Study Strategy
I purchased the CertifyTeacher.com program and that helped with reviewing all the concepts and reasoning behind the answers. It's been quite a few years since I learned the material so it did help as an initial refresher. I liked their study plan. Then I reviewed the chapter summaries of an 8th grade science textbook and took the high school exit level and 8th grade STAAR released exams. I then went over the state preparation manual and practice questions. I took notes on all the things I needed more review on. All of this was done in about a week's time. In the last few days, I got a free trial on Study.com who has excellent short videos summarizing the content for this exam. Since I was pressed for time, I only went over the videos I needed to review, and I found that after all my reading and studying, the videos helped with binding it all together. Since I crammed all the information in a short period of time, I wasn't sure how I would do. Thankfully, I passed on my first try. But, I would not suggest that anyone else crams the way I did. Take more time to review!
Testing Strategy
The test was easier than I expected, although some questions were more difficult. Given the amount of time I had to study, I only reviewed a little more than 90% of the content, and wished I had more time to review it all. I used different sources to review the areas that needed more attention. Textbooks, flashcards, practice exams, note taking, and the video lessons in the end really helped a lot. I feel that if I had more time to study I would probably have done better, but am happy that I passed with a good score.