The free FTCE General Knowledge practice test

Short version: 95 questions, timed the way the real subtests are timed, free, and it hands back three scores rather than one. Three, not one, because that is how this test works.

What is actually in it

The counts come straight from FLDOE's Test Structure document, which is the only published source for how many questions each subtest carries. We did not round them or even them out. English Language Skills gets 30 items in 40 minutes, Reading gets 30 in 55, Mathematics gets 35 in 100.

That is the shape of the paper you will sit.

The Reading items are grouped behind passages rather than scattered, because that is the shape the subtest uses and because reading a passage cold is most of the difficulty. Our bank deals five items per passage.

How the mock is scored

Three scores, kept apart. Each subtest is measured against its own published cut and nothing is averaged, because averaging is the one thing you must never do with this test. A candidate sitting at 68% across all three has passed English Language Skills, passed Mathematics and failed Reading, and a blended figure of 68% would have told them they were fine.

This is not a design flourish. FLDOE registers, scores and passes each subtest separately, and you retake only what you failed.

Reading your result

Convert each percentage into items, because items are what you sit. At most 19 of 30 in English Language Skills, at most 21 of 30 in Reading, at most 22 of 35 in Mathematics. That arithmetic is ours - we took FLDOE's published maximum percentages and multiplied out - and it is a ceiling, so treat any of those as the worst case rather than the target.

We aim candidates at 78% per subtest on our own papers. That figure is ours too, it is not a pass mark, and it sits above the highest published cut on purpose, so a harder version on the day still leaves you clear.

The useful output is not the total. It is which of the three came back lowest, because that subtest is the one deciding your outcome and it is the one you pay $32.50 to sit again.

The essay is missing, and that is a real gap

There are four subtests. The mock covers three. The essay is a written response scored by two raters whose scores are summed, and we do not mark essays - we teach the subtest in a chapter of its own and stop there. Several competitors will read your essay and give you a score back. If that is what you need, buy it from them.

So a clean sweep on this mock tells you about three of the four gates. The essay is the one with the lowest published first-attempt pass rate at 64%, which is worth knowing before you treat a good mock result as a green light.

Check whether you have to sit it at all

Before you spend an evening on a practice test, spend ten minutes on this. Rule 6A-4.0021 lets qualifying GRE, SAT, ACT and CLT scores satisfy the general knowledge requirement subtest by subtest. If you already hold an SAT Mathematics score of 540, the Mathematics subtest may already be covered and the 100 minutes you were about to practice for are 100 minutes you can spend elsewhere. The alternative score routes are set out in full.

How to sit it so the number means something

• One subtest per sitting, on its own clock. Practicing all three on one rolling timer trains the wrong pace
• No pausing, no checking answers as you go, no looking anything up
• Unseen questions. A mock assembled from items you already worked through as study returns a comfortable score and no information
• Read the per-subtest breakdown before you read the total

Sit it once about three quarters of the way through your preparation, when there is still time to fix what it finds. Sit it again near the end to confirm the fix. A third form usually tells you nothing the first two did not.