Oklahoma’s OSAT test is one of the state exams for teacher certification. These are the Oklahoma Subject Area Tests for subjects like English, advanced math, and physics. Testing agency Pearson Education has a number of prep resources for the OSAT exams.
First of all, do not get confused by the different certification tests required of Oklahoma teachers. The overall testing program is the Certification Examinations for Oklahoma Educators (CEOE). Within that overall system, there are three kinds of tests: the Oklahoma General Education Test (OGET), the Oklahoma Professional Teaching Examination (OPTE), and the Oklahoma Subject Area Tests (OSAT). This article is focusing on the OSAT test, but the same general guidelines are going to apply to the other Oklahoma teacher certification exams.
The first thing a teacher should do is go to the “CEOE Study Guides” page on the Pearson website for these Oklahoma teacher exams. Next, scroll down to the OSAT test section. You will see the dozens of subjects tested through the OSAT testing program, ranging from advanced math to world history and geography. At the time of this writing in August of 2011, there were 53 separate OSAT exams.
If you are still a student, it would be a good idea to know if you are going to need to take one of these subject-area certification tests once you become a teacher. One thing you have to remember is that the test is not only difficult but also hard to know how to study for other than an all-encompassing review of the subject’s material in textbooks.
You need to know what is taught at all grade levels in that subject, at least up to the college undergraduate level. That means you should be trying to ace whatever material is in the college textbooks for that OSAT test subject.
Of course, you may click on the subject on that “CEOE Study Guides” page and access the study guide for that subject. But these guides are mainly for familiarizing yourself with the test format and getting some OSAT practice questions and the like. You will simply not find a comprehensive or even general list of OSAT exam references in those study guides. You will find a basic exam content outline. Use that outline to direct your studies of the subject textbooks applicable to your OSAT test.
Resources:
Pearson Education: CEOE Study Guides