Launch week: get both workbooks together for $149 (save $19) — grab the bundle
TExES 268 + PASL 368

Pass both principal exams on the first attempt.

The exam is set on an imaginary campus where every teacher wants coaching and nobody has pulled a fire alarm. You work on a real one. This is the study system a working Texas AP used to pass both exams on the first attempt anyway: a method, a schedule, and the frameworks that score. No 600-dollar course. No fluff.

7×Official practice tests taken
10 minDaily brain dump habit
4CRQ frameworks memorized
1stAttempt pass, both exams

From the AP's desk

I studied for the 268 the way most people would call backwards. I read the answers before the questions. I took the official practice test seven times until I nearly had it memorized. I rehearsed the four constructed response setups in my head on hallway duty, in the car, in the shower.

It worked, because this exam doesn't reward knowing facts. It rewards recognizing the shape of a correct answer. Then the PASL came, and I discovered the move nobody teaches: one campus project can generate the artifacts for all three tasks at once.

Everything on this site is that system, written down. I'm still an AP on a Texas campus, still doing the job every day, and I built this for the version of me who was studying at a kitchen table wondering if there was a smarter way. There is. It's all here.

Full disclosure on how unglamorous this was: I studied at a kitchen table after my daughter's volleyball practices, rehearsed CRQ frames on morning duty with a walkie in one hand, and took the practice test so many times my family staged a light intervention. If a system can survive that calendar, it can survive yours.

— Principal Exam Academy

Train the way I trained, free

How the system works

1

Learn the four frames

The constructed responses repeat the same four structures every administration. You learn them as fill-in-the-blank templates, not essays, starting with the free flashcards.

Flip the flashcards
Frame Flashcards
CRQ 1 · Coaching Plan — tap to flip
CRQ 3 · Data Conversation — tap to flip
The answer shape: student-centered · data-driven · collaborative
Eight cards. The four frames plus the four rules that decide close calls.
2

Train ten minutes a day

Retrieval beats rereading. Every day you write the four frames from memory against the timer, until test day is just filling in a structure you've written fifty times.

Start the Brain Dump Gym
Brain Dump Gym
10:00
CRQ 1 — from memory, no peeking...
The single highest-leverage habit in the system. Free, forever.
3

Track to test day

The workbook's weekly schedule and score tracker turn the official practice test into a trend line. When recognition replaces deciding, you're ready.

Get the workbook — $39
Practice Test Tracker
Attempt five is when it clicks. Attempt seven is when it's yours.

The test says / Real life says

The test saysSchedule a reflective coaching conversation with the teacher.
Real life saysThe coaching conversation is happening in the car line, and you're holding a walkie.
The test saysThe vision isn't landing with stakeholders.
Real life saysThe vision has never once landed. That's why it's on the test. Learn the frame anyway.
The test saysAnalyze the longitudinal data with your collaborative team.
Real life saysYou will. Fourth period. It's the only period everyone shares, and someone will bring kolaches.

The gap between the imaginary campus and yours is the whole exam. We teach you to answer for their campus while surviving on yours.

Read the free PASL guide

The five-move method

  1. Answers before questionsRead the rationale first on practice items. Train pattern recognition, not recall.
  2. Repeat the official practice testUntil correct answers feel like recognition. I took it seven times.
  3. One content module a daySmall and consistent beats cramming. 45 to 60 minutes on weekdays.
  4. Rehearse the CRQs in your headWatch walkthroughs, then run the four setups mentally, everywhere.
  5. Ten-minute daily brain dumpWrite all four frameworks from memory. The single highest-leverage habit.

The four frameworks on the wall

The scenarios change every administration. The structure of a passing answer never does. These four index cards are the whole constructed response section.

CRQ 1 · Coaching Plan

One high-leverage practice needing improvement plus two pieces of evidence. One aligned action step. One probing question. How they work together for student learning.

CRQ 2 · Exemplar

Two misalignments with evidence: exit ticket rigor and pacing. Then build the exemplar and explain how coaching with it creates independence.

CRQ 3 · Data Convo

What the data shows. Reflective questions to root cause. Cited sources. How the reflection changes the next instructional decision.

CRQ 4 · Vision · Plan · Monitor

Most pressing need with evidence. Recast the vision. Timeline, SMART goals, PD. Walkthroughs to monitor. All tied to student achievement.

Why the weird method works

Seven practice tests and daily brain dumps sound obsessive. They're actually two of the most replicated findings in learning science, applied on purpose.

The testing effect

Practicing retrieval, forcing your brain to produce the answer instead of rereading it, produces dramatically stronger long-term retention than restudying the same material. The daily brain dump is retrieval practice in its purest form.

Roediger & Karpicke, the retrieval practice research line, 2006 onward

Spaced repetition

Distributing practice across days beats massing it into one cramming session for durable recall. Ten minutes daily for six weeks outperforms a heroic weekend, which is why the schedule is built small and relentless.

Cepeda et al., the distributed practice meta-analysis, 2006

Can you spot the 268 answer?

A walkthrough shows students finishing an exit ticket in ninety seconds that the standard expects them to reason through. The principal's best next step is to:

The pattern: the 268 rewards coaching over directing, alignment over punishment, and collaboration over rescue. A probing question plus a co-built exemplar is CRQ 2's exact frame. Once you can see that shape, you can see it on every question. That's the whole method.

That was 1 of 10. Take the full Pattern Trainer free, or grab the cheat sheet.

The workbooks

Start here

268 Study System Workbook

$39

The complete method: the weekly checklist schedule, all four CRQ frameworks with the traps that cost points, printable daily brain dump templates, a practice test score tracker, and the test week countdown. Less than the cost of one retake.

Get the 268 Workbook
Task 3 counts double The main event

The PASL Playbook

$129

One campus project, three tasks. Planners for every task with the guiding prompts, artifact checklists showing where each page comes from, writing frames from a passing submission, the 15-minute video demystified, and a 16-week master timeline.

Get the PASL Playbook
Best value

The Bundle: Both Workbooks

$149 $168

The 268 Study System plus the PASL Playbook together. Study for the first exam while your PASL campus project runs in the background, which is exactly how the timeline works best.

Get the bundle — save $19

The Principal Path

The exams aren't the destination, they're the toll booth. Here's the whole road, and where the Academy carries you today.

Stage 1 · You are here

Get certified

Pass the 268 and the PASL on the first attempt with the method, the frameworks, and the one-project strategy.

Covered now · workbooks + free practice
Stage 2

Land the job

The AP interview, the data talk, the entry plan that makes a committee lean forward.

On the path · coming
Stage 3

Survive year one

Duty, discipline, walkthroughs, and the first time a parent asks for the principal and means you.

On the path · coming
Stage 4

Take the chair

From AP to the principalship: leading a campus, not just running one.

On the path · coming

The newsletter walks the whole road. Every subscriber to the free cheat sheet joins The Principal Path, one short email a week from a working AP.

Built different on purpose

Written by a working AP

Not a test prep company. Someone who took these exams while running a real campus, and still does the job daily.

Built for no-time schedules

45 to 60 minutes on weekdays, one non-negotiable that takes ten. Designed around duty, meetings, and your actual life.

Powered by retrieval practice

Every drill forces recall instead of rereading, because that's what the research says sticks.

Priced like a workbook

$39, not $599. Less than one retake fee, and the free practice area works before you spend a dollar.

Free complete guides

Questions

Who is behind this site?

A currently serving Texas assistant principal who passed the 268 and the PASL on the first attempt. Because the author still works in a district, the work is published under the Academy's name, and it's held to a simple standard: every framework has to survive contact with a real campus.

Is this affiliated with TEA, Pearson, or ETS?

No. Principal Exam Academy is independent study material. It never reproduces secure exam content; it teaches frameworks, planning, and study habits.

What if the workbook doesn't help me?

Email within 30 days for a full refund. The system either works for you or it costs nothing.

Do I need both workbooks?

If you're early in your program, yes, and run them in parallel: study the 268 while your PASL campus project runs in the background. If you've passed the 268, go straight to the Playbook.

Use it for 30 days. Pass or don't pay.

If the system doesn't work for you, email within 30 days for a full refund, no questions, no forms. The method either earns its $39 or it costs nothing.

Get the workbook