USATestprep Blog

Like us, if you ever watched any of the old Kung Fu movies that were so popular “back in the day,” you’re probably familiar with the term “dojo.” If not, dojo refers to either a place of training or a set of training tools used in the martial arts. Though testing can sometimes seem like a contact sport, our dojo is meant to be slightly less… physical. Our Study Guide Dojo- accessible from the Print Resources section of your Test Subject page- is meant to provide your student(s) with a hard-copy guide of tasks to complete.

Here, (1) you can determine what activities you- the “Sensei”- would like (2) your student(s)- the “Grasshopper”- to complete. If you want to make a Dojo for the entire class, just leave the Grasshopper information blank. In the Documentation Requested section (3) you can choose how you would like their progress reported to you.

The Activities sections offers lots of choices. If you would like to have the system automatically and randomly select the activities for you, just click “USATestprep Quick Pick” (1) in the green box. But you will probably prefer to choose which tasks you would like to assign. Simply click from the choices available: (2) Tests, (3) Domain Tests, (4) Question Activities- “practice” activities-, (5) Vocabulary Activities, (6) Online Crosswords, any of our (7) Games, and/or our (8) Skill Work activities. You can also specify (A) if you would like the student(s) to work on all standards in the subject, a specific standard,  or their weakest standard. If you’re asking them to complete a game you can (B) specify which game, and you can also specify which specific Skill Work you would like them to do (C).

Lastly, you can choose to have your student(s) complete any of our (1) printed activities. Since these printed activities are available only on the teacher side of USATestprep, you will have to print them a copy of these activities ahead of time. These can all be found in the Print Resources section of your Test Subject page. When you’re finished choosing, just click “Create Study Guide.” (2)

You then be able to view and print the Study Guide Dojo you just created.

A few last reminders:

• The dojo, however, is not permanently stored in the system, so be sure to make extra copies of it for your records.
• If you are giving a dojo to the entire class, the questions will vary from student to student, even if you are having them perform the same activities on the same standard. This is just like any other non-Benchmark test activity on the site.
• When students begin an activity, they should still have the option to report the scores to you. As long as you have already created a class and associated that class with the relevant Test Subject, they will see your name from a pull-down menu on the first step of the process.

You can always watch the How To video on the Study Guide Dojo, available under the “Print Resources” section of the How To Videos. If you have more questions, just give us a call or email.

USATestprep not only has a database of over 40,000 multiple choice questions. We also have many Free Response questions for High School English, Math, and many Science subjects.

To find these, look on your Test Subject page, in the Online Resources category. If your subject has them, they will be here:

When you click the link, you will see the Free Response topics we have within that test, sorted by your state standards. Clicking the symbol will expand those standards and reveal all of the topics we have. From here you can 1) Print a copy to hand to students to complete manually, 2) View and print an answer key, and 3) Assign the topic to your students to be completed online.

If you choose the Assign the topic, you will be taken through the Assignment process, just like you would if you were creating an Assignment from the Teacher Home Page. Be sure, in Step 2- Choose Assignment”- to specify a point value at the bottom of the page. You can toggle the points from 1 to 100 by clicking the pull-down option.

The assignment will show up on your students’ Home page, ready for completion. After it has been completed, you will be able to access it and grade it via the Assignments tab on your Home page.

The Free Response option will allow you to test your students’ knowledge outside of the standard multiple choice arena. Please let us know if you have any questions or comments.

From time to time we all need a little assistance. If you ever need help using USATestprep, you’ve got lots of options, and they can also be found on your Teacher Home page.

1. We have dozens of brief How-To Videos on the site. These look at specific tools and tasks found on the site, and are meant to instruct you quickly and easily.

2. Just below that is a Teacher’s Manual that you can download and, if needed, print.

3. You can also click the Training link to look at our other options for helping your faculty use USATestprep.

Here, you will find many different opportunities for our staff to instruct you and your fellow teachers about the tools on USATestprep. From webinars to onsite training, we’ve got you covered.

And, of course, you can email or call us. We’ll help you out!

Do you have a website for your students? If so, you can put our Question of the Day (QOTD) and Vocabulary of the Day (VOTD) on your site.

When you go a Test Subject page, look for the Online Resources category and click the first link under that.

Just follow the simple steps on the next page.

Our system will generate code for you to insert into your website’s code. Just place it between the “” tags.

If you need help with this, just give us a call. We’re happy to help.

Its almost that time again: time for basketball tournaments to dominate the sporting headlines around the country. You can capitalize on that excitement by having your own tournament with our original two player game, Smackdown. You can find it under the Games tab on either the Teacher or Student site in each test subject.

But you can also print out tournament-style brackets to make the game even more interesting. You can find this on your Teacher Home page. Just look for “Tournament Brackets” on the right in yellow box.

A pdf file will open up with tournament brackets for 4, 8, 16, and 32 players.

Bring out the competitive side of your students by using Smackdown and these brackets not just in March but all year long!

You might decide to change your password during the year. Or maybe your school has changed email nomenclature and you need to revise your email address with us. This is a very easy task that you can handle quickly.

Just look for the Edit Account link under your avatar on your Home page.

Then, make any of the necessary changes. Be SURE to click the green Save Changes button when you’re through.

See: we told you that was easy!

If you ever have a problem getting onto or using USATestprep know that there are a few things you can do to troubleshoot.
If we are aware of issues on our end we will send out notifications about the situation, either through the Message system on your Home page or through an email. But usually the issue lies on the user’s end. Here are some common occurrences.

Firewall Issues
Perhaps you experience a processing delay in which scores or submitted data does not seem to go through. This could be an issue of your school’s network, or firewall. If you believe this to be the case, please call or email us. We can send you or your I.T. department information that you can use to make sure our information can pass through the firewall safely and securely.

Videos or Games Won’t Play

• If this is on a school computer, check with the IT department before doing anything.
• Make sure you have updated your web browser (Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox, etc.) to the latest version.
• Check that you have the latest version of Adobe Flash on the computer. http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/

Of course, if you need to call or email us we’re happy to assist you. It would also be helpful to know what browser- and version- you are using.

Every Monday morning, USATestprep’s Facebook page contains “Today’s Milestone.” We highlight an anniversary or event in history that is relevant to what students study in school.

Of course, sometimes they represent a fact that is just plain awesome, such as the unveiling of Kermit the Frog on Washington, DC, television in 1955. Regardless, we’ve received feedback from teachers who use “Today’s Milestone” as a bonus question or icebreaker in class.

So if you haven’t checked us out on Facebook, click here. If you have, see you Monday!

The Manage Class section on the Teacher Home Page contains some valuable tools you may want to utilize.

To find it, just click on the Classes tab to display all classes you have already created. Then, choose the green Manage Class button on the right.

You can then access a great amount of information about that class. You can 1) change the name of the class, 2) edit the test subjects associated with that class, 3) Add/Remove Students, 4) print out password cards for each student in that class, and 5) look at the Progress, Gradebook, Students, and Class Results associated with that class.

The Progress tab allows you to see how that class is doing with the content they are required to master. You can choose the appropriate test subject, click “Go,” and quickly see how the class is doing. Note that Progress statistics are solely based on specific activities such as Benchmark Tests, Objective Tests, and Full Test results, not practice activities or games.



Clicking the ± symbol expands the standard to show progress in specific elements. The exclamation point shows areas in which the class might benefit from remediation.



The Gradebook tab shows the Assignments and Benchmark tests completed by students. These results are clickable, sortable, and exportable, allowing you greater control of the data.



The Students tab allows you to access to your students’ login information. Clicking on a student’s name…



… will let you see information such as the student’s account information, individual progress, the time the he/she has spent on site, and the results of all tasks they have completed.



And then there is the Results tab. This, much like the Student Results tab on the Teacher Home Page, gives you access to everything your students have done on the site. These results are also sortable, exportable, and clickable. Click “View” to see detailed results of a student’s performance on a specific assignment.



All of these should allow you to keep tabs on the performance of your students in a complete and easy manner. As always, lets us know if you have any questions.

This probably never happens to you- just to other teachers- but sometimes a student may forget his or her password. Any teacher can help a student if this happens.

From your Home page, look for the “Student Password Search” link.

 

Next, simply type in the student’s name. It could be the student’s first name…

 

… or their last name.

 

When you find the name, click the Search button. You will then see the Username and Password for the student you selected. You can even print a password card for them.

 

This should help calm nerves- theirs AND yours- should a student panic over a forgotten password.