Student s User Guide. Need help? Contact us at [email protected] or

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1 Student s User Guide Need help? Contact us at [email protected] or

2 Contents Introduction 3 Prep U Features 3 System Requirements 3 Getting Started 4 Option One: Register an Access Code 4 Option Two: Purchasing Online Access 5 Log In to Prep U 5 Joining a Class/Entering Your Class Code 5 Using Prep U for Multiple Courses 6 Assignments 6 Take a Quiz 7 Customize Your Topic View 7 Step 1: Choose Your Quiz Topic 7 Step 2: Choose Your Quiz Length 7 Step 3: Start Your Quiz 7 Take Your Quiz 8 Exiting a Quiz to Return Later 8 Analyze Your Results 9 Overall Quiz Summary 9 Mastery Level 10 What are Mastery Levels? 10 Answer Key 12 Use Your Results Data to Improve Your Mastery 12 Review Your Performance 13 Close a Session 14 Need help? Contact us at [email protected] or

3 Introduction Prep U is a personalized quizzing system designed to make your study time more efficient and effective. Unlike traditional quizzing engines, Prep U gets to know you and helps you figure out what you already know and what you need to study in more depth. Prep U Features Personalized adaptive quizzing. As you take quizzes, Prep U quickly determines your knowledge level and gives you questions that are at just the right difficulty level. You ll learn more efficiently because you won t be wasting time on material that is too easy or too hard. Personalized reports. The Prep U personalized reports tell you exactly where you stand. If you've mastered the material, you can go into your exams with confidence. If you aren't where you need to be, the engine gives you the tools to focus your study efforts. If you ve purchased access to Prep U, register (instructions below) and use it often! Ensuring that you master course material is our top priority, and as such, we ve engaged in research studies to measure Prep U s effectiveness. Our results show it works! In a randomized, controlled study at the University of California Los Angeles, students using Prep U to prepare for an introductory biology midterm outperformed their peers by half of a letter grade! System Requirements Prep U is an online quizzing system. To use Prep U, you must have access to the Internet and a relatively up to date browser. Prep U supports the following browsers: Mozilla Firefox 2.0+ Internet Explorer 6+ Safari 3+ Opera 9+ Chrome 1+ IMPORTANT: For Prep U to work correctly, you must allow session cookies. JavaScript must also be enabled. Need help? Contact us at [email protected] or

4 Getting Started Getting started with Prep U is as easy as getting access (either through a printed access card or by purchasing a subscription online), logging in, and taking quizzes. If you are new to Prep U, visit u.com and locate the Students, Access Prep U Now! tab. Underneath that tab, you ll see two options: Have an Access Card? And Purchase Online. Select the option that applies to you (details below) and follow the instructions on screen. If you are unsure, you may also click the What s an access card? or What s this? links under each choice. Option One: Register an Access Code Prep U student activation codes are available either bound into the front of your textbook (as with Jay Phelan's What Is Life?) or packaged with your textbook as a separate access card booklet (as with Sadava et al.'s Life, Eighth Edition). In either case, you will need to register your activation code to begin your subscription. Go to the Students, Access Prep U Now tab from the home page ( u.com). Locate Have an Access Card? and select Go. Enter your activation code and follow the prompts to set up your account. Your student activation code will be a series of numbers and letters that resembles the following: Need help? Contact us at [email protected] or

5 Option Two: Purchasing Online Access Didn t purchase a new textbook or text package? You may purchase a subscription to Prep U online through the Students, Purchase Access link on the Prep U home page ( You may purchase a Prep U subscription for either 180 or 365 days of access. You can use MasterCard, Visa, American Express, Discover, or echeck to make your purchase. NOTE: You cannot share your access code or subscription. Activations are valid for one registration only. Prep U subscriptions are not transferable. Log In to Prep U The opening page of u.com contains a log in screen. Enter your user name (your e mail address) and the password you created during your registration process. You will also need to select your subject (and book, where applicable). Next, click the Sign In button to begin. This takes you to the Prep U home page. TIP: Check Remember Me so you can easily bypass the login process on future visits. Joining a Class/Entering Your Class Code A Class Code allows you to enroll in a course. Each class code is unique and is associated with a specific course. By joining a class via the Class Code, your instructor can assign you quizzes using Prep U. If there is a Class Code associated with your course, you will receive it from your instructor. 1 Once you receive the Class Code from your instructor, click on My Classes at the top of the Prep U home page, and enter the code. Click Submit. 2 You will then be enrolled in your instructor's class and will be alerted to assignments he or she creates. Need help? Contact us at [email protected] or

6 NOTE: Prep U works very well as an independent student assessment engine. Your professor may recommend or require it for independent study only and therefore would not distribute a class code. IMPORTANT: Your class will remain active until your instructor de activates it at the end of the term. But your quizzing data is separate from any specific class; it will be available as long as your Prep U subscription is active. Using Prep U for Multiple Courses If you are using Prep U for more than one course, you will need a class code for each course (provided your instructor is creating assignments using Prep U). Repeat the steps above for each Prep U course you are taking. Once you get to the My Classes section, if you are already enrolled in a class, you have the option to enter an existing class by clicking on that class name. Assignments From the blue navigation bar, select Assignments to access assignments your instructor has created. From the "Assignments" section, you'll be able to see all assignments created by your instructor. You can sort assignments by Status, Start Date, End Date, Number of Questions, or Score. Need help? Contact us at [email protected] or

7 The Status column indicates whether an assignment is complete or incomplete. To review your answers to completed quizzes, select View Answer Key. To work on an incomplete assignment, select Take assignment Take a Practice Quiz From the blue navigation bar, select Take a Practice Quiz. Follow the steps below to customize the quiz for your study session. Step 1: Select Chapters Select the chapters or topics you want your quiz to cover. Step 2: Choose Your Quiz Length Next, choose the number of questions for your quiz. You are now ready to start your session. Need help? Contact us at [email protected] or

8 Step 3: Start Your Quiz Click Quiz Me to start your quiz. The Personalized Quiz Builder tool will assemble questions for you from the database and your new quiz will appear. Take Your Quiz Prep U gives you one question at a time. Click on the button to the left of your answer choice, then click Submit your answer to move to the next question. TIP: Take your time when reading through the questions! You cannot change your answers after you ve selected them. Exiting a Quiz to Return Later To exit a quiz that you have not yet completed, click on the blue navigation bar to move to another part of the site or, select "Logout" from the menu bar on the top right corner of the site. When you log in again and/or return to the home page, go to the How am I Doing? tab, followed by the By Quiz tab. Scroll to the bottom of Quizzes and you will find your unfinished quiz. Click on Finish Quiz and the system takes you back to your unfinished quiz. IMPORTANT: If you are taking a quiz that has been assigned by your instructor, that quiz may have time limits and deadlines (e.g., you can only take the quiz from a.m. on 9/1 and you have a total of 30 minutes to complete it). If you exit a quiz, make sure you return to meet any deadline or time limit that has been set. Need help? Contact us at [email protected] or

9 Analyze Your Results When you finish your quiz, you will, of course, want to see your results. After completing each quiz, you ll be able to assess your overall understanding of the quiz materials and review content question by question. For each quiz, you ll be able to see: Your quiz stats for that quiz Your performance by chapter on that quiz (this is applicable if you are being tested on more than one chapter) A detailed analysis of your mastery of each topic (using the Prep U Mastery Level system) A complete answer key Quiz Results The box at the top left of the page, named Quiz Stats, gives you basic information about your quiz. This box displays how long it took you to complete the quiz, how many questions you answered, the number you answered correctly, and your overall percentage correct (including unanswered questions). Need help? Contact us at [email protected] or

10 Performance by Chapter Below the Quiz Stats box is your Performance by Chapter results for that quiz. This section lists by chapter the number of questions you answered, your Mastery Level (in orange) and the class Mastery Level average (in grey). What are Mastery Levels? Mastery Levels help you understand where you stand by identifying your knowledge, strengths, and weaknesses so you know exactly where to focus your study efforts. The Mastery Levels are designed to help you study more efficiently by indicating which topics you've mastered and which you still need to work on to understand. You will receive a Mastery Level for every topic in which you've taken one or more quizzes. Your Mastery Level (on a scale of 1 8) is based on your quiz performance and the difficulty of the questions you've answered. Mastery Levels are based not just on the number of questions you answer correctly, but also on the difficulty of those questions. For example, answering most of the questions correctly on a quiz will not increase your Mastery Level dramatically if the questions are not more difficult than those on your previous quiz. When you take a quiz on a new topic, the questions start off on the easy side. As you do well on quizzes, your Mastery Level increases and you're faced with more difficult questions. To receive a high Mastery Level you must conquer more difficult questions. If you've done well on your first quiz, that s a great step! Need help? Contact us at [email protected] or

11 Answer Key Underneath your Performance by Chapter data, you ll see the Answer Key to the quiz. The Answer Key shows all questions and answers for your latest quiz. Correct answers are green and incorrect answers are red. As a helpful study tool, correct answers appear immediately after incorrect answers. Your professor can choose not to make the answer key available until after an assignment deadline, so as to make the learning process fair to all students. In this case, when you complete an assignment, you will see a different Quiz Results screen, excluding the Performance by Chapter and the Answer Key sections. Under Quiz Stats, you will receive a message informing you that your results are hidden until the end of the assignment period. Need help? Contact us at [email protected] or

12 TIP: Can t quite remember the question? Select see full question underneath each question number to view the complete question and all answer choices. Use Your Results Data to Improve Your Mastery Level Prep U is designed as your individualized study guide. As explained above, the Mastery Levels provide a numerical guide to your mastery of course material, based on the difficulty of the questions you answered correctly. Additional study with the book, study of the answer key (especially your incorrect answers), and practice with additional quizzes will help you increase your mastery of the topic and your Mastery Level. After evaluating your performance on a quiz, you can choose to take another quiz or see your overall performance by clicking on the desired option in the box labeled Next at the top of the Quiz Results page. If you choose to take another quiz, you will return to Take a Practice Quiz page to once again choose chapters and the number of questions for your next quiz. If you choose see your overall performance, the system takes you to the How am I Doing? page. Review Your Performance If you want to review your performance for the whole term, select How Am I Doing? on the blue navigation bar. The How Am I Doing? page is a dashboard that charts your overall progress and your understanding of each chapter. Use the information in the graphs on this page to focus study time on weak areas, compare your mastery to that of your classmates, and enjoy the progress you ve made. Mastery Level vs. Number of Questions Answered. Use this line graph to chart your overall progress over time and compare your mastery to that of your classmates. Each orange point plotted on the graph represents a quiz you have taken. To read the graph, choose a point and follow it left to the y axis to see your Mastery Level for that quiz. Follow the point down to the Need help? Contact us at [email protected] or

13 x axis to see the number of questions you have answered up to and including that quiz. Two additional features of this graph are worth noting. First, on the x axis line, you will see two arrows, one indicating the average number of questions answered by your classmates and the other indicating the total number of questions you have answered. Second, notice the grey dotted line plotted on the graph. This line represents the class average, and you can read it just as you read your progress line, by tracking left and down to see Mastery Level and Number of Questions Answered. Your Strengths and Weaknesses. This box contains a summary of your strengths and weaknesses as determined by the Mastery Levels you have achieved in the chapters you have been quizzed on. To begin improving your weaknesses, select Take a Practice Quiz on My Weakest Areas. Need help? Contact us at [email protected] or

14 Your Assignment Stats. Here, you can see tallies of your complete and incomplete assignments and compare your average score on assignments with that of your classmates. Click on the orange arrow button to go to your open (incomplete) assignments. Performance by Chapter. Use this bar graph to decide which chapters need additional study. As your Mastery Level or the class average Mastery Level increases, the corresponding bar will grow to the right. A flag icon indicates a chapter in which you are behind the class average. To view quizzes in particular chapters, click on View my related quizzes. Close a Session When you complete a quizzing session, log out from the top right of your screen. Need help? Contact us at [email protected] or