Zen Educate Content Team
25 Mar 2025
5
min read
Want to start a career as a paraeducator in Minnesota/St. Paul? You may already know how important paras are to the teaching profession, but did you know that you can get free training, support, and job placement assistance to help you become a para in the Twin Cities? Zen Educate makes it possible. Here are some of the best-kept secrets of our paraeducator career program.
How Much Does Paraeducator Training Cost?
When you take the paraeducator exam through Zen Educate, you get access to free study materials, unlimited retakes, and a jumpstart into a paraprofessional career.
What is the Paraeducator Exam?
The paraeducator exam assesses your ability to do the job. The exam has two parts:
Assessment 1: This part covers instructional support. In this portion, you might be asked how you would help a student with a problem or how to support a student’s understanding of a subject.
Assessment 2: This part is all about your general knowledge of various subjects. It lets you show what you know in Reading and Writing. The Math portion covers problems on basic math fundamentals, basic algebra, basic geometry, fractions, decimals and percentages, and data analysis.
The entire exam is in a multiple-choice format. To pass on Assessment 1, you must earn a 65%. To pass on Assessment 2, you must earn a 70%. Calculators, notes, and other materials are not permitted in the testing area. You can, however, take blank paper to help with doing math calculations by hand for the math portion of the exam.
How Do I Prepare for the Paraeducator Exam?
To help you get ready for the paraeducator exam, we give you the best test prep possible. You get study materials, a practice exam, and a license that is paid for you by Zen Educate. This Paraeducator Online Training allows you to use the content provided and study at home, at your own pace, at any time.
The best way to prepare is by focusing on one component of each course at a time. For example, focus on one section from Reading, one section from Math, and one section from Writing. Then, consider how you did. Are you feeling confident, or does that section need more attention? Decide if you’ll keep moving forward in an area or try a practice exam!
After you take the practice exam, you can review how you did to find out. This will give you input similar to how the real exam would. Our practice exam is the same each time you take it, so there are no trick questions!
Taking the practice exam can help alleviate testing anxiety and help you feel as prepared as possible. It allows you to see how you rank, and it shows areas where you can improve.
Where Can I Take the Paraeducator Exam?
The paraeducator exam is taken on the Master Teacher website, but in an in-person proctoring session. The exam is proctored to ensure that all participants follow the exam rules. Test sessions are held on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Students are given three hours to take the exam, but most students do not use this entire time.
If you experience an emergency and cannot take the test, you can reschedule. Test reschedules are only permitted twice. After that, a student will not be allowed to take the exam.
What Happens if I Don’t Pass the Paraeducator Test?
Our goal is to help you feel as confident as possible. We want to help you pass the test on the first try. This helps you get to work as soon as you can!
But, if you need to retake the exam, no worries. You can retake the paraeducator test with us. If you don’t pass the first time, you’ll get a detailed report showing which areas you need to focus on to get ready for your next attempt. We offer unlimited retakes so you can focus on preparing and passing the test. And, even if you’re not confident on test day, we encourage you to take the exam regardless – this way, you can at least get an idea of where you need extra support.
Some students excel in one area but have a hard time in another. That’s okay! If you pass all of exam 1, and don’t pass exam 2, you’ll only have to retake exam 2.
Zen Educate is leading the way in helping paras launch their careers in education. Book in your interview slot today, and start your path on becoming a licensed paraeducator.
