5723 · Syllabus & Exam Outline 2026
Praxis (5723): Core Writing
In short
The Praxis Core Academic Skills: Writing (5723) exam has 40 selected-response questions and two essays in 100 minutes, with passing scores that vary by state (commonly 162). It covers text types, purposes, and production, plus language and research skills for writing. Free practice questions and a full study plan are below.
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- Questions
- 40 selected-response questions and two essay questions
- Time limit
- 100 minutes
- Passing score
- Varies by state (commonly 162)
- Cost
- $90
- Format
- Selected-response · Essay
- Delivery
- Computer-based (Testing Center or At Home)
- Prep time
- ~40 hours
Exam overview
The Praxis Core Academic Skills for Educators: Writing (5723) exam evaluates the essential writing abilities required for candidates pursuing a career in education. Designed to align with the Common Core State Standards for college and career readiness, this computer-delivered test assesses your capacity to use standard written English correctly and effectively. Over the course of 100 minutes, candidates are evaluated on a range of text types, language conventions, and foundational research skills. Preparing for the Praxis 5723 requires mastering both multiple-choice mechanics and formal essay construction. The test features a 40-minute selected-response section focusing on grammatical relationships, sentence correction, and revision-in-context, followed by two 30-minute essays—one argumentative and one informative/explanatory. Only Ever maps every domain to 15-minute study topics, making it easy to build a consistent, manageable study schedule that systematically covers every skill tested on the exam.
Exam domains & weighting
Each domain's share of the exam — study deepest where the weight is highest. Open one for how to study it and its objectives.
How to study this domain
Dedicate significant time to practicing timed essays. For the argumentative essay, practice outlining a clear thesis and supporting it with strong reasoning. For the informative essay, focus on synthesizing provided texts and properly citing sources. Review sentence variety and strategies for editing and revising passages in context.
Key objectives
- Argumentative Essays: Planning and Thesis
- Argumentative Essays: Development and Support
- Informative/Explanatory Essays: Planning and Thesis
- Informative/Explanatory Essays: Synthesis
- Informative/Explanatory Essays: Attribution and Plagiarism
- Revision: Sentence Variety and Language
- Revision: Word Choice, Style, and Tone
Readiness self-check
Tick off everything you can confidently explain. Anything left unchecked is your study list — tap “Review” to jump straight into that domain.
Quick reference
Key Writing & Grammar Concepts
Essential terminology and concepts tested on the Praxis Core Writing exam.
Argumentative Essay
An essay format requiring you to draw from personal experience, observation, or reading to support a specific position or claim.
Informative/Explanatory Essay
A source-based essay format requiring you to extract, synthesize, and cite information from two provided short texts.
Holistic Scoring
The grading method used for the essays, where readers assign a single score (typically 1 to 6) evaluating overall writing quality rather than counting individual errors.
Revision-in-Context
Questions that ask you to identify how a provided draft passage can be improved regarding development, organization, word choice, style, and tone.
Parallel Structure
A grammatical rule requiring that items in a series or parts of a sentence share the same grammatical form (frequently tested in the sentence correction section).
Attribution
The practice of crediting a source when paraphrasing or quoting, an explicitly graded requirement of the informative/explanatory essay.
Frequently asked questions
Good to know
- The exam features three separately timed sections: one 40-minute multiple-choice section and two 30-minute essay sections.
- For the Informative/Explanatory essay, scorers specifically evaluate the ability to synthesize and cite the two provided sources.
- Essays are holistically scored on a scale from 1 to 6 by experienced teachers.
- The selected-response score and the essay scores are combined into a single final test score.
- The selected-response section may contain unscored pretest items that do not count toward your final score.
Reading isn’t remembering.
Most Praxis Core Writing prep splits grammar drills from essay practice, leaving candidates unsure how the selected-response skills and timed writing tasks fit together on test day.
We turn the official ETS syllabus into a complete learning map with focused writing, revision, research, and essay topics that build toward clear, exam-ready performance.