "tells her nestmates the direction of the food relative to the sun."

how much food the patch of flowers contains: The passage calls the patch "rich" but never says the dance shows quantity.

the kind of flowers the forager visited: The passage does not say the dance identifies flower types.

which bee in the hive was the one that found the food: Nothing in the passage suggests the dance identifies the dancer.

how far the food is from the hive: Distance is shown by how long the run lasts, not by its angle.

When a passage pairs two features with two meanings (angle and direction, length and distance), expect a distractor that swaps them.

Answer: D

Events in the history of a city are presented in chronological order.: The passage describes a general pattern, not the events of any one city's history.

Two cities are compared to show which one has managed heat more successfully.: No specific cities are named or compared; the contrast is between cities and farmland in general.

A claim is presented, a counterargument is raised, and the claim is then withdrawn.: No counterargument appears, and the author never withdraws the opening claim.

A phenomenon is identified, its causes and effects are explained, and remedies are suggested.: Correct. Paragraph 1 identifies the heat island, paragraph 2 gives its causes, paragraph 3 its consequences, and paragraph 4 its remedies: a cause/effect pattern that ends in a solution.

A problem is described and then shown to be far less serious than most readers would believe.: Paragraph 3 says the consequences "go beyond discomfort," which stresses that the problem is serious.

To identify structure, label what each paragraph does (introduce, cause, effect, solution), then match that sequence to a choice.

Answer: C

agreeing that eliminating fees is the most effective way to reach new visitors: Passage 2 argues the opposite: a modest fee that funds outreach "might do better."

arguing that museums should raise their fees to pay for new exhibits: Passage 2 recommends keeping "a modest fee," not raising fees.

noting that barriers other than cost still keep many residents away: Correct. Passage 2 says "Cost is only one barrier" and that distance, unfamiliarity and a sense of not belonging "keep many residents away regardless of price." So removing the fee alone does not open the doors to everyone.

denying that public museums have any obligation to serve the community: Passage 2 shares the goal of reaching new audiences; it disagrees only about the method.

insisting that the reported attendance gains at free museums never happened: Passage 2 does not deny the gains; it says most of the "added traffic" came from people who already visited.

In paired-passage items, find the part of the second passage that addresses the same point. Here Passage 2 accepts that cost is a barrier but denies it is the only one.

Answer: B

Coral reefs occupy less than one percent of the ocean floor yet shelter roughly a quarter of all marine species (Reyes, 2020).: Copies the author's exact wording without quotation marks; a citation alone does not make borrowed phrasing acceptable.

Reyes (2020) notes that although reefs cover only a tiny fraction of the seafloor, they are home to about one-fourth of ocean species, so their loss damages marine diversity disproportionately.: Correct. The idea is restated in the student's own words and sentence structure, the meaning is accurate, and the source is credited.

Although reefs cover only a tiny fraction of the seafloor, they are home to about one-fourth of ocean species, so their loss damages marine diversity disproportionately.: A good paraphrase, but it gives no attribution, so presenting Reyes's idea this way is plagiarism.

Reyes (2020) warns that reefs "shelter a quarter of all species, so their decline threatens the planet.": The quotation marks enclose words Reyes did not write; quoted material must be reproduced exactly.

According to Reyes (2020), coral reefs cover about a quarter of the ocean floor, which is why they hold so many species.: Misrepresents the source: Reyes says reefs cover less than one percent of the floor but hold a quarter of the species.

Acceptable use of a source requires accurate meaning, your own words (or exact words in quotation marks), and attribution.

Answer: B

not only is designed to improve reading scores but also: "Not only" precedes a verb ("is designed"), but "but also" precedes a noun ("students' confidence"), so the pair is not parallel.

is designed to improve not only reading scores but also: Correct. "Not only" and "but also" each now precede a noun phrase ("reading scores" and "students' confidence"), both objects of "improve," so the correlative pair is parallel.

is designed not only to improve reading scores but also: "Not only" precedes an infinitive ("to improve...") while "but also" precedes a noun, so the elements are still not parallel.

is designed to improve not only reading scores and also: "Not only" must be paired with "but also," not "and also."

not only is designed to improve reading scores, but it also: Creates the ungrammatical "but it also students' confidence," which lacks a verb.

With correlative conjunctions (not only... but also, either... or, both... and), place each half directly before elements of the same grammatical type.

Answer: D

principal's: "Principal's" (the school leader's) is the right word and correct possessive; "principle" means a rule.

noticeable: "Noticeable" correctly modifies the noun "effect."

whether: "Whether" correctly introduces an uncertain possibility.

effect: Correct. After "will," a verb is needed. "Affect" is the verb meaning "to influence"; "effect" as a verb means "to bring about," which does not fit. It should read "will affect test scores."

No error: The verb "effect" is misused for "affect."

Usually "affect" is the verb (to influence) and "effect" the noun (a result); "effect" as a verb means "to cause to happen."

Answer: E

were: With "neither... nor," the verb agrees with the closer subject ("teachers"), so the plural "were" is correct.

had changed: The past perfect "had changed" correctly places the schedule change before the time of "were aware."

so: "So" correctly joins the clauses and expresses a result; the comma before it is also correct.

an hour late: "An hour late" is idiomatic; "an" is correct before the vowel sound in "hour."

No error: Correct. The sentence has no error. With "neither... nor," the verb agrees with the nearer subject, the plural "teachers," so "were" is right; "had changed" correctly shows an action completed before the teachers' awareness; and "so" logically introduces the result.

Check "neither... nor" and "either... or" subjects against the nearer noun before marking an error; some sentences are correct as written.

Answer: 12 weeks

1. Maria after $w$ weeks: $85+12w$. Leo after $w$ weeks: $145+7w$.
2. Set equal: $85+12w=145+7w$.
3. Subtract $7w$ and 85: $5w=60$, so $w=12$.
4. Check: $85+144=229$ and $145+84=229$.

Model each quantity as starting amount + rate × time, set the expressions equal, and solve. The gap of $60 closes by $5 per week.

Answer: C

1. The marked angles lie between the parallel lines on opposite sides of the transversal, so they are alternate interior angles and are congruent.
2. Set them equal: $3x+10=5x-30$.
3. Solve: $40=2x$, $x=20$.
4. Angle: $3(20)+10=70$°. Check: $5(20)-30=70$°.

20: This is the value of x, not the angle measure; substitute it back in.

85: This treats the angles as supplementary (8x − 20 = 180, x = 25); alternate interior angles are congruent.

70: Correct. Alternate interior angles are congruent: 3x + 10 = 5x − 30 gives x = 20, and 3(20) + 10 = 70.

110: This is the supplement of the marked angle, the angle on the other side of the transversal.

25: This is the x-value from wrongly setting the angles' sum equal to 180.

When parallel lines are cut by a transversal, alternate interior angles are congruent and same-side interior angles are supplementary. Identify which pair you have before writing the equation.

Answer: A

1. Look at the overall direction: as temperature (x) increases, cups sold (y) generally decrease.
2. That is a negative association, and the points lie close to a line, so it is fairly strong.
3. Check the absolute claim: 40° → 58 cups but 42° → 60 cups, so not every warmer day sold fewer.
4. Scatterplots from observational data show association, not causation.

On days with higher temperatures, the stand tended to sell fewer cups of cocoa.: Correct. The points fall from left to right, a negative association: warmer days generally had lower sales.

Higher temperatures caused the stand to sell fewer cups of cocoa.: An association in observed data does not show cause; other factors (day of week, events) could be involved.

There is a positive association between temperature and cups sold.: A positive association would rise from left to right; these points fall.

Every day that was warmer than another day had lower sales than that day.: The trend is not perfect: the 42° day sold 60 cups, more than the 40° day (58 cups).

There is no clear relationship between temperature and cups sold.: The points follow a clear downward linear pattern, so a relationship is visible.

Describe a scatterplot by direction (positive/negative), form and strength, and remember that correlation alone never proves causation.

Answer: D

9, 10, 10, 10, 11: Three values equal the mean and the other two are only 1 away.

8, 9, 10, 11, 12: Every value is within 2 of the mean, so the spread is small.

10, 10, 10, 10, 10: All values equal the mean, so the standard deviation is 0, the least possible.

2, 6, 10, 14, 18: Correct. Four of the five values are 4 or 8 away from the mean, so the values are the most spread out from 10.

5, 10, 10, 10, 15: Only two values differ from the mean (each by 5); three sit right at 10.

Standard deviation measures how far values typically are from the mean. The set whose values sit farthest from the mean, most often, has the greatest standard deviation; no formula is needed to compare.

Answer: A, C, E

1. A counterexample must make the "if" part true and the "then" part false: divisible by 4 and by 6, but not by 24.
2. Numbers divisible by both 4 and 6 are the multiples of 12 (the least common multiple), such as 12, 36, 48 and 60.
3. Of these, 12, 36 and 60 are not divisible by 24; 48 is.
4. 18 and 30 fail the "if" part, so they are not counterexamples.

12: Correct. 12 is divisible by 4 and by 6, but 12 ÷ 24 is not a whole number.

18: 18 is not divisible by 4, so the claim says nothing about it.

36: Correct. 36 is divisible by 4 and 6, but 36 ÷ 24 = 1.5.

48: 48 is divisible by 4, 6 and 24, so it agrees with the claim.

60: Correct. 60 is divisible by 4 and 6, but 60 ÷ 24 = 2.5.

30: 30 is not divisible by 4 (30 ÷ 4 = 7.5), so it cannot be a counterexample.

A counterexample satisfies the hypothesis but not the conclusion. Divisible by 4 and 6 means divisible by their LCM, 12, not by their product, 24.

Answer: C

1. The new price is 120% of the original: $1.20p=84$.
2. Divide: $p=84÷1.20=70$, so the original price was $70.00.
3. Check: $70 + 20% of $70 = $70 + $14 = $84.

$64.00: This subtracts 20 dollars instead of 20 percent.

$67.20: This takes 20% off $84; but the 20% was figured on the original (smaller) price, so $67.20 × 1.2 is only $80.64.

$70.00: Correct. $84 is 120% of the original price, so the original is 84 ÷ 1.2 = $70; 20% of $70 is $14, and $70 + $14 = $84.

$100.80: This increases the new price by another 20% instead of undoing the increase.

$105.00: This divides by 0.8, which undoes a 20% decrease, not a 20% increase.

To undo a percent increase, divide by (1 + rate). Subtracting the same percent from the new price does not return the original, because the percents are taken of different bases.