Florida Teacher Certification Examinations (FTCE) Information Page
Important Update
As of the September 8th, 2007 test date, the University of South Florida ceased to administer CEFEs (Certification Exams for Florida Educators). A private testing company, National Evaluation Systems, has been awarded the FTCE/FELE contract and will begin administering the new exams in October 2007.
Registration for all portions of both exams is migrating to a web-based system, with online registration for paper-based testing. Visit www.fl.nesinc.com to register for any portion of the FTCE or FELE, beginning with the October 13, 2007 administration. Online registration will be available during the regular, late, and emergency registration periods.
New FTCE Fees Effective September 1, 2009 
Description of the FTCE Tests
The FTCE is composed of three tests: General Knowledge, Professional Education, and Subject Area Exams.
General Knowledge Test (GK)
The GK test consists of four subtests:
- Essay - 50 minutes
- English Language Skills (ELS) - 40 minutes
- Reading - 40 minutes
- Mathematics - 100 minutes
Test PEd:Professional Education - Candidates applying for a Professional Certificate may need to take the Professional Education Test. See your Official Statement of Status of Eligibility.The PEd test is usually given in the afternoon and requires most of the afternoon, with arrival at 1:00 P.M. The actual testing time is 2-1/2 hours. It is a test of pedagogy and professional practices. Examinees often combine taking an FTCE subject area examination in the morning and the PEd test in the afternoon on the same test date. In some cases, when combined with certain tests such as French K-12, the PEd test is given in the morning and the language test in the afternoon. Check your admission ticket carefully.
Test SAE: Subject Area Exam - These are exams for degreed academic and some vocational subject areas. These exams measure content area knowledge, usually in a multiple-choice format. English 6-12, Middle Grades English 5-9, French K-12, German K-12, and Spanish K-12 also require an essay. Spanish K-12 and French K-12 are administered in a language lab, and German K-12 has an interview. Speech 6-12 has a videotaped portion. Candidates applying for a Professional Certificate and those adding a subject area to a Professional Certificate must pass a subject area exam in the field(s) in which they seek certification. SAEs are generally given in the morning, with arrival at 8:30 A.M. and departure at about noon. Actual testing time is 2-1/2 hours, except in the case of Elementary Education K-6. The Elementary Education K-6 subject area examination requires all morning and most of the afternoon, with a lunch break in between. It is the only FTCE subject area examination that cannot be combined with the Professional Education Test on the same test date.
Taking the entire test, including time for the administration of the test, requires arrival at 8:00 A.M. and departure at about 1:15 P.M. Subtests may be registered for and taken separately, if desired. No other test may be taken that day. EXCEPTION: An examinee who registers to take ONLY the Essay subtest in the morning may combine that subtest with the Professional Education test in the afternoon.
NOTE: An examinee who took and passed all or part of the College-Level Academic Skills Test (CLAST) in Florida before July 1, 2002, may use the parts passed on the CLAST toward certification. For any parts not passed by that date, corresponding subtests of the General Knowledge test are required.
Important Information About Taking an Essay TestThe General Knowledge Essay subtest and several other tests require the writing of an essay. The essay must be an original essay, composed and organized when you select the essay topic. The intent of the essay test component is to show that you can, in the time allotted, compose and write an original essay that completely addresses the topic in an effective, well-organized manner, with good grammar and spelling, as described in the rubric in the Department's Test Preparation Guide for the test requiring an essay. An examinee who memorizes an essay from another source and presents it during a test administration as an original essay is not demonstrating that he or she can compose and write an acceptable essay. Presenting such a pre-prepared essay at a test administration is considered cheating. If an essay is identified by the essay raters as being pre-prepared, the essay and all tests taken that day by the examinee will be invalidated, and no scores will be received. In addition, the incident will be reported to the Department's Bureau of Professional Practices Services.
Important Information About Taking an Essay TestIf you are writing an essay, you must stop writing immediately when time is called. You are not permitted to go back later and add anything to the essay. For multiple-choice questions, you are not permitted to complete or change any answers after time has been called. Violation of these directions is considered cheating and may result in invalidation of test scores for tests taken during that test administration. In addition, the incident will be reported to the Department's Bureau of Professional Practices Services.
For the latest information regarding test registration,pass/fail status, viewing and downloading the registration bulletin, and information on computer-based testing, please visit www.fl.nesinc.com .
CONTACT INFO: http://www.fl.nesinc.com/FL_contact_opener.asp
More Information on FTCE Exams
TEST INFORMATION
BEFORE YOU REGISTER
REGISTRATION
THE DAY OF THE TEST
Print Bulletin and Forms (PDF)
Competencies for the Florida Teacher Certification Exams
Follow this link to view the Competencies and Skills, Thirteenth Edition (PDF, 1MB) required for teacher certification in the subject areas below.
- Professional Education (PDF, 27KB)
- Agriculture 6-12 (PDF, 26KB)
- Art K-12 (PDF, 27KB)
- Biology 6-12 (PDF, 37KB)
- Business Education 6-12 (PDF, 23KB)
- Chemistry 6-12 (PDF, 29KB)
- Computer Science K-12 (PDF, 24KB)
- Drama 6-12 (PDF, 21KB)
- Earth/Space Science 6-12 (PDF, 28KB)
- Ed. Media Specialist PK-12 (PDF, 42KB)
- Elementary Education K-6 (PDF, 64KB)
- English 6-12 (PDF, 20KB)
- ESOL (PDF, 130KB)
- Exceptional Student Ed. K-12 (PDF, 21KB)
- Family and Consumer Science (PDF, 42KB)
- French K-12 (PDF, 18KB)
- German K-12 (PDF, 21KB)
- Guidance and Counseling PK-12 (PDF, 24KB)
- Health K-12 (PDF, 25KB)
- Hearing Impaired K-12 (PDF, 31KB)
- Humanities K-12 (PDF, 16KB)
- Technology Education (Formerly Industrial Arts Technology) 6-12 (PDF, 29KB)
- Journalism 6-12 (PDF, 24KB)
- General Knowledge (PDF, 39KB)
- Latin K-12 (PDF, 26KB)
- Marketing 6-12 (PDF, 219KB)
- Mathematics 6-12 (PDF, 36KB)
- Middle Grades English 5-9 (PDF, 17KB)
- Middle Grades General Science 5-9 (PDF, 31KB)
- Middle Grades Integrated Curriculum (PDF, 43KB)
- Middle Grades Mathematics 5-9 (PDF, 29KB)
- Middle Grades Social Science 5-9 (PDF, 20KB)
- Music K-12 (PDF, 21KB)
- Physical Education K-12 (PDF, 27KB)
- Physics 6-12 (PDF, 30KB)
- Prekindergarten/Primary PK-3 (PDF, 28KB)
- Preschool Education (Birth-Age 4) (PDF, 26KB)
- Reading K-12 (PDF, 96KB)
- School Psychologist PK-12 (PDF, 21KB)
- Social Science 6-12 (PDF, 23KB)
- Spanish K-12 (PDF, 21KB)
- Speech 6-12 (PDF, 24KB)
- Speech-Language Impaired K-12 (PDF, 16KB)
- Visually Impaired K-12 (PDF, 26KB)
Competencies for Reading Endorsement
