How to Prepare for the Islamic Education 1 Teacher License Test: An 8-Week Plan by Domain Weight

Last verified: 1 November 2026. The weights come from the candidate guide for Islamic Education 1 teachers (pp. 6-7) and the standards from the Islamic Education 1 standards document. This guide is independent: it is not affiliated with ETEC, Qiyas (the National Center for Assessment), the Ministry of Education or any government body.

In short: an eight-week plan that divides your time by domain weight: fiqh and conduct about two weeks (28%), the Qur'an and its sciences about a week and a half (21%), creed one week (23%), the Sunnah and its sciences half a week (18%), teaching the Islamic sciences half a week (10%), then two review weeks with full mock exams. Memorising the last tenth runs alongside from week 1. The next sitting is expected in late January 2027, so adjust the plan to finish before your date (dates).

How we split the time

Fiqh and conduct plus creed make up 51% of the questions, which is why they take weeks 3 to 5. If a domain is already strong from your studies or teaching, shorten its time and add it to your weakest one after the week-1 diagnosis.

Rules that apply every week

• Ruling, then evidence: ETEC's indicators in fiqh and creed ask for the ruling together with its evidence. For every issue, write its ruling and evidence in one line.
• Read the standard, then solve: each standard has indicators in the test content guide, and each question measures one indicator. Start each topic with its indicators, then solve its questions in practice mode.
• Read the explanation of every option: a wrong option shows you how you fall for it over one word, so write down what you got wrong.
• Memorise a little every day: the first indicator of standard 6.35.1 asks for the last tenth of the Qur'an (parts 28 to 30), and standard 6.35.6 includes the daily adhkar. Spread this over the eight weeks instead of leaving it to the end.
• Review your mistakes: every Sunday, redo last week's questions that you got wrong.
• End of every week: practise that week's units (weeks 1 to 6), then a timed full mock exam from the end of week 6.

Week 1: diagnosis and tajwid

• Day one: the free questions to see where you stand across the five domains.
• Start memorising the last tenth, or revise what you already know of it, and give it a fixed slot every day.
• 6.35.1: rules of noon sakinah, tanween, meem sakinah, the doubled letters and the silent laam, the kinds of madd with their causes and lengths (including the heavy letter-based obligatory madd, six counts), articulation points and attributes of letters, isti'adhah and basmalah, and the difference between clear and hidden recitation errors.
• Qur'anic orthography, vowel marks and stop signs, and how you would train primary pupils in these rules and correct their recitation.
• End of the week: practise standard 6.35.1 and note your two weakest standards from the diagnosis.

Week 2: tafsir and the Sunnah

• First half, 6.35.2: word meanings and the overall meaning of verses, a surah's theme and its link to its name, Qur'anic stories and the rulings and lessons drawn from them (a question asks, for example, which stories show that a prophet does not know the unseen), and the difference between tafsir by transmission and tafsir by opinion in the works of exegetes.
• Second half, 6.35.3: the Prophet's lineage, upbringing, character and the main events of his life, the authority of the Sunnah, the Six Books and their compilers and which of them are the Sunan, the Companions who narrated the most hadith, hadith on worship and their lessons, and explaining unfamiliar words (Fath al-Bari is a reference for explaining hadith).
• End of the week: practise standards 6.35.2 and 6.35.3, then a short tajwid review.

Week 3: purification and prayer

• 6.35.5 (first half): purification, wudu and what breaks it, the practices of fitrah, hadath and its types, impurities and removing them, tayammum and wiping over footwear. Describe wudu in your own words, then count its obligatory acts and sunnahs.
• Prayer: telling its conditions, pillars, obligatory acts, sunnahs, invalidators and disliked acts apart. Write out a description of a full prayer and count its pillars, obligatory acts and sunnahs, which is a question style in ETEC's guide.
• Friday, Eid, rain, eclipse and funeral prayers, and someone who catches the imam in the last sitting of Friday prayer.
• End of the week: practise the first part of standard 6.35.5.

Week 4: zakat, fasting, Hajj and etiquette

• 6.35.5 (second half): who owes zakat and on which wealth, zakat al-fitr and voluntary charity, Ramadan fasting and who must make it up, voluntary fasting, the Prophet's Hajj and Umra, someone who passed the miqat without entering ihram and what they owe, and training pupils to perform the rites.
• 6.35.6: etiquette of eating and drinking and what is agreed forbidden and what is disputed, the awra, hijab, the criteria for lawful clothing and imitation, conduct towards parents, relatives and Muslims at large and what undermines dignity, the rights of leaders and scholars, and the daily adhkar.
• Read the texts that show the place of morals in religion, since "the strongest evidence for it" is a recurring question style.
• End of the week: practise standard 6.35.6 and the rest of standard 6.35.5.

Week 5: creed

• 6.35.4 (first half): the concept and importance of creed, Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jama'ah and their sources, proving knowledge of Allah by scriptural and cosmic evidence, Islam, iman and ihsan, and the four levels of qadar (knowledge, writing, will, creation).
• 6.35.4 (second half): the prophethood of Muhammad (peace be upon him), his distinctions and rights, the merit of the Prophet's wives, family and Companions, the categories of tawhid and how they relate, worship with its conditions and pillars, the conditions of "La ilaha illa Allah", the difference between shirk, kufr and hypocrisy and between practical and creedal kufr, and answering atheism.
• End of the week: practise standard 6.35.4, then review the mistakes of the past weeks.

Week 6: teaching the Islamic sciences and the first full mock exam

• 6.35.7: writing objectives for each stage, modern teaching strategies (diagnostic teaching in the Qur'an, concept maps in fiqh, discovery learning), learning difficulties and how to treat them, simplifying abstract concepts for young pupils, technology for correcting recitation, and assessment methods.
• 6.35.8: principles of teaching the Qur'an, the Prophet's teaching methods (such as motivating and encouraging learners), planning the steps of a tajwid lesson and a tawhid lesson, and comparing how the branches are taught.
• End of the week: practise standards 6.35.7 and 6.35.8, then your first timed full mock exam in two hours with no phone. Compare its result with the week-1 diagnosis domain by domain.

Week 7: working on weaknesses

• Go back to the weakest domains in your first full mock exam and practise them unit by unit, starting with fiqh and creed if they are among them, since they are 51% of the test.
• Revise the whole of the last tenth at least once.
• End of the week: a second full mock exam, then review its mistakes.

Week 8: review

• Go back to the weakest domains in your two mock exams, and revise the daily adhkar and the last tenth.
• Two days before the test: a third full mock exam, then a light review. Do not start a new topic on the last day.
• Test day: check the ID you need and what is allowed, sleep early, and arrive early.

If you have less time

If fewer than eight weeks remain, start with the diagnosis and then compress the plan in this order: fiqh and conduct first (28%), then creed (23%), then the Qur'an and its sciences (21%), then the Sunnah and teaching the Islamic sciences. Keep memorising the last tenth daily however short the time. Keep the last three days for two full mock exams and a review of their mistakes.

This plan is our suggestion for organising your time and does not guarantee any score, and a mock exam result is an estimate of readiness, not an official result. Start in unit practice with fiqh and conduct (28% of the questions), and leave the full mock exam for the end of the plan.