PRAXIS II Marketing Education Exam

This exam is designed for individuals who like teach marketing at the middle and high school level. You will be given two hours to complete his 120 multiple-choice exam. There will be 14 questions regarding personal selling, 14 regarding advertising and sales promotion, 20 regarding human relations and communication, 12 regarding marketing mathematics, 14 regarding merchandising, 22 regarding general marketing, and 44 questions regarding marketing education, curriculum, instruction and career planning.

Personal Selling
This section of the exam will assess your knowledge of a buyer's motivation, customer types, sales transactions, product knowledge, and personality traits of the salesperson. The segments of the sales process such as: approach, needed determination, objection resolution, merchandise presentation, and selling will also be included in this section of the exam.

Advertising and Sales Promotion
This section of the exam will assess your knowledge of public relations, sales promotions, merchandising displays, advertising media, advertising goals, and principles and laws governing advertising.

Human Relations and Communication
This section of the exam will assess your knowledge of written communication, interpersonal communication, listening skills, ethics, eye contact, gestures, verbal communication, telephone sales techniques, large and small group presentations, and the interpretation of verbal and nonverbal communication.

Marketing Mathematics
This section of the exam will assess your knowledge of employee compensation, stock to sales ratios, seasonal discounts, cash discounts, trade discounts, mark downs, mark ups, and selling costs.

Merchandising
This section of the exam will assess your knowledge of customer service, the lifecycle of merchandise, inventory control, buying, receiving, conducting quality assurance checks, and pricing merchandise.

General Marketing
This section of the exam will assess your knowledge of industrial marketing, global marketing, business ownership, entrepreneurship, credits, and organizational skills. Economic systems such as capitalism, communism and socialism along with economic concepts of profits, productivity, and supplying demand will also be included in his section of the test. Your knowledge of marketing and research, methodologies, financing, pricing, product promotion, marketing research, product distribution, risk management and selling will also be assessed.

Marketing Education, Curriculum, Instruction, and Career Planning
This section of the exam will assess your knowledge of the responsibilities of employers and employees, the job search and interview process, student evaluation, and marketing curriculum. Your knowledge of career planning in the marketing field, the history and development of vocational education and marketing education, student organizations, such as DECA and their relationship to marketing education, and legal considerations of marketing education will also be assessed in this section of the exam.

PRAXIS II Marketing Education Practice Questions

1. An effective marketing campaign is:

A. planned in detail
B. well written
C. produced in a professional manner
D. All of the above

2. For advertising to be effective, it should not include:

A. well-written script
B. amateur actors
C. pictures
D. informative headline

3. Flyers, direct mail pieces, brochures, and online advertising should:

A. be in an attractive format
B. easy to read
C. include accurate information
D. All of the above

4. Which of the following should not be part of an advertising campaign?

A. Realistic budget
B. Following FTC rules and regulations
C. Ignoring the target audience
D. Analyzing effectiveness of media used

5. Characteristics of an entrepreneur include:

A. recognizing a need
B. ability to organize resources
C. excellent team building skills
D. All of the above

Answer Key For Marketing Education

1. Answer: D

Effective marketing can have a profound effect on a business. Conveying the appropriate image is critical in today's competitive, global marketplace. Marketing is expensive, some media more than others, so if the campaign is not planned in detail, well written, and produced in a professional manner, the impact will be negative and a waste of money.

The first rule of any marketing campaign is to always respect the target audience. Never talk down to them, and never insult their intelligence with wild promises and ridiculous claims. The astute consumer will see the message for what it is and isn't anyway. The marketer should strive to develop a reputation for accurate, factual advertising. This will make it easier to attract customers and keep them coming back. A potential customer may not need the product or service at the time he sees, hears, or reads the advertising piece, but if the message is clear and concise, it will be remembered when the product and services are needed.

2. Answer: B

If radio and/or television are part of a marketing campaign, a script must be prepared and actors hired to read the parts. Amateurs can ruin an effective, well-written script. This type of media is expensive, so it is important to consider the target customers' listening and viewing habits when scheduling the days and times the commercials air. A good source is demographic data available from radio and television stations.

Newspaper ads and billboards have only about three seconds to grab the reader's attention, so it is vital the main message stands out. This is why pictures are effective. The layout should be uncluttered and come to the point quickly with information in large, easy-to-read font with clear, understandable graphics. The headline needs to either entice or inform, so the reader keeps reading.

Newspaper ads are competing with other information on the page, so the copy should answer who, what, where, and when questions. Unless the reader is stuck in traffic, billboards must literally be read on the run, so the fewer words used the better.

3. Answer: D

The first requirement for flyers, direct mail pieces (invitations, letters, and post cards sent at designated intervals) and brochures is well-written words delivered in an attractive format that is easy to read. Poorly written and inadequately proofed copy will leave a negative impression, and the main message may be missed. Hiring professionals to design, write, and produce written pieces is a good way to ensure a quality product that gets the right kind of attention and doesn't end up in the wastebasket.

To be competitive in today's market, it is important to have a presence on the World Wide Web. The web site should reflect the culture of the company and the integrity of the owners and staff. The site should have accurate, timely information, be easy to navigate, and list phone and fax numbers and email addresses. Facts about the company and its history, as well as professional biographies of key people, should be included. For maximum impact, it is a good idea to have a professional design and maintain the site.

4. Answer: C

No matter what media is used, there are basic elements that need to be addressed and criteria met to create an effective advertising campaign. These include, but are not limited to:

• Develop a realistic budget and stick to it.
• Plan a campaign that reflects the products and/or services available.
• Know the target audience and what motivates them.
• Choose the advertising media that appeals to that target group.
• Use professionals to create the marketing pieces.
• Have at least three people proof all material for spelling, grammar, and content.
• Use accurate facts, figures, pictures, and other miscellaneous data.
• Always follow all FTC rules and regulations, as well as state and local requirements.
• Analyze data about effectiveness of media used.

5. Answer: D

The American Heritage College Dictionary defines the French word entrepreneur as "a person who organizes, operates, and assumes the risk for a business venture." Also related to this concept is enterprise, which is "an undertaking, especially one of some scope, complication, and risk." The two words are naturally linked. To understand the entrepreneur, it is necessary to understand what is involved in enterprise itself.

Entrepreneurs see a need, organize human and financial resources, and combine passion, intelligence, knowledge, and hard work to create a product or service that answers that need. Successful entrepreneurs believe in capturing market opportunities, developing products and/or services, and offering them to a well-researched target market. They are leaders with sound management abilities and excellent team-building skills. They are always "big picture" people; they hire others to take care of the details. Entrepreneur Don Sheehan says, "Entrepreneurs don't just find opportunities lying around waiting to be discovered; they search for voids in markets and problems in need of solutions, and then they come up with realistic solutions to those problems."