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Getting Started with Pocket Prep for Educators

This article shares how to introduce Pocket Prep to students and provides a tutorial of the Instructor Dashboard and sending out licenses.

Jonathan Bell avatar
Written by Jonathan Bell
Updated over a month ago

Welcome to Pocket Prep! To ensure a smooth and successful start, we’ve gathered key action steps, resources, and best practices to help you introduce Pocket Prep, issue licenses, and effectively implement the platform. Reviewing and applying these resources will set you—and your students—up for success.

Kickoff Announcement

Start with a strong introduction to Pocket Prep in class or via email. Include:

  • What is Pocket Prep? A mobile and web app for exam preparation using practice questions, explanation details, book references, and performance tracking to help students prepare for their certification exam.

  • Pocket Prep focuses on quiz-based studying with custom content build directly from the exam outline. Our questions are similar in style to those that are on the actual exam. This helps people become familiar with how to read, interpret and then answer questions successful on the exam. This familiarity can help reduce test day anxiety.

  • Why it matters? Pocket Prep questions are aligned to your exam's subject outline. Our quiz-based app uses science-backed study techniques to help you learn and retain the information you need.

Live Walkthrough and Teaching Tool

Dedicate 5-10 minutes in class during the first week to send licenses to students, ensure they have activated their accounts, and walk them through the Pocket Prep interface.

Admins and Instructors have access to a Pocket Prep Exam Prep account to use as a teaching tool in your classroom, or to review content as a student. To access click on your organization name and Go to Exam Prep. Follow the same path in Exam Prep to get back to Instructor Dashboard.

You can also log into your Exam Prep account directly.

  • Review Quiz Modes, Stats and Review tabs

  • Do the Question of the Day in class and review explanation details

  • Review Quiz Settings

  • Go to Setting (from name in upper right corner drop down menu) to set study reminders

Tip: Use a projector or screen share, or record a quick screencast for asynchronous access.

Set Clear Expectations

Provide students structure for usage:

  • Required vs. recommended usage (e.g., Complete 100 questions per week)

  • Explain how Pocket Prep fits into your grading or extra credit plan

  • Explain how often you'll review class usage data

  • Assignments - Consider assigning Pocket Prep to provide students formative assessments on the subjects they are studying in class

Frame as a Study Tool

Position Pocket Prep as:

  • A learning companion that helps identify what they know and don’t know

  • A tool for targeted practice before exams or class reviews

Encourage Goal-Setting

Encourage students to:

  • Set Goals: Assign weekly quiz or question targets to keep students on track. Share this article to help students create a study plan and understand how to use Pocket Prep effectively.

  • Stay Consistent: Encourage weekly use of Quick 10s, Level Up, Build Your Own, or Timed Quizzes. Even short sessions add up.

  • Target Weak Areas: At the end of each week, have students focus on Missed Questions or their Weakest Subjects using performance data.

  • Aim for 80%+ Accuracy: Students should strive to score 80% or higher on all questions for the best exam prep results.

  • Use Explanation Details and References: Remind students to tap “Show Explanation” after each question. Explanations and references help deepen understanding and reinforce learning.

  • Mock Exams - If we have a Mock Exam for your exam encourage students to utilized it as they get close to their exam date.

Celebrate Engagement and Review Usage in Class

Let students know you will regularly highlight:

How to Send Pocket Prep Licenses to Students

  • IMPORTANT: For Students Who Have a Personal Pocket Prep Account Already

Students may already have a personal Pocket Prep account using a different email than the email you’re sending the invite to through the Instructor Dashboard. To connect the license code to their personal email address account please share the following steps to activate it.

After receiving their email invite (see email example below)

  1. Direct them to sign into their personal account

  2. Copy the license code from the email they receive (located below the Activate License Code button):

  3. In the Pocket Prep app: Go to Settings > Exams > Activate Code (I assume anyone with a personal account already has the app)

  4. Or On the Web: Go to Settings > Exams > + Activate License Code

  5. Paste the code and select Activate.

  6. They may need to select Switch Exams in Settings and select the exam, if their account is not already set to your exam.

Below is a sample of the email students receive to activate their license. It will include your name and Dashboard account name. To activate, students just click the Activate License Code button and follow the steps.

Download the Pocket Prep App: After activating the license, get the best mobile experience by downloading our app. Search “Pocket Prep” and your exam name in the in either the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. Look for the logo below to find the correct app.

Using the above resources, combined with consistent student engagement on Pocket Prep, can greatly improve the chances of success. Happy studying!

Customer Quotes

TJ Dronet, EMS Program Manager, National EMS Academy - Customer Since 2021

“It is a wonderful program that reinforces the material that was learned throughout the program and prepares them for success with the NREMT cognitive exam.”

Sheryn Shofner, NREMT-P. Training Director, Bullitt County EMS - Customer Since 2022

"I have had tremendous success both personally, and as an instructor, with Pocket Prep. It has been a very accurate measure of where folks are, and how well they are going to perform on the NREMT, right down to identifying specific subject matter struggles."

Mary Johnson Cadet/Outreach Supervisor - Bell Ambulance - Customer Since 2022

"It prepares my students well for the NREMT. Students who do at least 50% of the questions have a high pass rate on their first exam."

Weena Doyle - EMT Trainer - Bensalem EMS Rescue

“I told my students in the past they have to download and use Pocket Prep. If you don't, you're not going pass. She told her students maybe the very rare one percenters of the world, who never use question banks, maybe they'll do well, but statistically you won't. At least that's what I've found.

In our first class earlier in the spring, I told all of them, download this app, use it because I had free questions that I tried. These questions are pretty on point. It's been years since I've last taken an EMT national registry exam, but these questions definitely are more challenging and it's better to be overly challenged than under challenged.

I forget exactly how many students thus far have passed national registry, but every single one of the spring cohort students who did pass, I asked them, did you use Pocket Prep and they said yes. Every day they spent at least 30 minutes if not two hours a day just doing question problems question problems and they passed. Then the ones who did not pass I asked them did you do what I told you to do and they said no, we just reread the textbook, reviewed our notes, and I'm like okay I can't force you to use Pocket Prep, but . . . I told you. “

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