Prep-U is:

• An adaptive quizzing system that makes learning more efficient by selecting and delivering questions targeted to each student's individual needs.
• A dynamic repository of student performance data that allows you, the instructor, to instantly view and interpret this data in order to make decisions about how to spend your lecture and review time.
• A robust bank of carefully authored and edited assessment questions.

Adaptive quizzing means that the questions in every quiz are chosen especially for each student, based on previous quiz performance. Successive quizzes adapt as students improve their knowledge about each topic. With Prep-U, a quiz is never too easy or too difficult. Students receive more difficult questions only when they are ready for them.

Prep-U and computerized adaptive testing engines use a series of algorithms to present questions to users that are appropriate for their individual ability levels. The difference is that CAT systems measure mastery at a specific point, usually as a summative assessment at the end of a semester. Prep-U measures mastery throughout the semester and uses that information to create an adaptive training environment, helping students to recognize problem areas, focus their study time, and improve their skills through practice quizzes. Providing questions at the appropriate level throughout the semester enhances student engagement with the material—students are neither bored nor discouraged. The Prep-U engine continuously calibrates mastery levels so that students can see their progress. Prep-U's main focus is not to measure mastery, but to improve it. For Prep-U, assessment is a means, not an end.

Developed by educator and researcher Benjamin Bloom, Bloom's Taxonomy is a classification system that categorizes key learning objectives into six levels of increasing complexity: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Bloom found that "over 95% of the test questions students encounter require them to think only at the lowest possible level—the recall of information." (Source: http://www.officeport.com/edu/blooms.htm). Prep-U provides you and your students with questions distributed across Bloom's levels.

One Click Assessment (OCA) is perhaps one of the most important Prep-U features for instructors. OCA is an executive summary of your students' usage and performance within Prep-U. With one click you can access a window into your class's Prep-U activity, strengths, weaknesses, and misconceptions. OCA enables you to easily review current usage and assessment statistics for your class. One Click Assessment statistics are based on your students' performance as they take Prep-U quizzes. You can track each student's progress as well as see if your class as a whole understands specific topics. You can also compare your students to other classes nationwide that are using Prep-U for the same course.

One of Prep-U's important features is its ability to rate a question's difficulty, which it does using real data. The only reliable way to determine difficulty is to analyze actual student performance on each and every question, so that's what we do.

When a new question is written for Prep-U it enters a calibration phase. During this phase, the question is presented to students on quizzes randomly. A difficulty rating is assigned only after the question has been answered by enough students to properly assess its level. Questions that are in the calibration phase are labeled as such in the Question Database.

After calibration is complete, a difficulty rating of 0 to 100 is assigned, with 100 being the most difficult. The difficulty rating corresponds roughly to the proportion of students who got the question wrong. Once a question graduates to active status it will still be selected for calibration occasionally. Thus we continuously assess our questions to ensure an accurate difficulty rating.

You can see the difficulty rating for all calibrated question in the database. Difficulty ranges from 1–100 and is presented in the form of a color-coded thermometer (blue=easy, orange=medium, red=difficult).

Prep-U’s eight Mastery Levels reflect your students' grasp of key topics in your Prep-U course. Students receive a Mastery Level for every topic in which they’ve taken one or more quizzes. The Mastery Levels are calculated using the number of questions the student has answered correctly and the difficulty rating of those questions. In general, students will get a lot of early quiz questions right but to really improve their mastery of the course material (and their overall Mastery Level), they need to use Prep-U regularly and continue to perform well on quizzes as the question difficulty level increases.

While Mastery Levels are individualized by student, you can also view the overall and average Mastery Level of your class via One Click Assessment (within the "Overall Performance" section).

A misconception is not simply an incorrect answer indicating one student's struggle with a difficult concept. It is a persistent, hard-to-change misunderstanding among many students. Misconceptions can be excellent opportunities for instruction, but first they must be identified.

By analyzing the answer patterns of hundreds of thousands of student responses, we've developed a mathematical model for identifying misconceptions. The end result: Misconception Alerts, which identify questions likely to represent a student misconception.

By viewing questions with a Misconception Alert, you can pinpoint questions which represent significant student misconceptions. These misconceptions are a great source of material for clicker questions, classroom discussions, peer instruction, review sessions, and study materials.

Ensuring that students master course material is our top priority, so we've engaged in studies to measure Prep-U's effectiveness. In a randomized, controlled study with Jay Phelan 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! Watch our screencast to learn how using Prep-U can boost student performance by 6–10%.

For each existing Prep-U product, the Question Database offers students and instructors 5,000–9,000 questions (depending on the subject/book). The Prep-U inventors believe strongly that any quizzing engine—but particularly one that is adaptive—must contain a robust collection of class-tested questions in order to truly measure individual performance.

Private Reserve questions are permanently blocked from use on quizzes nationwide. For example, there are 75 Private Reserve questions available for each chapter of Jay Phelan's What is Life: A Guide to Biology. You can elect to use Private Reserve questions in your Prep-U assignments for your classes and/or export the questions for exams/tests. Because they have not been seen by your students, Private Reserve questions ensure fairness on assignments and exams.

One of Prep-U's powerful features is the expansion of many of its questions into "variants." Question Variants are based on the same stem question, but provide the student with a different array of answers. The power of this feature is that it provides insight for instructors into the confusions that may be causing students to arrive at wrong answers.

As you browse the Question Database, you will notice that each variant "family" is represented by a single question. Questions that have variations are followed by a link that reads "See other variants of this question." You can see and use the variants by clicking on the link. There are never more than three variants for any question. Note that we only count the representative question, not the variants, in the total count of questions available within Prep-U.

Question Variants add tremendous value to the Prep-U experience. Asking students to answer variations of the same question helps them improve their fundamental understanding of a concept and ensures that they are not just memorizing the right answer. Your students will never see more than one question from any particular family on any quiz, and they are less likely to see the exact same question when they take multiple quizzes on the same subject.

Prep-U includes numerous questions with images. As with all Prep-U questions, these images can be used in assignments and/or exported for use in printed exams.

Prep-U does not currently support questions with videos or animations, but we are exploring this option as part of our long-term development plan.

Prep-U is built on a database of 5,000–8,500 questions (depending on the Prep-U subject). Because the assessment content is vast, we offer tools that make browsing and searching through our content easy. Within the question database you can:

• Browse and select questions
• Sort and search for questions with specific criteria
• Add questions to assignments
• Add questions to your question cart
• Allocate certain questions for your use only

The Question dashboard provides additional information including total number of questions and the number of Unique and Private Reserve questions. The number of questions per Bloom's Taxonomy level is provided in graphic form, along with the total number of questions for each chapter section.

You can quickly and easily create assignments using Prep-U's sizable bank of assessment content as well as your own questions. You can access questions and add them to assignments in a few ways:

• Through the "View/Edit Assignments" link.
• While browsing the Question Database for any chapter or topic (the database also includes any questions you've authored within Prep-U).
• While browsing your question cart.

Whenever you're viewing a question you like, just click on the "Add to an assignment" link. Once you've selected the questions for your assignment, you can edit assignments, assign a title, and set deadlines. Your students will see your assignments after logging into Prep-U.

Yes! You can specify a time limit for an assignment in two ways:

1. You can set a start date and a deadline by which students must complete an assignment (e.g., September 1–September 7).
2. You can specify a time limit for specific assignments (e.g., once students start an assignment, they must complete it within 30 minutes).

Students are informed of the time limit before they begin the assignment and a countdown timer appears on the upper right corner of their screen letting them know how much time they have left. Of course, the time limit is optional. You may also allow your students to use as much time as they wish.

Prep-U assignments are all posted in the Eastern Time Zone. If you are teaching in a different time zone, advise your students to adjust assignment times to match your time zone.

As you review the Prep-U Question Database (using Prep-U's intuitive question dashboard), you can easily select questions you'd like to consider for exams by clicking on "Add to your question cart."

To create an exam, open your question cart and select "Create an exam from your question cart" at the top of the page. A new browser window will open with an HTML page of all of the questions from your question cart. You may then print or save the exam (.txt or .rtf formats are best) for additional editing. See the User's Guide for additional tips.

Prep-U does offer the same test-generating functionality of computerized test banks but we wouldn't suggest limiting your use of Prep-U to exam creation. Prep-U's greatest value is in using the engine as a formative assessment tool through low-stakes, self-paced quizzing. Through regular quizzing adapted to individual performance and mastery, Prep-U offers students the opportunity to learn more efficiently and focus their studying time. Instructors benefit from the comparative data and statistics available in One Click Assessment. So, while Prep-U is a flexible test generation tool, it would be limiting to use it solely for this purpose.

Prep-U's Question Cart and exam creation tools enable you to export questions from Prep-U for use in exams and other assignments. To export questions from Prep-U, follow the same steps as if you were creating an exam using Prep-U content.

One of Prep-U's strengths is the sheer volume of assessment content available to you and your students. We recognize, though, that reviewing questions for assignments and exams should be efficient and intuitive. Prep-U's new Search and Sort Bar makes it easier for you to find what you are looking for quickly.

You can sort your results by specific criteria (e.g., questions with images, difficulty level, Bloom's taxonomy, Misconception Alerts). A search function enables you to see all questions containing a key word or concept or to refine your results.

The Question Dashboard provides a summary of data by chapter or section, including question totals, Private Reserve questions, and the distribution of questions across Bloom's levels.

You can easily edit your own questions in Prep-U. Currently, you cannot edit Prep-U-authored questions directly. You can export questions from Prep-U (by saving them to your Question Cart and then exporting them), edit them accordingly, and re-enter them into Prep-U as your own question.

Yes! From the Questions tab on the Prep-U home page, you can add questions via the "Enter your own question" link. You can include images with your questions, tag them according to Bloom's taxonomy, and submit them to your Question Database so you can assign your question content along with questions already included in Prep-U.

Yes! The best clicker questions within Prep-U are those that have been identified with a Misconception Alert. You can view questions with a Misconception Alert either via One Click Assessment or the Question Database (you can search specifically for Misconception Alerts via the search and sort menu bar). You can then save Misconception questions to your question cart, export them, and incorporate them into your lecture as clicker or discussion questions in class.

Yes. By default, all questions except Private Reserve questions are available to students for quizzes, but you can easily block questions on a question-by-question basis. Under each question, you can change the question status from "will be shown" to "will not be shown," by clicking on the word "change."

At this time, you can block questions individually but not entire topics or sections from Prep-U. We are developing a tool that will enable you to block sections or topics. Right now, you can either:

• Direct your students not to take quizzes for specific topics or sections in Prep-U.
• Use the Question Database to identify topics you don't want to cover in class and then hide individual questions linked to those topics or sections.

You can delete your own questions from the Prep-U database (through the "View Your Questions" link). If you made a mistake, don't worry! You can always undelete your questions as well. You cannot delete Prep-U questions from the Question Database, but you can elect to hide individual questions from your students (which will have the same effect).

Yes! You may use the Gradebook Synchronization Wizard to synchronize your data between BioPortal and Prep-U and import Prep-U data back into your BioPortal course. BioPortal is built upon a customized version of the ANGEL learning management system; therefore, the Gradebook Synchronization Wizard will work with BioPortal as well as with a campus hosted version of ANGEL. Follow the directions on screen to utilize the Wizard.

First, you must create your class (or classes) in Prep-U. The “Add a Class” link (available from your home page) allows you to create a class so your students can enroll in it. Once they are enrolled, your students can use Prep-U to focus their studying and you can assess their mastery of the material and compare it against national statistics.

After you create the class, you’ll be given a Class Code. To enroll, your students just need to log in to Prep-U, select “My Classes,” and follow the instructions on the screen.

Yes, the Edit a Class link (on the home page) allows you to view and edit the details of an existing class (e.g., change the name or term of your class).

Once your class is completed, you can change its status to "inactive" from the home page. You can still access an inactive class's assessment data and grades by clicking on the "View inactive classes" link.

You can find individual student data most easily through One Click Assessment's Class Roster section. This section contains a roster for your class with some basic information and statistics about each student. You can view comprehensive performance data for each student by clicking on the "stats" link next to his or her name.

To add a student to your class, you'll need to give the student your class code and direct them to select "Join a Class," enter your class code, and follow the instructions on screen. To remove a student from your class, locate the student in the Class Roster and select the "remove" link.

One Click Assessment enables you to view cumulative usage and assessment statistics for your class. Via One Click Assessment, you can track each student's progress as well as see if your class as a whole understands specific topics. You can also compare your students to other classes nationwide that are using Prep-U for the same course.

You can see how your students compare via One Click Assessment and through the Question Database, both of which include comparisons to the national student population at a broad level (Mastery Level) and individual question level.

Locate and select "View/create assignments" from your home page. You'll then be able to see a list of your current class assignments. From the "Actions" drop-down menu, make sure "view results" is selected and click "go." Select "Download assignment results in CSV (comma separated values) format." You can then save all student scores/data for import into other grade book software or Excel.

Yes, the new Gradebook Synchronization Wizard makes it easy to transfer quizzing scores from your Prep-U class to almost any course management system in a few easy steps. The Wizard is important when you want to use Prep-U for quizzing—and access its comparative data—but need to post Prep-U scores into your local campus LMS (learning management system). The Gradebook Synchronization Wizard supports Blackboard, WebCT, ANGEL, and any other LMS that accepts a (CSV) spreadsheet import into its gradebook.

To access the Wizard, go to "View/Edit Assignments" and select "Export Grades to your LMS." Follow the instructions on the screen to utilize the wizard.

From the top menu bar, locate and select "Student Mode." You will then be able to experience Prep-U as your students do.

You can change your password at any time by selecting "Profile" from the top menu bar.

You can request a free trial, where you receive complete Prep-U functionality and content for two chapters. To sign up for a trial, you may:

• Locate "Instructor, Request Access' from the Prep-U home page and follow the instructions on screen to request a trial account.
• Contact your Bedford, Freeman & Worth sales representative directly to request access.

After completing either of the above steps, you'll receive an email with your Prep-U account details, including your username and password.

To adopt Prep-U and receive full access to the product and all of its content, you may:

• Locate "Instructor, Request Access" from the Prep-U home page and follow the instructions on screen to request an adopting instructor's account.
• Contact your Bedford, Freeman & Worth sales representative directly to request access.

After completing either of the above steps, you'll receive an email with your Prep-U account details, including your username and password.

Prep-U is an online quizzing system. To use Prep-U, you need to have access to the Internet and a relatively up-to-date browser. We support the following browsers:

• Mozilla Firefox 2.0+
• Internet Explorer 6+
• Safari 3+
• Opera 9+
• Chrome 1+

If you filter cookies, you must allow session cookies. Also, JavaScript must be enabled (in most browsers, JavaScript is enabled by default). Instructions for enabling JavaScript are available here.

After you've logged into Prep-U, click on the "Profile" link from the main navigation along the top right corner of any Prep-U screen. The "Edit Profile" form on the next page allows you to change your password.

The email address you used to register for Prep-U is your user name. To retrieve a forgotten password, select "Forgot your password?" from the Prep-U home page (www.prep-u.com). You will then be directed to enter your email address; your password will be emailed to you.

If you purchased a new copy of Jay Phelan's What is Life?, your Prep-U activation code has been bound into the front of your textbook. If you purchased a textbook/access card package, your activation code will be printed on the access card.

In either case, you will need to register your activation code to begin your subscription. Go to "Students, Access Prep-U Now" on the home page (www.prep-u.com). Locate "Have an Access Card?" and select "Go." Enter your activation code and follow the prompts to set up your account

Didn't purchase a new textbook or package? You may purchase a subscription to Prep-U online through the "Students, Purchase Access Online" link on the Prep-U home page (www.prep-u.com).

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).

Your student activation code will be a series of numbers and letters that resembles the following: M6-32w-6bv8xq95.

You can purchase a subscription to Prep-U online via the "Students, Purchase Access Online" link on the Prep-U home page (www.prep-u.com). Follow the instructions on the screen to complete your purchase using MasterCard, Visa, American Express, Discover, or eCheck. You may purchase a Prep-U subscription for either 180 days or 365 days.

No, printed activation codes are valid for one registration only. Prep-U subscriptions are not transferable.

If you are accessing Prep-U using a printed access code, your access code automatically determines your Prep-U subject. For example, if you purchased an access card bound into Jay Phelan's What is Life?, Prep-U will recognize your access code and link it to What is Life?

If you purchased access to Prep-U through our e-Commerce option and chose the wrong subject or book, contact technical support. They can issue a refund for your purchase (according to our rebate policy below) so that you can purchase access to the proper version of Prep-U.

From the log in field on the home page (www.prep-u.com), enter your user name and password, choose your subject, and click "Log In" to begin. Check "Remember Me" from the home page so that Prep-U remembers your user name and designated subject on future visits.

Refunds are available for online subscriptions only. If you purchased access to Prep-U online, you may cancel your subscription within two weeks of purchase and receive a full refund provided you have not taken more than 20 quizzes.

Refunds will be credited to the credit card you used to purchase Prep-U. If you request a refund and then re-subscribe to the same Prep-U product, you will not be eligible to request any further refunds for that product.

If you purchased an activation code packaged with or bound into a textbook, the access code may not be refundable if the package has been opened or the code has been used. Your bookstore may have additional limitations regarding textbook and media package returns.

Yes. If you want to use Prep-U for more than one subject or course, you will need to purchase an access card or online subscription for each subject. As we develop Prep-U for more subjects, we may offer students discounts for purchasing multiple subjects at one time.

Definitely! Prep-U is best used as an independent study tool. It's like a personal tutor; its adaptive quizzing system offers you personalized content and support, including a report of your progress broken down by topic. Prep-U helps you know exactly where to focus your study efforts.

Adaptive quizzing means that the questions you see in each quiz are chosen especially for you, based on your previous quiz performance and specifically adapted to your level of knowledge. With Prep-U, a quiz is never too easy or too difficult. You receive more difficult questions only when you are ready for them.

Log into Prep-U from www.prep-u.com. Choose the "Take a New Quiz" option from the menu on the left. You will then be directed to choose your quiz topics and quiz length (number of questions). Select "Go" from Step 3 and your quiz will begin.

At this time, you cannot change your answers during a quiz.

Yes. To exit a quiz that you have not yet completed, click on any of the navigation buttons at the top of the page.

To return to your unfinished quiz, go to the "How Am I Doing?" page and click on the "By Quiz" tab. Look for your quiz, and click the "Finish quiz" link. You'll be taken back to your finished quiz.

Prep-U’s eight Mastery Levels reflect your grasp of key topics in your Prep-U course. You will receive a Mastery Level for every topic in which you’ve taken one or more quizzes. Your Mastery Level in each topic is based on your quiz performance and the difficulty of the questions you've answered.

You earn a higher Mastery Level as you take more difficult quizzes. If you continue to struggle with more difficult questions, answering only the easier questions correctly, you will continue to see a low Mastery Level.

Your Mastery Level depends not just on the number of questions you answer correctly, but also on the difficulty level of those questions. Thus, answering most of the questions on a quiz correctly will not increase your Mastery Level dramatically unless the questions are more difficult than those on your previous quiz.

When you take a quiz on a new topic, you begin with easy questions. As you do well on quizzes, you will be faced with more difficult questions. To receive a high Mastery Level, you must conquer these more difficult questions. If you've done well on your first quiz, that’s a great step!

We want you to know exactly where you stand. Mastery Levels let you know which topics you've mastered and which you still need to work on. By identifying your strengths and weaknesses, Mastery Levels help you see how you compare to your classmates and where you need to focus your study efforts.

From the "How Am I Doing?" tab, select the sub-tab "By Quiz." Here you will find a list of your past quizzes. Locate the quiz you would like to review and select "View Answer Key".

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.

You will receive a class code from your instructor. Once you receive the class code, select "My Classes" from the top right navigation bar and enter the code. You will then be enrolled in your instructor’s class and will be alerted to assignments he or she creates.

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.

Yes, each class code is unique and associated with a specific course.

Yes. Choose the "My Classes" option at the top right navigation bar and you will be prompted to select your desired class from your list of enrolled classes.

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.

Log into Prep-U (www.prep-u.com). If you are enrolled in more than one Prep-U class, you’ll first be prompted to select the class for which you’d like to use Prep-U during this visit.

From the "Assignments" tab on the home page, you’ll be able to see any complete and incomplete assignments created by your instructor. Locate the assignment you are ready to complete and click on "Take a Quiz" in the Status column. Only assignments that are incomplete and active (not past the deadline) will have a "Take a Quiz" option.

Prep-U assignments are set according to the Eastern Time Zone. Unsure what that means for you? Refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Us_time_zones. You will need to adjust assignment times to match your own time zone.

Contact your instructor.