I'd buy Kaplan if I had it to do over again; I was won over by the two practice tests in this book and it was a mistake. I took the practice test on the CSET site- a must!- before I looked at the book and I felt pretty good about section I (lit and history) before I started. (I haven't looked at the math/science section yet.) When I took the practice test I found that it didn't mirror the CSET test very well and when I read the REA section, I found that it didn't even prepare me for their own practice test. I was more wobbly on Section III (phys ed, music, art, health). What I lacked there was some terminology and sheet music familiarity. The book ended up not covering any of this material at all. I was really worried as I really need that stuff for the official CSET practice test. I found fill-ins and my actual test didn't have as much sheet music 'reading' on it as the practice test, so I was lucky, but I didn't feel this book prepared me and it had LOTS of errors.

I was able to pass all three subtests on my first try, but not through the help of this book! The information was poorly written, in short, declarative sentences that did not highlight important information making the content quite difficult to retain.

The math and science section only presented the information that could possibly be on the test and did not elaborate on any of the content, making it difficult to refresh my memory on units that I have covered in the past. If I had not already known the information, I would not have been able to learn from this book.

The English section focused far too much on literary terms and did not go over linguistics which is HALF of the English section.

The History section was far too dense and had many inaccuracies, and did not focus on the important parts of history (American and Californian History)

The section for subtest III did not give the information needed on the test. The physical education portion did not talk about TEACHING it, which is the most important part on the test. Human development was sub-par and I did not learn anything for the visual and performing arts section.

And most importantly, in my opinion, the practice tests are ARE NOT LIKE THE ACTUAL TEST!!! They are not diagnostic of how you will do on the real test and test the information in the book, not what will be on the CSET.

DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK! It is poorly written and is not helpful when studying. It does not give you the tools you need to pass the CSET. If I had not recently taken courses in the content, I would have failed. Don't waste your time or money with this book.

This book is full of mistakes. Literally, dozens of errors. There are many math mistakes, even very simple ones. I also found some wrong dates in the history section and many typos. It makes me wonder how many mistakes there are that I have not noticed and it makes me wonder what things I am being taught wrong for my exam. Unfortunately, I do not have time to study new material as my exam is quickly approaching. This book was a waste of my money and may cost me a passing grade on my exam. Please look elsewhere for a study book.

I took all 4 CSETs for English, passed the multiple choice ones with no problems...high scores, but the two written exams were totally different from what this book offers. I failed, and miserably.

This book would serve it's purpose as a test prep if there weren't so many obvious mistakes. On two of the practice tests, the answer was listed as one thing, and the "reason for the answer" gave a completely different answer to the question. Makes it hard for someone to know if they have the information or not.

For instance, the true answer to a question was "B", but when it explained why the answer was "B", it actually explained that the answer was "D".

The most useful portions of this book are the test questions and answer explanations -- I've browsed through all and have benefited from reviewing them. Please note that there are MANY typos in the practice tests -- some answers they give are just plain wrong. It's not you -- it's the book! The review sections are of mixed quality -- overall, they're helpful but as other reviewers in this area noticed it's hard to cram overviews of so much info in one book. This book is recommended but I intend to also purchase another (probably Barron's) to review prior to sitting for the test in three weeks.

I read and re-read the reviews. You need too. Many of the actual test questions were very similar to the practice tests in this book. The CSET is not easy - you will need a book like this to get through it.

I bought this book to study for the CSET, opting for it instead of Barron's or other prep guides. I only took sections 1 and 3; passed section 1 and missed section 3 by two points. The reason I hold this book accountable is that it makes no mention whatsoever, in its section 3 study guide, about reading sheet music. However, on the exam I took there were several multiple choice questions and one short-answer response that relied on reading music. Without any idea this would be on the test, I was a bit dumbfounded, having no previous knowledge of reading music. Had this been covered, and given the tiny margin by which I did not pass the test, I regret using this book, and will opt for Barron's in the future, who, I later checked, does cover reading sheet music. Do yourself a favor, and go with Barron's as well.