MTLE Math by the Numbers

Math: About 50 multiple choice questions

70% Is Passing. According to this mysterious spreadsheet[1], there are 40
real” questions on the MTLE Math test and you have to get 28 of them (or 70% correct) right in order to pass. (That’s what the 240 Scale Score means.)

But There Are 10 “Extra Questions.” The issue is the ten extra problems.

·  10 of the problems don’t count; they’re being tested for future versions of the MTLE.

·  Unfortunately, though, you don’t know which ten questions are the “trial” questions.

A Higher Score: 40 of 50 (80%) is Your Safety Goal. Why?
Nightmare Scenario: you answer 36 questions right! That’s a good score! That’s 72% -- and you only need 70% to pass. BUT YOU FAIL because ….
Ø  Of the 36 questions, you answered right, 9 of them were “trial” questions, that don’t count.
Ø  That means you had only 27 of the “real” questions right … and 27/40 = 68% a failing score.
So to be safe, your target is 80%.

Good News! I just checked with Pearson and the questions are NOT WEIGHTED. That means you get the same points for the easy questions at the beginning of the test as you do for the hard ones on the end!!!! Yay.

Time issues

Condition / Time / Time / Question
Regular Time / 75 min. / 75 / 50 = 1.5 min/item
Extended Time (accommodation for non-English Home Language) / 75 min. x 1.5 =
113 min. / 113/50 = 2.25 min/item

Take-aways …

·  It’s easy to fail the test
·  every point counts / every question counts / ·  so…DON’T MAKE MISTAKES on the problems you know
·  check and double-check


But … use that 20% you can get wrong as a resource. As you prepare, there will be
a few problem types (like graphing a parabola) that you don’t want to mess with.

You can do that to maximize your study and test time!

[1] http://tiny.cc/mps_MTLE-PTS -- I think it came from the minutes of a Teacher Board Meeting posted on-line.