• 40 questions

NES Special Education Study Guide

Unofficial guide to the four domains of NES Special Education, test 601, with free practice questions on every competency.

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Under which federal disability category do the regulations give cerebral palsy and amputations as examples?

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Unofficial practice questions, not affiliated with Pearson, which owns the National Evaluation Series. Bank checked October 14, 2026.

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All 40 questions with answers

Students with disabilities 8

  • A child has an intellectual disability and is blind, and her needs cannot be met in a program designed for only one of the two. Which category fits, and which combination does that category leave out? Answer: Multiple disabilities, which does not include deaf-blindness. Source: 34 CFR 300.8(c)(7), the IDEA regulations (eCFR). Outline: NES Special Education (601) framework, competency 0001
  • A child's hearing loss comes and goes with ear infections and adversely affects her schoolwork. With hearing aids she still processes speech through hearing. Which federal category describes her? Answer: Hearing impairment. Source: 34 CFR 300.8(c)(3) and (5), the IDEA regulations (eCFR). Outline: NES Special Education (601) framework, competency 0001
  • A fifth grader's reading lags because her family moved often for seasonal work and she missed long stretches of school. If that is the primary cause, can the team use the category specific learning disability? Answer: No. The category leaves out learning problems that are primarily the result of environmental, cultural or economic disadvantage. Source: 34 CFR 300.8(c)(10), the IDEA regulations (eCFR). Outline: NES Special Education (601) framework, competency 0001
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Students with disabilities, continued

  • A student who is blind needs to learn to travel safely between classrooms, the cafeteria and the bus stop. Which related service is defined for this need? Answer: Orientation and mobility services. Source: 34 CFR 300.34(c)(7), the IDEA regulations (eCFR). Outline: NES Special Education (601) framework, competency 0002
  • A teacher believes a student would attend better on medication. May school personnel require the parents to obtain a prescription as a condition of the student attending school? Answer: No, though staff may share classroom observations with the parents. Source: 34 CFR 300.174, the IDEA regulations (eCFR). Outline: NES Special Education (601) framework, competency 0002
  • A transition assessment checks whether a student can handle money, follow a bus route and keep a daily schedule without help. Which term covers this set of skills? Answer: Adaptive behavior. Source: Wikipedia, "Adaptive behavior". Outline: NES Special Education (601) framework, competency 0002
  • After years of failing at reading tasks, a student stops trying even tasks within his reach and says nothing he does makes a difference. Which pattern does this describe? Answer: Learned helplessness. Source: Wikipedia, "Learned helplessness". Outline: NES Special Education (601) framework, competency 0002
  • Under which federal disability category do the regulations give cerebral palsy and amputations as examples? Answer: Orthopedic impairment. Source: 34 CFR 300.8(c)(8), the IDEA regulations (eCFR). Outline: NES Special Education (601) framework, competency 0001

Assessment and program planning 8

  • A report says a student scored higher than 16 percent of same-age students in a national sample. What kind of test produces this statement? Answer: A norm-referenced test. Source: Wikipedia, "Norm-referenced test". Outline: NES Special Education (601) framework, competency 0003
  • A student with a severe reading disability takes a math reasoning test made of long word problems she must read alone. Her score reflects her reading more than her math. Which quality of the measurement is at risk? Answer: Validity. Source: Wikipedia, "Validity (statistics)". Outline: NES Special Education (601) framework, competency 0003
  • A student with cerebral palsy writes slowly and with great effort. The team is choosing a science achievement test for him. What must the choice of assessment ensure? Answer: The results reflect his achievement, not his impaired manual skills. Source: 34 CFR 300.304(c)(3), the IDEA regulations (eCFR). Outline: NES Special Education (601) framework, competency 0003
  • An examiner gives a standardized achievement test but rewords the items and skips the printed directions. Which federal evaluation requirement does this break? Answer: Assessments are administered in accordance with the instructions of their producer. Source: 34 CFR 300.304(c)(1), the IDEA regulations (eCFR). Outline: NES Special Education (601) framework, competency 0003
  • Before anyone is referred, a school gives a first grader who is behind in reading extra small-group lessons and charts her progress, and adds more intensive help when the chart stays flat. Which approach is the school using? Answer: Response to Intervention. Source: Wikipedia, "Response to Intervention". Outline: NES Special Education (601) framework, competency 0004
  • The continuum of alternative placements must also make provision for supplementary services given along with regular class placement. Which services do the regulations name as examples? Answer: Resource room or itinerant instruction. Source: 34 CFR 300.115(b), the IDEA regulations (eCFR). Outline: NES Special Education (601) framework, competency 0004
  • One member of the IEP team must be qualified to provide or supervise specially designed instruction, know the general education curriculum and know what resources the public agency has. Who is this member? Answer: A representative of the public agency. Source: 34 CFR 300.321(a)(4), the IDEA regulations (eCFR). Outline: NES Special Education (601) framework, competency 0004
  • Parents gave informed consent for an initial evaluation, and their child was found eligible. Does that consent also cover starting special education services? Answer: No. Consent for the evaluation is not consent for the initial provision of services. Source: 34 CFR 300.300(a), the IDEA regulations (eCFR). Outline: NES Special Education (601) framework, competency 0004

Learning environments and instruction 16

  • A graduate works at a grocery store for regular wages alongside other employees, and a job coach helps him learn the tasks and keep the job. Which model of employment is this? Answer: Supported employment. Source: Wikipedia, "Supported employment". Outline: NES Special Education (601) framework, competency 0008
  • A school teaches the same few behavior expectations in every setting, tracks behavior data, and aims to prevent problem behavior for all students, with added help for students at risk. Which framework is this? Answer: Positive behavior interventions and supports. Source: Wikipedia, "Positive behavior interventions and supports". Outline: NES Special Education (601) framework, competency 0005
  • A student watches a short recording of himself ordering lunch successfully, then orders lunch the same way in the cafeteria. Which teaching technique is this? Answer: Video self-modeling. Source: Wikipedia, "Video modeling". Outline: NES Special Education (601) framework, competency 0007
  • A student who does not speak selects picture symbols on a tablet, and the tablet says the message aloud. What is this method of communicating an example of? Answer: Augmentative and alternative communication. Source: Wikipedia, "Augmentative and alternative communication". Outline: NES Special Education (601) framework, competency 0007
  • A student with a memory deficit learns the order of the planets from a sentence whose words start with the same letters as the planets. Which kind of learning strategy is this? Answer: A mnemonic device. Source: Wikipedia, "Mnemonic". Outline: NES Special Education (601) framework, competency 0006
  • A student's calling out has always won the teacher's attention. The teacher stops responding to call-outs and answers only raised hands. Over two weeks the call-outs fade. Which principle explains the change? Answer: Extinction. Source: Wikipedia, "Extinction (psychology)". Outline: NES Special Education (601) framework, competency 0007
  • A student's eligibility ends when he graduates with a regular diploma. What must the public agency provide him? Answer: A summary of his academic achievement and functional performance, with recommendations for meeting his postsecondary goals. Source: 34 CFR 300.305(e), the IDEA regulations (eCFR). Outline: NES Special Education (601) framework, competency 0008
  • A teacher plans a unit from the start with print, audio and video versions of each text and several ways for students to show what they learned. Which framework is she applying? Answer: Universal Design for Learning. Source: Wikipedia, "Universal Design for Learning". Outline: NES Special Education (601) framework, competency 0005
  • A teacher writes out every step of making a sandwich in order and teaches them so that finishing one step is the signal to start the next. Which technique is the teacher using? Answer: Chaining. Source: Wikipedia, "Chaining". Outline: NES Special Education (601) framework, competency 0008
  • A vocational rehabilitation agency is likely to pay for part of a student's transition services. What does the school need before it invites the agency's representative to the IEP meeting? Answer: The consent of the parents, or of the student who has reached the age of majority. Source: 34 CFR 300.321(b)(3), the IDEA regulations (eCFR). Outline: NES Special Education (601) framework, competency 0008
  • Before showing regrouping on paper, a teacher has a student trade ten unit cubes for one ten-rod. What are the cubes and rods? Answer: Manipulatives. Source: Wikipedia, "Manipulative (mathematics education)". Outline: NES Special Education (601) framework, competency 0006
  • In a small reading group, students take turns leading the talk about a passage. The leader asks a question, clears up a hard part, sums up and predicts what comes next. Which method is this? Answer: Reciprocal teaching. Source: Wikipedia, "Reciprocal teaching". Outline: NES Special Education (601) framework, competency 0006
  • In his general education class a student uses a peer note-taker, a seat near the board and a picture schedule, so that he can be taught with classmates who have no disabilities. What does IDEA call supports of this kind? Answer: Supplementary aids and services. Source: 34 CFR 300.42, the IDEA regulations (eCFR). Outline: NES Special Education (601) framework, competency 0005
  • Students in a resource room earn a point each time they start work within one minute. On Friday they trade their points for time at a chosen activity. What is this system called? Answer: A token economy. Source: Wikipedia, "Token economy". Outline: NES Special Education (601) framework, competency 0005
  • To teach a shy student to greet classmates, a teacher first praises a glance toward a peer, then only a step toward the peer, then only a spoken "hello". Which method is this? Answer: Shaping. Source: Wikipedia, "Shaping (psychology)". Outline: NES Special Education (601) framework, competency 0007
  • While reading, a student is taught to stop and ask herself, "Does this make sense?", and to pick a fix-up strategy when it does not. Which ability is the teacher building? Answer: Metacognition. Source: Wikipedia, "Metacognition". Outline: NES Special Education (601) framework, competency 0006

Foundations and professional practice 8

  • A community agency that is not part of the school system asks a teacher for a student's evaluation report. Apart from disclosures the education records rules already allow, what must be obtained first? Answer: Parental consent. Source: 34 CFR 300.622(a), the IDEA regulations (eCFR). Outline: NES Special Education (601) framework, competency 0009
  • A science teacher will carry out the accommodations in a student's IEP. What must the public agency ensure for this teacher? Answer: She can get to the IEP and is told her specific responsibilities under it. Source: 34 CFR 300.323(d), the IDEA regulations (eCFR). Outline: NES Special Education (601) framework, competency 0010
  • A special education teacher and a fourth grade teacher plan, teach and assess the same class together in one room, each using her own strengths. What is this arrangement called? Answer: Co-teaching. Source: Wikipedia, "Co-teaching". Outline: NES Special Education (601) framework, competency 0010
  • A student's parents speak Spanish and little English. What must the public agency do so that they can take part in the IEP team meeting? Answer: Take whatever action is necessary for them to understand the proceedings, including arranging for an interpreter. Source: 34 CFR 300.322(e), the IDEA regulations (eCFR). Outline: NES Special Education (601) framework, competency 0010
  • After a lesson goes badly, a teacher watches a recording of it, questions her own assumptions about a student from another culture, and sets a goal for her teaching. What is she engaged in? Answer: Reflective practice. Source: Wikipedia, "Reflective practice". Outline: NES Special Education (601) framework, competency 0010
  • In 1982 the Supreme Court interpreted the Education for All Handicapped Children Act in a case about a deaf student whose school refused to provide a sign language interpreter. Which case was it? Answer: Board of Education v. Rowley. Source: Wikipedia, "Board of Education of the Hendrick Hudson Central School District v. Rowley". Outline: NES Special Education (601) framework, competency 0009
  • States must collect and examine data to see whether significant disproportionality is occurring in the identification, placement and discipline of children with disabilities. On what basis is the disproportionality measured? Answer: Race and ethnicity. Source: 34 CFR 300.646(a), the IDEA regulations (eCFR). Outline: NES Special Education (601) framework, competency 0009
  • Which law guarantees that people with disabilities can take part, free from discrimination, in all programs that receive federal funding? Answer: Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Source: Wikipedia, "Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act". Outline: NES Special Education (601) framework, competency 0009

How this list was compiled: Our own questions, written to the test framework for NES Special Education, test 601, read 2026-10-14 on the National Evaluation Series site (https://www.nestest.com/static/docs/NES_Framework_601.pdf; test page https://www.nestest.com/test/601): Students with Disabilities (competencies 0001 to 0002, 20%), Assessment and Program Planning (0003 to 0004, 20%), Learning Environments and Instructional Practices (0005 to 0008, 40%) and Foundations and Professional Practice (0009 to 0010, 20%). The bank holds 4 questions for each of the 10 competencies. Every fact was read on 2026-10-14 in the source the question names: 18 questions in the federal special education regulations, 34 CFR Part 300, on the eCFR (https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-34/part-300), and 22 in the opening section of a named Wikipedia article. Licence: Questions, choices and explanations are original work of this site.

How it works

This free NES Special Education study guide sets out what test 601 covers and gives 40 practice questions of our own, four per competency. It is unofficial and not affiliated with Pearson, which owns the National Evaluation Series.

Read the full guide

What test 601 covers

By the framework read October 14, 2026, NES Special Education (601) weights Students with Disabilities 20%, Assessment and Program Planning 20%, Learning Environments and Instructional Practices 40%, and Foundations and Professional Practice 20%. The third domain holds four of the ten competencies.

The practice test

The 40 questions keep those weights: 8, 8, 16 and 8. A timed run gives 48 minutes, the real 1.2 minutes a question.

Where the answers come from

Eighteen questions rest on the federal special education regulations, 34 CFR Part 300, cited by section so you can open the rule on the eCFR. The others name a Wikipedia article on a teaching, assessment or behavior method.

  • Learning Environments and Instructional Practices is 40% of the score: classroom management, reading and math methods, communication, behavior support and transition.
  • In the regulations, start with 34 CFR 300.8, 300.304, 300.320 and 300.321: the disability categories, evaluation procedures, IEP contents and the IEP team.

Questions and answers

Is this free NES Special Education 601 practice test the real exam?

No. The 40 questions are our own, each written to one competency of the 601 framework and one public source, which its explanation names. No item of the real test, its study guide or its paid practice test was used.

How many questions are on the NES Special Education test?

Test 601 asks 150 multiple-choice questions in 3 hours of testing. With the 15-minute tutorial and nondisclosure agreement, the appointment runs 3 hours and 15 minutes, at a test center or with online proctoring.

What is the passing score for NES Special Education?

220 is the national benchmark on the test page, which links the passing score of Arizona, since a state may set its own. This page reports the number right, which does not convert to that scale.

Is NES Special Education 602 the same test as 601?

No. Test 602 is the redeveloped Special Education test, first given April 17, 2023, with 100 multiple-choice questions in 2 hours of testing, and the older 601 remains available. These questions follow 601, so ask your state's credentialing agency which version to take.

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