How to Pass the STEDI Substitute Teacher Exam

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Do you need to pass a STEDI substitute teacher exam in order to start substitute teaching in your district? Read on for tips and tricks that helped me pass the STEDI SubSkills course exam.

Even though I’ve been full-time and substitute teaching for years, I didn’t meet all of my requirements last year to stay current in my school district system. Why? Because I didn’t work enough days. (I was a little busy growing and birthing a human!)

So this year, I had to go through all of the steps to become a sub again. One step includes taking the STEDI substitute teacher course and passing the end-of-course exam with a score of at least 85 percent. I was able to do this and move through this process fairly quickly (though I’m still annoyed at the redundancy of it all).

For any soon-to-be-substitute teachers, I want to impart any wisdom on the STEDI exam that I can while the information is still fresh on my mind.

What is STEDI’s SubSkills Online Training Course?

Completion of this course is one of my school district’s requirements for becoming a substitute teacher. If you’re here, it’s likely a requirement for you as well.

This online course gives several thorough lessons to people interested in substitute teaching. The major units within the course pertain to Classroom Management, Teaching Strategies, Professionalism, Special Education and Miscellaneous Tidbits of Info. There are several components to each sub-topic. (The classroom management sub-topic, for instance, contains 33 sections!)

The course does a good job of giving real-world examples and strategies to prospective substitute teachers. As someone with a background in education and subbing, I found the course helpful with all of the key information it provided. I do think that taking this course enables people to become skilled subs and not just “a person with a pulse” as the joke tends to (unfortunately) go.

Will taking this online course solve all of your real-life classroom dilemmas as a substitute teacher?

No, but it provides some good strategies for subbing in the classroom.

What is the Format of STEDI’s SubSkills Exam?

I’ll start by disclaiming that if you’re reading this after the fall of 2025, things may have changed. I have no idea if STEDI will choose to overhaul their exam.

So with that caveat, let me tell you about the state of the exam as I experienced it:

What is called the SubAssessment Final Test consisted of 33 multiple choice questions. Each question only had one answer. The time limit for the test was 50 minutes. The test was “open book” in a sense that one could look up guidance online. (I could, for example, go back into the course to look up a specific answer, but only when I opened up the course in a new tab.)

Test takers had four chances to earn a passing score. After each test, the test taker had an opportunity to review the questions.

Reviewing a Test

When reviewing a test, the correct answers were not given, but the wrong, originally given answer was highlighted.

This was important for going back, and, if all else failed, using the process of elimination to answer correctly the next time.

School districts may vary in their requirements for passing scores. Mine wanted at least an 85 percent passing score. After taking the test, your score will be revealed on a Score board, and the score will update each time you complete the test, if you retake it.

Downloadable certificates were awarded after completing the test.

What are the Main Themes of the Questions?

I am not here to reveal individual questions and answers on the test (sorry!).

I can tell you what I think is most worthwhile to focus on, given the themes that emerged more frequently throughout the test.

Among all of the sub-topics of the course, the questions seemed to most frequenly derive from the realms of classroom management and professionalism.

Many of the questions gave specific classroom management scenarios. They often set the scene of a student or group of students misbehaving. Your job as the test taker is to identify the best action of the four choices given.

Tips for Passing the Classroom Management Questions

When it comes to behavior, the STEDI SubSkills program places a high emphasis on positive behavior reinforcement. This is a commonly held position in our K-12 public school system.

This course seemed to emphasize positive behavior so much, in fact, that the information did not specifically advocate for substitutes letting the teacher know of any student misbehavior in their sub not (something I wouldn’t necessarily agree with).

Of course, I hope you read the course material, but knowing a few main points about behavior management will help you answer a lot of the questions correctly. Here are some tips:

• There was a large emphasis placed on inconsequential vs. consequential behavior. Learn the difference.
• Inconsequential behavior should be ignored, according to this course
• Consequential behavior can be handled in the least dramatic way that reduces the behavior. For instance, talking to the misbehaving student privately. No correct answers contained a visit to the principal’s office, as far as I could tell.
• Keep in mind that for most scenarios, this course prefers a positive behavior, low intervention approach.
• There also seemed to be quite a few questions on how best to question a class of students in order to give them enough time to think through their responses.

Extra Tips for Acing the STEDI SubSkills Exam

The version of the SubSkills test I took gave a lot of specific behavior management scenarios as questions. (See the paragraph above for general “rules” when handling those questions.)

Since this test only had one correct answer per question and contained multiple choices, I found the classic test-taking advice to be true: In an “All of the above” question, if you find two true statements, then the answer is “All of the above.” If you find one false statement, then it can’t be “All of the above.”

Along these same lines, as a general test-taking rule, I try to avoid picking the extreme answer choices, like ones containing the words “always” and “never.” Of course, this is a generality.

In these ways, you can simply tip the logic in your favor to help bolster your score.

Other STEDI SubSkills test topics included professionalism as a substitute teacher, student safety, and what is beneficial to have ready in your SubPack (also known as a sub bag, or any other container of helpful items for substitute teaching).

Passing the STEDI Substitute Teacher Course Exam

Passing the STEDI exam can be an important part of the process to become a substitute teacher.

Do what it takes to learn from the course. It is there to help give you the tools for a successful subsittute teaching job. All we have to do is use these tools.

One way to prepare for this test is by taking notes or keeping documents or visuals from the program. Then, of course, you can always check back at this blog post to get you focused on the questions’ main topics.

Best of luck with this exam. As an aside, the STEDI course offered a trove of useful behavior management tips, but I differ slightly in my philosophy on this. Scour this site for all of my best behavior tips and tricks– from an experienced substitute and teacher in the field!

I hope this helps! Let me know in the comments: What did you think of the STEDI course and exam?