CliffsTestPrep Praxis II: Social Studies Content Knowledge Test (0081) (Cliffstestprep)

I bought this book thinking it was going to be a good review of all the topics, and as mentioned by other posters, it's full of typos and is not very thorough. While no book can adequately review all the content included in the Praxis, this one leaves out basics that should have been covered. However, it is good for a couple reasons... it has two practice tests. The practice tests seem to have the most typos. The best way I've found to study for these tests is to use a combination of things- old textbooks/lecture notes from college, cliffs notes of each individual section (econ, US history, etc.) and the actual prep book from ETS (which also had it's problems). Long story short... buy this book knowing it is extremely basic and incomplete, be aware of typos/mistakes, & practice using the tests in the back.

I bought this book online without skimming through the actual volume in the bookstore, which was my mistake. It is a carelessly written and poorly executed preparation for PRAXIS II Social Studies Content Knowledge. There is very little in the way of familiarization or study skills for the test. The book does not give the reader any indication as to how the test is scored, therefore the reader cannot use the practice tests as an accurate gauge of his/her performance. The review section is shoddily written, with many spelling and typographical errors. It does not provide any kind of in-depth review, it merely states historical events without any kind of context to aid in understanding. It does not cover everything it purports to cover, although in fairness, this is difficult to do. The explanations for the answers are half-hearted and, at times, confusing. Overall, this book is a waste of time and money, and I was fortunate to have been an astute student of history all my life. Otherwise, I would have been out of luck.

But then I got my scores. I got a 170 on Content Knowledge and 169 on Interpretation of Materials. After the test, I was sure I had failed. So was this book helpful? I guess yes and no. I studied what it told me to study, and I did the practice tests in the back. Not very much of what was in the book was on my test, but it must be somewhat helpful for me to get that score.
I would buy it, but realize that the test is incredibly hard and no book will completely prepare you. As for this book specifically, there were typos and confusing questions but all in all a good jumping off point.

I am in the process of studying for the Praxis Exam 0081. I purchased the ETS edition first then I purchased the cliff notes edition. The praxis edition gave me the actual subject topics that I will need to be sucessful at passing this test, but I had to reasearch every single topic. The cliff notes version gives you information about the topic. The summarys were very helpful and they were pretty close to the accurate research that I had done for different subject areas. The actual practice test is better in the ETS version because it is an old exam, but with both items and research, I should not have a problem passing this exam. The people that think that this study guide sucks do to the type-o's is paying to much attention to what isnt important. This book is a study guide. That means it gives you the directions that you need to study sucessfully, not the answers. Its your job to utilize the information as well as other sources (history books, economic books) to make sure that you have enough knowledge to pass this test. This books gives you a very good starting point. I wish I would have purchased it first.

As a recent college graduate working towards a teaching certificate, i got this book to help me study for the Praxis test(s). But honestly, who did they get to edit this book?, a mentally challenged monkey? An ESL student? Seriously?! Im a history person, and not all that great when it comes to picking up on gramatical errors, but i found at least a dozen! Including skipping an entire number on the answer sheet (106, 107, 109...108 anyone??) for test number 1. While the content seemed okay, the grammer and some rather ambigious questions really makes me doubt this book's creditability. Dont buy it!