ShmoopTube

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All right, well if you want to use Shmoop’s AP Prep tool, you’re gonna need to get to

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it first. [Woman walks and looks at sign to Shmoops AP Prep tools]

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You’ll want to begin from this homepage.

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It’s the one for schools.shmoop.com…not the one for plain ol’ shmoop.com.

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See the difference?

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Okay…so on this page, there are two buttons you’ll grow to know and love.

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First is the Shmoop logo, which will always deliver you straight back here to the homepage. [Arrow points to shmoop logo]

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This other one…the login button…will log you in…then turn into your user name.

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Click that puppy, and you’ll be whisked away to your profile, i.e.

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“Dashboard.”

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Now we’re cookin’ with gas.

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Click on “AP,” then scroll down and click on “AP Exam Prep.” [Mouse cursor clicks on AP Exam prep]

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When a student logs on for the first time, they’ll be prompted to take a diagnostic exam.

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This exam will help them determine their strengths and…their not-so-strengths.

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They’ll be provided with answer explanations, links to drills, topic review, videos, you

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name it.

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They can spend as much or as little time as they want…or as much or as little time as

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you tell them to…on topic review… …brushing up on areas that have given them

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trouble.

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As soon as they feel prepared for battle, it’s off to drill questions…which will [Mouse cursor clicks drills tab]

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help them get a feel for the types of questions they’ll see on the test.

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Okay…so now we can click on “Practice Exams”.

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Look familiar?

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Yep…that’s because we’re totally aligned to the AP tests.

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We try to recreate the best test-taking experience as much as possible, so they know exactly

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what to expect.

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That includes a timer on the right-hand side, so they can get a sense of how much time they’ll [Arrow points to timer]

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have to answer everything.

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If you’re not a fan of the timer, you – and you alone – have the option to disable it…but

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we think it helps students a ton when it comes to time management.

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Also, because there are free-response questions on some of the AP exams…you’ll find the

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same on Shmoop’s practice version.

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Once again, to create an accurate simulation of the test-taking experience, we’ll provide

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your students with a prompt and then have them hand-write their essay response, to be [Instructions highlighted for exam prep]

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handed in to you.

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As soon as a student clicks “Done,” they’ll immediately be presented with examples of

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some quality responses to the given prompt, so they can at least have an idea of whether

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or not they were on the mark.

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And to give you a helping hand, we’ll provide you with a rubric that can be used to help

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grade those essay responses.

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The multiple choice questions will be auto-graded, so a student will be able to see their score… [Arrow points to students raw score]

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…but more importantly, they’ll be directed to review and drills that correspond to whatever

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questions they got wrong.

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You will get the full scoop, of course. [Woman sits down at desk]

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By going to your Classroom, you can check out projected and raw scores, raw score versus

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time, an answer breakdown, skill breakdown item analysis…whatever is necessary to fulfill your wildest data

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analyzing needs and desires.

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And because every question is tied to a particular skill, making it easy to see at a glance where

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your students are faltering… …you’ll be faced with a much easier task [Example of students breakdown]

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targeting instruction time.

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Okay, moving on.

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Under “Skills Tested,” there are links leading to reviews on whatever area a student

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might be struggling in.

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In “Review Topics,” you can go specifically to the topic you want to study.

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And if you want to test certain skills, there are drills that will target those [Mouse cursor clicks on drill skills]

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skills directly.

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Assign the ones you feel would be the most helpful.

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And many of the AP drills are accompanied by helpful video explanations.

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Great for all those visual learners out there.

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If we head back to the dashboard and click on the skills tab… [Mouse cursor clicks on dashboard]

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…we can see the complete list of skills tied to each question your students have attempted.

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We can see if they’ve progressed or regressed...with links to review guides.

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And all this stuff is student-led.

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In other words, they can see their progress and be proactive about smoothing out their

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rough edges… …but in the meantime, you’re able to monitor

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them and target instruction time based on their results. [Red box highlights instructions for students results]

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If your appetite for all things Shmoop has been whetted and you’re hungry for more…

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…check out links to other helpful vids in the section below this video. [Man burps]

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Or just poke around on the site and do some exploring.

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Just please leave everything where you found it.

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