In the recent years Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) has become an indispensable engineered wood product, especially within Europe. Due to its shear-flexible transverse layers, the calculation method has to capture these effects. Most commonly used approximation methods in practice are the Timoshenko beam theory, the gamma-method and the shear analogy method. Each method has its advantages and shortcomings. A comprehensive study on uniformly loaded multispan beams using the mentioned methods was conducted. It was shown, that at the middle supports (local force introduction) the normal stresses (Timoshenko and gamma method) deviate from the reference solution (2D FE solution). The shear analogy method was able to capture these local effects better than the other employed methods, but with a higher modelling effort (two coupled beam elements). Higher beam theories are a possibility to reduce the modelling and discretization effort and reach a suitable approximation of normal stresses within CLT at middle support areas.