The Pre-Kindergarten Education test is intended primarily for prospective teachers of young children (ages two to five). It is based on a teaching approach that emphasizes the active involvement of young children in a variety of play and child-centered activities that provide opportunities for choices, decision making, and discovery.

The test was designed to align with the National Association for the Education of Young Children’s NAEYC Standards for Early Childhood Professional Preparation (2009).

The test is 120 minutes long and contains 100 selected-response questions. The test may contain questions that do not count toward the test taker’s score. The questions are designed to assess the test taker’s knowledge of pedagogy and content, the relationship between theory and practice, and the ways that theory can be applied in the educational setting. The questions also cover multicultural influences; diversity; variations in development, including atypical development; and the effects they have on child development and learning. Most of the questions are related to children ages two through five, but some questions may require knowledge of development at earlier or later ages to assess the test taker’s understanding of the full development range that may be found among children in this age-group.