Ideas For Using USA Test Prep

Part I of this series introduced readers to USA Test Prep which offers online preparation and practice tests for those students enrolled in state testing classes. USA Test Prep's website contends that "It is simply our desire that through your experiences on this web site, you may become more comfortable with the content and gain the knowledge necessary to successfully complete whatever the Department of Education puts on the Subject Area Testing Program." In other words, USA Test Prep has done its best to mimic the questions as they appear on each state test and offer immediate feedback to students so that they know in what areas they need to improve.

The website offers a weekly review that can be customized. After teachers sign up for the reviews, they are then emailed on a weekly basis. The nice aspect about these reviews is that all teachers need to do is to sign up for them; it is no more work for teachers than simply clicking on a few links and keying in their email addresses.

This is helpful as teachers can project the review onto their SMART boards and have an interactive review session with their students. If teachers make this review session fun, students will look forward to this part of the class each and every week. Inevitably, they will benefit from the review session as they have seen the concepts over and over again, so they are forced to keep refreshing old skills.

Not only is their a weekly review, but there is an array of other features including a tip of the day. The tip is not always oriented towards a subject area, but it may provide students with words of encouragement. Today, the tip says, "Enjoy yourself. Think of this as you vs. them and you're going to come out on top!" This tip encourages students to believe in themselves, and if they do, they will be victorious. With regard to state testing, believing in one's self and exciting students about testing is one half of achieving success.

USA Test Prep also contains a variety of educational games that make reading comprehension and grammar fun. If students are attentive to the website and its offerings, they will improve their reading comprehension strategies as well as their grammar skills. In using the games on USA Test Prep, students think they are playing a game; when, in reality, they are learning difficult material.