USATestprep Blog

You can always download student results and save them to your hard drive or your network.

When you look under your “Student Results” tab (1) on your Teacher Home page, you will see Export on the left. First, make sure you select the appropriate Class, Activity, Date range, and any other variables that are appropriate. Next, Choose which version of Excel you have on your computer (2), then click the Export button.

These results will automatically download to your computer. Depending on your computer settings, Excel may open automatically, but you might have to manually start it on your own. The results are sortable and editable to suit your needs. Of course, it helps to have some prior use of Excel, but this might be something to ask your I.T. department about.

Even though it goes without saying, we’ll say it anyway: if you have any questions, just email or call us.

Ever see a question on USATestprep that you wanted to put on a benchmark test? Ever wanted to put your OWN questions on a benchmark test? Well, you can do both of those things by utilizing our “Favorites” feature.

If you see a question that you’d like to remember for another day, look for the “Add to Favorites” link underneath the question.

This will automatically add the question to your Favorites tab on your teacher home page. Here you can see both the USATestprep question you’ve tagged as favorites AND any questions of your own that you’ve input.

Clicking on the My Questions link, will allow you to add your own questions on the site. Choose “Add Question” and you start a 3 part step to adding a question. First, chose the Test Subject (1)you want the question to be a part of. Note: you must have already created a class that is associated with that test subject. Then choose the (2)standard with which the question will be associated. (Nomenclature in your state may vary from the example shown.) When finished, click the “Continue” button.

Next, input your question. You can assign an image (1) to your question. Just click the box and upload your jpg, png, or gif file. If the question needs a prompt or a passage, input it in the (2) prompt box. The text of your question (3) goes in the next box, and the choices (4) can be input underneath. BE SURE to choose (5) the correct answer… very important! If you want to include an explanation like other questions on USATestprep, input it (6) in the Explanation/Feedback box. You may also notice that you can use HTML tags by clicking on the (7) yellow HTML button. The button is associated specifically with the field to which it is adjacent. If you don’t wish to do this, simple ignore them. Once you’ve completed this step, click “Review Question.”

Then proof your work. If you need to revise it, (1) click the “Edit Question” link. If it looks perfect to you, (2) click the Submit Question button and it will be saved on your Favorites Tab.

The next time you create a Benchmark test in this test subject, you can add that question in third step of the process. Click “Replace With Similar Question” link…

… then choose (1) the “Favorites” tab on the next modal window. You will see relevant questions (2) you’ve entered- and you’ll also have access to USATestprep Questions (3) that you’ve previously tagged. When see the question you want to insert, just click (4) the green “Choose Question” button.

The system automatically replaces the old question with this new one. You can also see this is a question that YOU created: look at the apple!

You should note that when you create a question only YOU will have access to it. Yes, we store it for you, but no other teachers- not in any other school or even within your school- will be able to add it into their own benchmark tests, nor will it show up in their practice questions. Your question is only for you.

If you ever have any questions about this process, don’t hesitate to lest us know.

Need to let your students’ parents know about your school’s USATestprep account? Would a reminder about reviewing for state testing be a good thing to let them know on the “home front”? We’ve got you covered.

On your Teacher Home page, you can print off two versions of our “Parent Letters.” Just click the appropriately-named “Parent Letters” link on the right.

You will see a pdf document for two options: a “Warm” and a “Stern” letter.

Both say some of the same things, but while the “Warm” letter simply lets the parents know about upcoming testing and your school’s subscription to USATestprep, the “Stern” letter lets them know that their child has not been doing as well, and that remediation is paramount importance.

Each letter can be printed and handed out to the student(s). But if you would like to tweak or personalize the message, feel free to “cut-and-paste” the text into a word processing document and edit it as you see fit.

We hope this adds a layer of accountability and documentation to your efforts to prepare all of your students for their demanding tests.

We recently unveiled our preparation and review materials for the ACT. We now are pleased to announce that these materials are now available to even more states:

So be sure to spread the word to any colleagues you may have in these states. Pricing and other information can be found on our site, but don’t hesitate to contact us for any additional questions.

Badges are a way to reward student activity and achievement on USATestprep. Some badges are assigned automatically by our system, but you can assign them to students, too.

From your Teacher Home page, click the Badges tab.

You can (1) look at the list of badges that our system automatically assigns to users, but you might want to (2) create your own badge, too.

In the first step, enter a title (1) for the badge and (2) a brief description. Next, choose the icon (3) you want to show up on the student’s Home page. (For this example, we’ll use the four leaf clover.) Then, if you’d like a specific start/end date, (4) pick them from the pop-up calendar. Otherwise, you can just choose to have it Display Indefinitely.

The last step is to assign the badge. You can give it to an entire class or a specific student.

Then, when the student logs in… boom: a badge!

We hope your students like this feature as much as we liked getting gold stars on our papers back… way back… in the olden days!

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.

You asked for it, now we’ve got it.


Because USATestprep subscribers requested it, we recently completed development of an online review product for all four sections of the ACT. We custom built this resource to correspond to the ACT College Readiness Standards. Our offerings include ACT Reading, English, Mathematics and Science. Each new test review includes all of the same great features as our current products. And, they are being offered at similarly affordable rates.


We can add any of our ACT products to your current subscription, so just give us a call or an email. As will all of our services, we can have the ACT Review available to your account within 24 hours of receiving your credit card or purchase order. We can also provide you with a pro-rated price so all your expiration dates match. We look forward to hearing from you!

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!

We’ve just added a few new features to USATestprep that you should know about.

We’ve just added lots of new avatars for teachers and students. Users can now choose from a devious but handsome Rat, a conniving T-Rex, two new Teacher options (but only for teachers), a Chicken Overlord, a hungry Caterpillar, and a beautiful Butterfly.

A few of these characters can even be seen in our brand new projector-based game, Time Bus. It will remind you of those days of playing board games as a kid, but now you can go it online using your LCD projector while reviewing important curriculum with your students. Be sure to check out the How-To video we have on this new game.

Finally, you’ve always been able to merge a student’s multiple accounts as an Account Admin. Now our “Student Merge Suggestor” will help you out. Clicking that option will enable you to merge many accounts for many students with a simple mouse click. Again, please check out our How-To Video on this new feature.

We know these tools will make using the site a little more colorful, fun, and easy. Let us know if you have any comments or questions.