So I just got my results back and I finally passed. Honestly wasn't sure I was going to after failing by 4 points the first time around. I'm in Missouri and the DESE certification process felt pretty opaque when I started — nobody really told me what the exam was going to weight heavily or how strict the scoring was.
What changed for me the second time was actually committing to a structured DESE study guide instead of just reviewing my coursework notes. I also did a ton of practice questions. I spent about 3 weeks doing DESE practice test sets every evening, probably 45 minutes to an hour each night. My weak spots were the special education law sections and the assessment literacy stuff — those showed up way more than I expected.
Anyone else going through the process right now? Happy to share some of the exam tips that actually made a difference for me, especially around time management during the test itself.