The FTCE Prekindergarten/Primary PK–3 examination is the Florida subject area examination for certification to teach children from age 3 through grade 3. It consists of four subtests — Developmental Knowledge (531), Language Arts and Reading (532), Mathematics (533), and Science (534) — with approximately 180 multiple-choice questions in total, delivered as a computer-based test (CBT). A scaled score of at least 200 per subtest is required, and candidates must pass all four subtests. The official FLDOE/Pearson fee is $150 for all four subtests.
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What this examination certifies
The FTCE Prekindergarten/Primary PK–3 examination is the subject area examination for the Florida certificate that covers the foundation years: prekindergarten through grade 3. Its official test page describes it in one sentence that also sets the preparation problem — the test consists of four subtests covering content and content pedagogy. That pairing runs through every subtest. Candidates are examined not only on what young children learn — early literacy, early number, early science — but on how a teacher of three- to eight-year-olds teaches it: developmentally, with evidence, and with an eye on the individual child in front of them.
The four subtests divide the work the way the job divides: Developmental Knowledge (531) examines the child, the profession, and the classroom; Language Arts and Reading (532) examines literacy and its teaching; Mathematics (533) examines early mathematics and how students reason mathematically; and Science (534) examines science instruction alongside the earth and space, physical, and life sciences.
Passing is per subtest, and that structure matters as much as the content. There is no combined result to hide a weak area inside: each subtest carries its own standard — a scaled score of at least 200 per subtest — and examinees must pass all four subtests. It is four related examinations, each with its own competencies, timing, and pass decision.
A note on names: the examination is published as Prekindergarten/Primary PK–3, the name used throughout this page. It is not Preschool Education (Birth–Age 4), code 007, a different FTCE examination for a different certification area. The companion reference is the FTCE Prekindergarten/Primary PK–3 Exam Guide, which sets out the competencies and skills in full and a preparation plan built on the official blueprint.
The examination at a glance
| Item | Verified position |
|---|---|
| Examination | FTCE Prekindergarten/Primary PK–3 — Florida Teacher Certification Examinations (FTCE) subject area examination |
| Certification | Subject area examination for certification covering prekindergarten through grade 3 (age 3 through grade 3) in Florida |
| Subtests | Subtest 1: Developmental Knowledge (531); Subtest 2: Language Arts and Reading (532); Subtest 3: Mathematics (533); Subtest 4: Science (534) |
| Format | Computer-based test (CBT); Subtest 1: approximately 50 multiple-choice questions; Subtest 2: approximately 50 multiple-choice questions; Subtest 3: approximately 40 multiple-choice questions; Subtest 4: approximately 40 multiple-choice questions — approximately 180 multiple-choice questions in total. Tests may include questions being evaluated for future administrations that do not affect the score |
| Testing time | Subtest 1: 1 hour and 10 minutes; Subtest 2: 1 hour and 10 minutes; Subtest 3: 1 hour and 10 minutes; Subtest 4: 1 hour. Total appointment time is longer than testing time. If 3 or more subtests are taken in a single session, a 15-minute break is provided |
| Passing standard | A scaled score of at least 200 per subtest. Examinees must pass all four subtests to pass the Prekindergarten/Primary PK–3 examination |
| Scheduling | By appointment, year round, at CBT sites located throughout Florida and nationwide. Starting February 28, 2023, candidates are no longer required to take all four subtests in the first attempt and may split subtests across appointments in any combination, with a separate registration for each appointment |
| Reference materials and calculators | A mathematics reference sheet is provided with the test; an on-screen reference sheet is provided for Subtest 3, Mathematics. Use of a calculator is not permitted for this test |
| Examination fee | Official FLDOE/Pearson fee: $150 for all four subtests; $37.50 for one subtest; $75 for two subtests; $112.50 for three subtests |
| Scores | On-site score reports are typically provided immediately after testing, except where on-site reporting is not available for tests being redeveloped or revised. All official score reports are released within 4 weeks of testing |
| Administrator | The Florida Department of Education (FLDOE) is the state authority for the FTCE; Pearson administers the examinations. PassProfessor is independent and is not affiliated with FLDOE or Pearson |
What the examination covers
Subtest 1: Developmental Knowledge (531) — approximately 50 questions, 1 hour and 10 minutes
The widest subtest, and the one that gives the other three their outlook; its seven competencies run from the child outward. Knowledge of child growth, child development, and relationships with families and the community carries 14 percent — developmental stages and milestones across the social-emotional, cognitive, language, and physical domains, atypical development, the effects of genetics, health, nutrition, policy, environment, and economics, and family and community partnership. Knowledge of the profession and foundations of early childhood (PreK–3) education carries 12 percent — theorists, theories, and curriculum models, federal and state law, professional standards, current issues, and ethical responsibilities. Knowledge of developmentally appropriate practices carries 20 percent, the largest share — effective instruction, classroom organisation and routines, the arranged environment, planning against standards, flexible grouping, the integrated curriculum, and play. Knowledge of developmentally appropriate curricula carries 12 percent, across all areas of development and the teaching of motor skills, health, safety and nutrition, the arts, and the academic subjects. Knowledge of developmentally appropriate intervention strategies and resources for all students carries 15 percent — adapting curricula for diverse needs, children at risk for school failure, exceptionalities, and collaboration. Knowledge of diagnosis, assessment, and evaluation carries 14 percent — screening, progress monitoring and diagnostic instruments, authentic assessment, records, family conferences, and tiered intervention. Knowledge of child guidance and classroom behavioral management carries 13 percent — positive guidance, prosocial development, conflict resolution, and character development.
Subtest 2: Language Arts and Reading (532) — approximately 50 questions, 1 hour and 10 minutes
Five competencies, and the subtest is built as a literacy system rather than a list of topics. Knowledge of literacy and literacy instruction carries 24 percent — emergent literacy in full (oral and written language development, phonological awareness, letter knowledge, print concepts) and early literacy (phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension), the difficulties that arise in each, and the evidence-based, multisensory, structured practices that prevent and address them, inside a print-rich environment. Knowledge of literary and informational texts carries 18 percent — genres and formats of prose and poetry, literary analysis, response to literature, text structures and informational text features, and the practices that build comprehension across the curriculum. Knowledge of foundational reading skills carries 24 percent — the stages of word recognition development from pre-alphabetic to automatic, word analysis and decoding, the components of fluency, vocabulary acquisition, and the teaching of comprehension skills for complex literary and informational texts. Knowledge of language elements used for effective oral and written communication carries 22 percent — the developmental stages of writing, the writing process and its modes, research and citation, writers’ craft, collaboration and presentation, and the conventions of English. Knowledge of assessments to inform literacy instruction carries 12 percent — oral and written methods of assessing reading and writing progress, and the interpretation of qualitative and quantitative assessment data to guide differentiated instruction.
Subtest 3: Mathematics (533) — approximately 40 questions, 1 hour and 10 minutes
Five competencies, weighted toward number and toward teaching. Knowledge of number concepts and operations in base-10 carries 33 percent, a third of the subtest — ordinal and cardinal numbers, one-to-one correspondence and conservation of number, place value, the four operations with whole numbers, and fractions represented by models, words, expressions, and number lines. Knowledge of algebraic thinking carries 16 percent — numerical patterns, equality and inequality, multi-step problems with unknown values, and the properties of operations. Knowledge of measurement, data collection, and analysis carries 15 percent — measurable attributes in standard and nonstandard units, time and money, and collecting, organising, and representing data, including data with fractional values. Knowledge of geometry and spatial concepts carries 13 percent — two- and three-dimensional figures and their defining attributes, perimeter and the area of rectangles, and spatial concepts and geometric vocabulary. Knowledge of student reasoning and instructional practices carries 23 percent — building fluency, learning progressions across concrete, representational, and abstract modes, the stages of mathematical fluency, manipulatives and technology chosen against a task’s cognitive complexity, and the use of assessment data to differentiate instruction. An on-screen reference sheet is provided for this subtest, and no calculator is permitted on any part of this examination — the arithmetic on the paper is arithmetic the candidate performs.
Subtest 4: Science (534) — approximately 40 questions, 1 hour
Five competencies in the shortest sitting. Knowledge of effective science instruction carries 19 percent — developmentally appropriate strategies for science practices such as observing, questioning, investigating, modelling, and constructing explanations, the organisation of a safe and effective science classroom, assessment of science learning, and the responsible selection of content and activities. Knowledge of the nature of science carries 19 percent — basic process skills and science practices, interpreting data in pictures, charts, tables, and graphs, the dynamic and evidence-based character of science, tools and measurement, the relationship between claims, evidence, and explanations, and science’s connections to the other STEM disciplines and to society. Knowledge of the earth and space sciences carries 20 percent — Earth’s surface and its materials, the processes that change it, gravity, objects in the day and night sky, weather and the water cycle, the Sun’s energy, and the repeated patterns of the Sun-Earth-Moon system, including preparation for severe weather. Knowledge of the physical sciences carries 17 percent — matter and its observable properties, elements, compounds, and mixtures, physical and chemical change, types of energy and how energy is transferred, and forces and motion. Knowledge of the life sciences carries 25 percent, the subtest’s largest share — how plants and animals respond to their environment, heredity, classification, how living things meet their needs together in shared environments, the structures and functions that carry out life processes, the major systems of the human body, growth and life cycles, reproduction, and habitats within ecosystems.
The route, in order
Step 1 — Confirm this is the examination your certification file requires
The Prekindergarten/Primary PK–3 examination is the subject area examination for its certificate; it sits inside a wider Florida certification file administered by FLDOE. Confirm the examinations your own file requires with FLDOE before registering, and keep the similarly named examinations separate in your planning: Preschool Education (Birth–Age 4), code 007, is a different examination, and neither substitutes for the other.
Step 2 — Register, and choose your subtest split deliberately
Testing is by appointment, year round, at CBT sites throughout Florida and nationwide; you schedule your test during registration, based on available dates. Since February 28, 2023, you are no longer required to take all four subtests in your first attempt: you may split the subtests into two appointments of two subtests each, four appointments of a single subtest each, or any other combination. Each testing appointment needs its own registration — two appointments means two registrations — and the subtests selected on a registration cannot be changed; changing the combination means cancelling that registration and creating new ones. The official FLDOE/Pearson fee follows the split exactly: $37.50 for one subtest, $75 for two, $112.50 for three, and $150 for all four. When you register, you must agree to abide by all testing rules and policies.
Step 3 — Sit the subtests, in the combination you registered for
Each subtest is a CBT sitting of multiple-choice questions at its own published length: 1 hour and 10 minutes for Developmental Knowledge, Language Arts and Reading, and Mathematics, and 1 hour for Science, with total appointment time longer than testing time. If you take three or more subtests in a single session, you will receive a 15-minute break. A mathematics reference sheet is provided with the test; use of a calculator is not permitted. The test may include questions that are being evaluated for future administrations and that do not affect your score — they cannot be identified, so every question gets full effort.
Step 4 — Read each result against its own standard
On-site score reports are typically provided immediately after testing, except where on-site reporting is not available for tests being redeveloped or revised, and all official score reports are released within 4 weeks of testing. Read the results subtest by subtest, because that is how the examination is decided: a scaled score of at least 200 per subtest, with all four passed before the examination is passed. A subtest not yet at the standard is the next sitting to plan, at the per-subtest fee published above. The full framework and retake-planning method are in the companion FTCE Prekindergarten/Primary PK–3 Exam Guide.
What makes this examination demanding
The first demand is the per-subtest standard: four pass decisions, not one, so breadth cannot compensate for a gap — a strong literacy candidate with thin early mathematics has passed one subtest and not another, and the certificate waits on both. The second is the double character of nearly every competency, content and content pedagogy together: in Subtest 3, a third of the paper is number concepts themselves and nearly a quarter is student reasoning and instructional practice. The third is developmental judgement: items turn on what is appropriate at a given stage — in play, writing development, word recognition, mathematical progression — and distractors are typically practices sound for an older child and wrong for this one. The fourth is pace: 50 questions in 70 minutes, 40 in 70, and 40 in 60 are three different rhythms, and practising only the combined total rehearses none of them exactly.
The credential at work
The certificate this examination serves staffs Florida’s foundation classrooms — where oral language becomes reading, counting becomes number sense, and curiosity becomes the habit of investigation. Its shape reflects that job in order: first the developing child, the family, and the classroom; then the literacy that unlocks every other subject; then number taught the way young minds build it; then science taught as inquiry rather than recitation.
What the PassProfessor program will cover
Practice in the examination’s own shape. The program in the works practises in the examination’s shape: subtest-length timed sets at each subtest’s real pace — 50 questions in 70 minutes, 40 in 70, 40 in 60 — weighted inside each subtest to the official Test Information Guide blueprint, so developmentally appropriate practices carries its fifth of Developmental Knowledge practice and number concepts its third of Mathematics practice.
The split, treated as a study design. Because candidates may divide the four subtests across appointments in any combination, the program is organised subtest by subtest, so a candidate preparing for a single-subtest sitting — a split first attempt, or a retake — works a complete preparation for that subtest rather than a quarter of a combined course.
Written from the primary sources. The program is written from the official FTCE test page and Test Information Guide — the four subtests (531–534), all twenty-two competencies and their published approximate percentages, the reference-sheet and no-calculator rules, and the fee and scoring positions FLDOE publishes — and teaches the examination’s boundaries explicitly, including its distinction from Preschool Education (Birth–Age 4).
The whole candidate, not only the test-taker. Around the practice, the program carries the route as FLDOE and Pearson publish it — year-round appointments, the separate-registration rule for split sittings, the 15-minute break for sessions of three or more subtests, and the score-reporting pattern — because a four-part examination is lost administratively as easily as on content.
Preparation only. This is preparation for an examination administered under the Florida Teacher Certification Examinations. PassProfessor is not affiliated with the Florida Department of Education or Pearson, no completion of this program is reported to FLDOE or to any district, and nothing in the program substitutes for registration or for any certification requirement.
Tell me when enrollment opens. The FTCE Prekindergarten/Primary PK–3 program is in the works and enrollment is not yet open. Leave an email address and PassProfessor will write to you when the program is ready — and only about this program. No date is promised, because the program will open when it meets the standard described above, not before.
Frequently asked questions
How many questions are on the examination, and how long does it take?
Approximately 180 multiple-choice questions across four subtests: approximately 50 in Developmental Knowledge (531) in 1 hour and 10 minutes, approximately 50 in Language Arts and Reading (532) in 1 hour and 10 minutes, approximately 40 in Mathematics (533) in 1 hour and 10 minutes, and approximately 40 in Science (534) in 1 hour. Total appointment time is longer than the testing time shown.
What is the passing standard?
A scaled score of at least 200 per subtest. Examinees must pass all four subtests to pass the Prekindergarten/Primary PK–3 examination. That is the standard in the form FLDOE publishes it; no other form of the standard is stated on this page.
Do I have to take all four subtests at once?
No. Starting February 28, 2023, candidates are no longer required to take all four subtests in the first attempt. You may split them into two appointments of two subtests each, four single-subtest appointments, or any other combination — but each appointment requires a separate registration, and the subtests on a registration cannot be changed afterwards; changing the combination means cancelling and re-registering.
What does the examination cost?
The official FLDOE/Pearson fee is $150 for all four subtests, charged by the combination taken in a registration: $37.50 for one subtest, $75 for two subtests, and $112.50 for three subtests. That is a third-party examination fee, separate from any preparation program.
Can I use a calculator on the Mathematics subtest?
No. Use of a calculator is not permitted for this test. A mathematics reference sheet is provided with the test, and an on-screen reference sheet is provided for Subtest 3, Mathematics.
Is this the same examination as Preschool Education (Birth–Age 4)?
No. Preschool Education (Birth–Age 4), code 007, is a different FTCE examination. This program covers Prekindergarten/Primary PK–3 and its four subtests — Developmental Knowledge (531), Language Arts and Reading (532), Mathematics (533), and Science (534) — only.
When will I receive my scores?
On-site score reports are typically provided immediately after testing, except where on-site reporting is not available for tests being redeveloped or revised. All official score reports are released within 4 weeks of testing.
Do some questions not count toward my score?
Yes — the test may include questions that are being evaluated for future administrations and that do not affect your score. They are not identified, so the sound approach is full effort on every question in every subtest.
Is PassProfessor affiliated with FLDOE or Pearson?
No. PassProfessor is an independent preparation provider, not affiliated with the Florida Department of Education or Pearson, and confers no certification.