- GACE Elementary Education (P-5) Overview
- Domain 1: English Language Arts
- Domain 2: Mathematics
- Domain 3: Social Studies
- Domain 4: Science
- Domain 5: The Arts, Health, and Wellness
- Format, Fees, and Registration Mechanics
- Scoring and the Passing Standard
- Scheduling Study Time Around the Five Testlets
- Who Hires Elementary Education (P-5) Candidates
- Frequently Asked Questions
- GACE Elementary Education (P-5) 702 has five modular testlets, each worth exactly 20% of your score.
- Each testlet has 30 selected-response questions; the full exam totals 150 questions in four hours of testing.
- You can pay $169 for all five testlets or $34 per testlet and retake individual testlets separately.
- Passing requires a cumulative scaled score of at least 220 plus meeting the minimum floor on every testlet.
GACE Elementary Education (P-5) Overview
The Georgia Assessments for the Certification of Educators: Elementary Education (P-5) (702) is the assessment Georgia uses to certify candidates for early childhood through fifth-grade classrooms. The Georgia Professional Standards Commission (GaPSC) owns the assessment, and as of July 1, 2025, it is administered through Evaluation Systems, Pearson - a change from the previous ETS-delivered version. If you learned to study for this exam from older materials, some registration and platform details have shifted, so it's worth reviewing an updated GACE study guide before you build a prep plan.
Assessment 702 is organized into five independent testlets rather than one long combined test. Each testlet stands on its own, is scored separately, and contributes an equal 20% share to your overall result. That modular design is the single most important structural fact to understand before you start studying, because it changes how you schedule prep, how you interpret partial results, and how you decide whether to retake a section.
Domain 1: English Language Arts (P-5) - 20%
What This Testlet Covers
This 30-question testlet measures your command of foundational literacy instruction for grades P-5: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary development, reading comprehension across literary and informational text, and writing process instruction including grammar and conventions.
- Foundational reading skills sequence - how phonological awareness, decoding, and fluency build on one another
- Comprehension strategies for narrative versus informational text structures
- Vocabulary instruction methods, including morphology and context-clue strategies
- Writing process stages and how to support young writers through drafting and revision
- Language conventions, including grammar, usage, and mechanics appropriate to elementary grades
A critical piece of context for this domain: Elementary Education (P-5) is aligned to the Application of the Science of Reading assessment under Georgia's literacy-assessment implementation schedule. That schedule applies to initial-program candidates beginning on or after June 1, 2025, and to reciprocity applicants beginning on or after July 1, 2026. If either timeline applies to you, expect the English Language Arts testlet to lean heavily on evidence-based reading instruction rather than older balanced-literacy assumptions - a distinction worth flagging in your study plan.
Domain 2: Mathematics (P-5) - 20%
What This Testlet Covers
The Mathematics testlet tests your ability to both solve elementary-level math problems and explain the instructional reasoning behind them - not just compute an answer, but recognize the pedagogical approach a teacher would use to build that concept in a P-5 classroom.
- Number sense and operations, including whole numbers, fractions, and place value progression
- Algebraic thinking and early pattern recognition appropriate to elementary grades
- Geometry and measurement concepts, including shape attributes and units of measure
- Data analysis and probability basics as introduced in elementary curricula
- Instructional strategies and common student misconceptions tied to each topic
Many candidates underestimate this testlet because the math itself is not advanced - it's elementary-level content. The difficulty comes from questions framed around student work samples or teaching scenarios, where you must identify the correct instructional response rather than simply compute the right number. This distinction is a recurring theme across every domain of Assessment 702, and it's discussed in more depth in our GACE difficulty guide.
Domain 3: Social Studies (P-5) - 20%
What This Testlet Covers
This testlet covers the core strands of elementary social studies instruction: history, geography, government/civics, and economics, along with the instructional skills needed to teach these concepts to young learners.
- U.S. and Georgia history milestones typically taught at the elementary level
- Geographic literacy - map skills, regions, and human-environment interaction
- Civics and government basics, including community roles and the structure of government
- Economic concepts such as scarcity, resources, and basic personal-finance ideas for young students
- Integrating primary sources and inquiry-based instruction into social studies lessons
Because social studies content spans four distinct strands packed into just 30 questions, breadth matters more than depth here. Candidates who try to master one strand deeply while neglecting the others often find gaps on test day - a pattern worth reviewing against national and Georgia-specific pass rate data if you want to calibrate how much time this testlet deserves relative to the others.
Domain 4: Science (P-5) - 20%
What This Testlet Covers
The Science testlet assesses knowledge across life science, physical science, and earth/space science, plus the scientific inquiry process as it's taught to elementary students.
- Life science: organisms, ecosystems, and life cycles appropriate to P-5 curricula
- Physical science: matter, energy, forces, and simple machines
- Earth and space science: weather, the water cycle, and basic astronomy concepts
- Scientific method and inquiry-based instruction, including how to design safe, simple classroom experiments
- Science-process skills such as observation, classification, and drawing conclusions from data
Like Mathematics, this testlet frequently frames content around classroom scenarios - a lesson plan, a student question, or an experiment design - rather than isolated fact recall. If science was not your strongest subject historically, budget extra review time here rather than assuming elementary-level content will be automatically easy to recall under testing conditions.
Domain 5: The Arts, Health, and Wellness (P-5) - 20%
What This Testlet Covers
This is the domain most candidates prepare for least, yet it carries the same 20% weight as every other testlet. It combines visual and performing arts, physical education, and health education content.
- Visual arts elements and principles as introduced to elementary students
- Music fundamentals, including rhythm, pitch, and basic music appreciation
- Movement and physical education concepts, including motor skill development
- Personal health and wellness topics: nutrition, safety, and healthy habits instruction
- Integrating arts and wellness content across other subject areas
Key Takeaway
Don't skip the Arts, Health, and Wellness testlet in your prep just because it feels unfamiliar - it's worth the exact same 20% as English Language Arts, and a weak score here can pull your cumulative total below the passing threshold even if your other four testlets are strong.
Format, Fees, and Registration Mechanics
Assessment 702's structure is straightforward once you see it laid out, but the fee mechanics reward planning. You have two payment paths: pay $169 to register for all five testlets at once, or pay $34 per testlet if you want to register individually or retake only specific sections.
| Registration Option | Cost | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| All five testlets together | $169 | Candidates who feel equally prepared across all domains |
| Single testlet | $34 | Retaking a specific testlet or spacing out preparation by domain |
The full assessment consists of 150 selected-response questions (30 per testlet) and allows four hours of actual testing time within a four-hour-and-30-minute appointment window - the extra 30 minutes accounts for check-in and any administrative steps at the Pearson-administered test center. Before you can register at all, you must first establish testing eligibility through MyPSC, GaPSC's online system. Skipping this step is a common cause of registration delays, so confirm your MyPSC status early. For a full walkthrough of every cost component, see our GACE certification cost breakdown, and for eligibility specifics, check GACE requirements.
Scoring and the Passing Standard
To earn a passing result on Assessment 702, you need two things simultaneously: a cumulative scaled score of at least 220 across all five testlets, and a minimum floor score on every individual testlet. This dual requirement means you can't compensate for a very weak domain by excelling elsewhere - each of the five domains has its own baseline you must clear.
This scoring model is precisely why understanding each domain's content - not just its weight - matters so much. A candidate who ignores Social Studies or Arts, Health, and Wellness because they feel "less important" academically may pass the cumulative score threshold but still fail to clear that testlet's individual floor. For the exact numeric requirements and how they interact, review our dedicated breakdown of the GACE passing score.
Scheduling Study Time Around the Five Testlets
Because Assessment 702 is modular, your prep schedule should be modular too. Rather than treating this as one undifferentiated exam to cram for, allocate dedicated blocks to each 30-question testlet based on your own diagnostic strengths and weaknesses.
English Language Arts + Diagnostic
- Take a full diagnostic across all five domains to identify weak testlets
- Review foundational reading skills sequence and Science of Reading alignment
- Practice writing-process and grammar questions
Mathematics + Science
- Drill elementary math concepts through the lens of instructional scenarios
- Review life, physical, and earth/space science fundamentals
- Practice identifying correct pedagogical responses, not just correct answers
Social Studies + Arts, Health, and Wellness
- Cover all four social studies strands briefly rather than one deeply
- Review visual/performing arts basics and PE/health content
- Take targeted practice sets for your two lowest-scoring testlets
Full Review and Test-Day Logistics
- Retake full-length practice questions across all five testlets
- Confirm MyPSC eligibility and registration are finalized
- Review pacing so you're comfortable within the four-hour testing window
This week-by-week structure works because it mirrors the exam's own architecture - you're never studying "GACE" as an abstract whole, you're preparing for five distinct, equally weighted testlets. For additional pacing strategies and a broader framework, our GACE study guide goes deeper into technique, and you can sharpen recall fast with a condensed GACE cheat sheet in the final days before your appointment.
Who Hires Elementary Education (P-5) Candidates
Passing Assessment 702 is a certification requirement for teaching in Georgia public elementary classrooms serving grades P-5. School districts across the state hire certified elementary teachers for general-education classroom roles, and this credential is typically paired with a completed educator preparation program and GaPSC certification application. If you're weighing whether the time and testing investment fits your career plans, our analyses of GACE certification ROI and the GACE salary guide lay out the broader picture, while GACE jobs covers where certified candidates typically find placements.
Once you're confident in the content, running full-length timed practice on a practice test platform is the most reliable way to confirm you can perform under the four-hour testing window rather than just recognize concepts in isolation. Combining domain-specific review with realistic practice questions on a dedicated prep site closes the gap between knowing the material and scoring well on test day.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. You can register for and take all five together for $169, or register for individual testlets at $34 each on separate dates, which is useful if you want to focus your preparation one domain at a time.
You still don't pass. Assessment 702 requires both a cumulative scaled score of at least 220 and a minimum floor score on every one of the five testlets, so a single weak testlet can prevent an overall pass even with a strong cumulative total.
No. As of July 1, 2025, Evaluation Systems, Pearson administers Assessment 702, replacing the previous ETS-delivered version. Make sure any study materials or registration instructions you use reflect the current Pearson-administered format.
Elementary Education (P-5) is aligned to the Application of the Science of Reading assessment under Georgia's literacy-assessment implementation schedule, applying to initial-program candidates from June 1, 2025, and reciprocity applicants from July 1, 2026. This means evidence-based reading instruction concepts are emphasized in Domain 1.
Yes. GaPSC testing eligibility through MyPSC is required before you can register for Assessment 702, so confirm your eligibility status early to avoid delays in scheduling your testlets.