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MTEL General Curriculum Test Breakdown

Multi-Subject

Language Arts subtest has five subareas with a total of 18 to 20 questions and counts 30 percent of the final score.

1. History and Structure of the English Language: major influences in and linguistic origins of English language development, differences in written English, basic language structure, parts of speech and language types, and applications of grammar and conventions of American English.
2. American, Classical and Contemporary Literature: important historical and cultural works, authors and themes, selected works of American and other cultures classical and contemporary literature, elements of literary analysis, and subjects of critical theory.
3. Literary Genres, Elements and Techniques: literary terms, elements and functions of various genres (fiction, non-fiction and poetry), types of non-fiction, poetry and drama, and the characteristics of each.
4. Children’s Literature: major works, authors, genres, elements and themes, rhetorical and literary devices, styles and reasons, criteria for evaluating and analyzing and the use in other academic disciplines, and understanding different cultures.
5. Writing Process: elements of writing and composition, developing topics and ideas and identifying the audience, elements of writing, revising and editing, types of writing and their elements and purposes, and techniques to convey the meaning in the message.

NOTE: Candidates for early childhood, elementary and special education will also be evaluated on a separate Foundations for Reading test that includes these areas: theory, research and practice, developing vocabulary, relationship of writing and reading, developing skills for using writing tools, and theories of learning first and second languages.

History and Social Science subtest has four subareas with a total of 17 to 19 questions and counts as 30 percent of the final score.

1. History of the United States and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts: major events from pre-colonial times to the present, general knowledge of the native people, European exploration and settlement, causes and effects of the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, World Wars I and II and the Cold War, formation of the national government, reconstruction, settlement of the west, transition from an agricultural society to an industrial economy, the Progressive Era and the New Deal, becoming a world power, civil rights and the woman’s movement, and the leadership responsibilities as the only super power.
2. Founding Documents and Fundamental Governmental Systems of the United States and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts: purpose and functions of federal, state and local governments, identify and analyze the functions of the three branches of government, passing and enforcing laws, political process, principles and values in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, citizens’ rights and responsibilities, basic economic terms, and the principles of capitalism.
3. Major Developments and Figures in World History: early civilizations, major people, eras, developments and turning points in history with an emphasis on western cultures and the impact of industrialization, nationalization, immigration, and globalization.
4. Geography of the World, the United States and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts: basic concepts, phenomena and processes of geographic characteristics, identification of physical features, reading and using maps and globes, and the impact of human history, growth and development on the environment.

Science and Technology/Engineering subtest has five subareas with a total of 17 to 19 questions and counts as 30 percent of the final score.

1. Life Science: basic concepts, principles, characteristics and needs of all living things, energy in ecosystems, structure, functions and process of plants, the human body, genetics and heredity, natural selection and how living things interact with each other, and the environment.
2. Physical Science: basic concepts and principles, composition, structure, properties and states of matter, forms and transference of energy, motion, conservation of energy and matter, use of machines, and how engineers use physical science to solve everyday problems.
3. Earth and Space Science: basic concepts and principles, forces, structures and factors that affect the earth’s surface, rock and soil, atmosphere, weather and climate, elements of the oceans, the hydrologic cycle and the solar system, and the relationship of its objects to each other and the earth.
4. Scientific Thought: major ideas, theories and technologies and their relationships to each other and impact on humans, history and evolution of scientific thinking, observation and evidence, major discoveries, and inventions and cultural and historical factors that impacted science and technology.
5. Scientific Inquiry: concepts and processes of experimentation, health and safety, relationship between science, technology and engineering, and engineering design.

Mathematics

Numbers and Operations subtest has four subareas with a total of 19 to 21 questions and counts 41 percent of the final score.

1. Number System and Place Value: structure and properties of base-10 and other numeral systems, decimals, scientific notation, estimation and its uses, and elements of real numbers.
2. Integers, Fractions, Decimals, Percents and Mixed Numbers: meanings and models and using them to solve word problems, analyze and convert numbers representations, number lines, round numbers, and equivalent representation of numbers.
3. Number Theory: prime and composite numbers, factoring, division and why it works, least common multiple (LCM), and greatest common factor (GCF) and why they work in everyday applications.
4. Operations on Numbers: meanings and models, standard and non-standard computation methods, representations of number operations and their relationships, properties of arithmetic, equality and inequality, order of operations, law of exponents, fractions, absolute value, and solving problems using basic arithmetic.

Functions and Algebra has three subareas with a total of 10 to 12 questions and counts 22 percent of the final score.

1. Algebra as Generalized Arithmetic: variable, function, equality and equation, manipulating algebraic expressions and justifying that operation, word problems using fractions, ratios, proportions and percents and identifying variables, and solving real problems using algebra.
2. Function: definition, representation and patterns, the functional direct and inverse relationships of tables, graphs and algebraic expressions, and their uses in solving everyday problems.
3. Linear Functions and Equations: formulas and graphs, relationship between proportions, constant rates and linear functions, and the meaning of the slope and how it intercepts a linear equation.

Geometry and Measurements has two subareas with a total of 8 to 10 questions and counts 18 percent of the final score.

1. Measurement: apply concepts using customary, standard and non-standard units, unit conversion and dimensional analysis, calculate lengths, perimeters, areas, volumes and surface areas, and characteristics of figures and shapes and how they change and solve a variety of real world problems.
2. Geometry: polygons, sides and angles, three-dimensional figures, geometric transformations, symmetry, similarity and congruence, match three-dimensional figures with their two-dimensional representations, and recognize and use the connections between algebra and geometry.

Statistics and Probability has two subareas with a total of four to six questions and 9 percent of the final score.

1. Statistics: use mean, median and mode to explain everyday data, uses for tables, graphs, line plots and Venn diagrams, analyze graphic and non-graphic data and compare data sets.
2. Probability: calculate the probability of simple, compound, independent and independent events, recognize conditional probability, the difference between experimental and theoretical probability, and apply combinations and permutations.

MTEL General Curriculum Test Practice Questions