Praxis Art: Content and Analysis Online Center
This Praxis Art: Content and Analysis Online Center brings together practice, lessons, worksheets, flashcards and review tools. Choose the resource that matches the skill you want to work on next.
Praxis Art Practice Center
Take a full form, then read the explanation under every question you missed. One difference from the real test is worth naming: ETS shows you images, and these forms describe the artwork or the visual situation in words instead. The reasoning the questions ask for is the same, but plan to practise with real images alongside this.
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Praxis Art: Content and Analysis at a glance
Check the code first. 5135 is Art: Content and Analysis and it includes three written responses; 5134 is Art: Content Knowledge and it is a different, still-current test. The balance here is worth noting too: art making is forty-eight percent, nearly half, so this test cares more about materials, processes, and studio decisions than about naming movements.
| Test code | 5135 (Art: Content and Analysis) |
|---|---|
| Not to be confused with | 5134, Art: Content Knowledge, which is a separate live test. |
| Status | Current. |
| Number of questions | 85 selected-response questions in Part A and 3 constructed-response questions in Part B |
| What the written responses ask | One is an art history question, suggested at about 15 minutes. Two are art making questions, about 10 minutes each. Each is scored 0 to 3 by two raters. |
| Time limit | 2 hours total |
| Images | Some selected-response questions are accompanied by images on the real test. |
| Availability | Not continuous. ETS schedules this test in windows across roughly six months of the year. |
| Format | Computer-delivered |
| Score scale | 100 to 200 |
| Passing score | ETS does not set one. Each state sets its own qualifying score. |
ETS publishes counts and percentages: Art Making 55 questions and 48 percent, Historical and Theoretical Foundations 30 questions and 27 percent, and Art Analysis, which is the three written responses, 25 percent. Nearly half the test is about making, which is the opposite of how most candidates study for it.
The three sections, in plain language
ETS lists each category and the topics under it. Here is what each one asks of you.
Art making (48 percent, 55 questions)
The largest section by far: materials, processes, and studio decisions.
- The elements and principles of design
- Drawing, painting, and printmaking processes
- Sculpture, ceramics, and fibers
- Photography and digital media
- Color theory and mixing
- Perspective, composition, and space
- Choosing a medium for an intention
- Studio safety and materials handling
Historical and theoretical foundations (27 percent, 30 questions)
Where the work comes from and what it means.
- Western art history from prehistoric to contemporary
- Non-Western and Indigenous traditions
- Movements, their characteristics, and their contexts
- Aesthetics and theories of art
- Art criticism and the steps of analysis
- The social and cultural function of art
Art analysis: the three written responses (25 percent)
A quarter of the score in about 35 minutes.
- Analyze a work: describe, analyze, interpret, judge
- Place a work in its historical or cultural context
- Explain a making decision and its consequence
- Answer the question asked, with specific visual evidence
- Keep it direct; these are scored 0 to 3
A study routine for a 2-hour art test
Most candidates prepare for this test by reviewing art history, because that is what feels studiable. Art making is worth nearly twice as much.
Complete topic map
Every topic ETS lists under the categories, weighted the way the test is weighted.
Art making (48 percent, about 55 questions)
- 01Create and critique personal artwork using multiple art processes and media (General, approximately 11 questions)
- 02Apply the elements of art and the principles of visual organization in both two-dimensional and three-dimensional media
- 03Recognize historical methods of composition and contemporary approaches to making art
- 04Identify safety, environmental, health and storage issues associated with art materials, tools and processes (Media and Processes, approximately 44 questions)
- 05Identify materials, tools and processes used in drawing
- 06Identify materials, tools and processes used in painting
- 07Identify materials, tools and processes used in printmaking
- 08Identify materials, equipment and processes used in digital photography and other image processes
- 09Identify materials, equipment and processes used in videography, filmmaking and installation work
- 10Identify sculptural materials and processes, including additive, subtractive and assembled approaches
- 11Identify fiber art materials and processes
- 12Understand the physical aspects of artwork and select effective methods for matting, mounting, framing, hanging and displaying it
Historical and theoretical foundations of art (27 percent, about 30 questions)
- 13Recognize materials and processes within their art historical context across painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, architecture, photography, fiber arts and crafts (Materials and Processes in an Art Historical Context, approximately 5 questions)
- 14Identify stylistic traits of Western art from prehistory through the contemporary period (The Western Tradition in Art History, approximately 12 questions)
- 15Analyze the content, context and purpose of works across Western art historical periods
- 16Evaluate the impact of major artistic and technological innovations on the development of art styles
- 17Identify the visual characteristics of art and architecture of Asia, Africa, the Americas and the South Pacific (Art Beyond the Western Tradition, approximately 6 questions)
- 18Analyze the content, context and purposes of art forms outside the Western tradition
- 19Recognize major theories of art and of aesthetics (Responding to Art, approximately 7 questions)
- 20Explain the relationship between a work of art and critical response to it
- 21Explain how meaning is created in a work of art through symbols, subject matter and formal elements
Art analysis (constructed response) (25 percent, about 3 questions)
- 22Analyze a selected artwork in writing, addressing historical and theoretical concepts such as style, period, context, purpose and meaning (Historical and Theoretical Foundations of Art, 1 question, suggested time about 15 minutes)
- 23Discuss a personal artwork in writing, describing the ideas behind it and the processes and media used to realize them (Art Making, 2 questions in different media, suggested time about 10 minutes each)
- 24Support written claims about artwork with specific visual evidence drawn from the work itself
Before test day
Two things. Confirm you are sitting 5135 and not 5134, because one has written responses and the other does not. And spend your time where the marks are: nearly half this test is about making art, which means processes, materials, and the reasons behind a studio decision. Art history matters, but it is worth about half as much and it is the half most candidates over-prepare.
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Praxis Art: Content and Analysis: study questions
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