United States
Hong KongThe competencies are not a study guide. They are the rule
Rule 6A-4.0021(2)(c) incorporates the Competencies and Skills publication by reference and makes it part of the rule. The syllabus for this examination is therefore a legal instrument, not a publisher's interpretation. Ten competencies and 57 skills cover the three multiple-choice subtests, plus one competency and 11 skills for the essay.
For most examinations the syllabus is a document the awarding body writes to be helpful and can adjust when it likes. For this one it is text incorporated into a state administrative rule. Rule 6A-4.0021(2)(c) says the publication is incorporated by reference and made part of this rule, and that phrase changes what the document is.
It means the list of skills you are being tested on can be quoted rather than interpreted.
What incorporation by reference actually does
It puts the whole text of another document inside the rule without reprinting it. The publication is named, a reference link is given, and an effective date is set. From that date the competencies carry the same force as the sentences printed around them in the Code, and they can only be changed the way a rule is changed.
Compare that with a typical certification syllabus, which a vendor can revise on a website with a note saying the change takes effect next quarter. Here there is a process. That is slower for the Department and better for a candidate, because the thing you studied cannot quietly become a different thing halfway through your preparation.
The shape of the general knowledge competencies
| Subtest | Competencies | Skills |
|---|---|---|
| Essay (825) | 1 | 11 |
| English Language Skills (826) | 3 | 19 |
| Reading (827) | 3 | 17 |
| Mathematics (828) | 4 | 21 |
Ten competencies and 57 skills across the three multiple-choice subtests, plus the essay's single competency and its 11 skills. Every skill is one numbered sentence beginning with a verb, and the verb is the most useful thing on the page.
Read the verbs
The skills are written as things you can be asked to do, and the verb tells you the depth expected. Determine and select standard verb forms is a recognition task. Analyze how the author uses organization and text structure to convey meaning is not. Evaluate the correct use of adjectives and adverbs sits somewhere between them.
That distinction is worth more than any topic list, because it tells you what a question can legitimately demand. A skill that says identify cannot be tested with a question requiring you to construct something, and the rule is the boundary.
They give no weightings. FLDOE publishes the number of questions per subtest - 30, 30 and 35 - and publishes nothing about how those questions are distributed across the competencies inside a subtest. Any per-competency question count you see anywhere, ours included, is somebody's estimate. Ours is derived from the number of skills each competency states, and we label it every time it appears.
Why this matters commercially
It is the reason a preparation publisher can be precise about this examination in a way that is not possible for most. Every explanation we write can cite the competency it comes from, because the competency is a public legal text with a stable citation. No inference about what the examiner probably wants, and no reliance on remembered questions.
It also means nobody has an information advantage. The competencies are free, they are published as a PDF on the Department's own site, and there is no privileged version. Anyone selling you access to the syllabus is selling you something you can download.
What we cannot get from them
Sample questions and score-point descriptors are not in the competencies. They sit in FLDOE's Test Information Guides, published on the testing vendor's site, which blocks automated requests. Those documents are the vendor's copyright and we neither reproduce nor paraphrase them, so anything on this site about what a question looks like is built from the competencies and the published test structure rather than from official samples.
The essay is the honest gap. Its competency lists 11 skills and gives you a clear picture of what a strong response contains, and no amount of reading it tells you where the line falls between a rating that contributes to a passing total of 6 and one that does not. We teach the essay subtest in a chapter of its own and we do not mark essays. Some competitors do, and if essay feedback is what you need, that is a real reason to look at them.
How to use them this week
- Download Section 82 of the competencies from the Department's site rather than reading a summary
- Print the subtest you are sitting next and mark every skill you could not currently perform
- Note the verb on each unmarked skill and match your practice to that depth
- Ignore anyone's per-competency question counts, including ours, when deciding what to skip
Common questions
What does incorporated by reference mean for the FTCE competencies?
It means Rule 6A-4.0021 pulls the whole Competencies and Skills publication into the rule without reprinting it. The competencies carry the same force as the rule's own text and can only be changed through the rulemaking process, which is slower and more visible than a website edit.
How many competencies does the General Knowledge Test have?
Ten competencies and 57 skills across the three multiple-choice subtests: three competencies and 19 skills for English Language Skills, three and 17 for Reading, and four and 21 for Mathematics. The essay adds one competency with 11 skills of its own.
Do the competencies say how many questions each one gets?
No. FLDOE publishes the number of questions per subtest and nothing below that. Any per-competency count you see is an estimate. Ours is derived from the number of skills each competency states and is labeled as ours wherever it appears on this site.
Where do I get the competencies?
Section 82 of Competencies and Skills Required for Teacher Certification in Florida is published as a PDF on the Florida Department of Education's own site, free. There is no privileged version and nobody has better access to it than you do.
Are sample questions part of the rule?
No. Sample questions and score-point descriptors sit in FLDOE's Test Information Guides on the testing vendor's site, which is separate from the rule and separate from the competencies. Those are the vendor's copyright and are not reproduced here.