Before you turn a simulator on for a class, it helps to see exactly what your students will see. The Investing, Economy and Business simulators each have a student preview: the real student screens, filled with sample data, that you can click through as if you were a student. Nothing you do in a preview is saved, and no student can see it.
Good to know: the Personal Budget Simulator and the Startup Simulator don't have a preview yet. Their sidebar pages say so ("A student preview has not been built for this simulator yet."). Further down you'll find other ways to get a feel for them. Courses have their own preview; see Previewing a course as your students see it.
Opening a preview
From the sidebar
In the sidebar, open the Simulators group and click Investing, Economy or Business.
Under Choose a class, find any of your classes.
Click Preview as a student next to it.
You need at least one class for the buttons to appear, but the class doesn't need to have the simulator turned on. This is the easiest way to look at a simulator you haven't set up yet.
From the classroom
Open your class and click the Simulators tab.
Pick the simulator in the Simulator picker.
Click Setup, then click Preview student view. For the Investing and Economy simulators it's in the Simulation Status card; for the Business Simulator it's on the card you use to start or run the simulation.
What's real and what's sample
Real: the screens. A preview uses the same pages your students get, so the layout, buttons, wording and charts are exactly what they'll see.
Sample: everything on them. The names, balances, holdings and results belong to made-up players. Your roster isn't used, and your students' real progress isn't shown.
Not saved: anything you click. You can make decisions, queue actions or save a plan to see what happens on screen, but it stays on that page and is gone when you leave.
Invisible to students: no student can see your preview, and previewing doesn't affect your class, its settings, or a simulator trial.
A bar across the top of the page marks it as a preview. It looks deliberately different from the student screens below it, so you always know which part is yours.
Previewing the Economy Simulator
The bar at the top reads Student View Preview and has two pickers:
Role: switch between all six roles (Renter / Employee, Landlord, Business Owner, Banker, Finance Minister and Regulator). Each role has its own screen, so it's worth looking at all six before you assign roles.
Phase: choose Lobby (before round 1), Active round, Round recap or Simulation complete to see each stage a student goes through, from the waiting screen to the final report.
In an active round you can submit and withdraw actions, and the round's checklist and the list of locked-in actions update as they would for a student. Rounds don't advance in a preview, though, because there's no class economy behind it. The City Map tab works too, so it's a good place to see the 3D city before your students do. Click Close preview when you're done.
Previewing the Investing Simulator
The Student View Preview bar has a tab for each student page: Dashboard, Holdings, Returns, Analysis, Orders and Rankings. They show one sample student partway through a run, with a portfolio, an order history and a class leaderboard where that student is highlighted.
The trade form isn't part of the preview, so you can't place a buy or sell order there. Trading is shown through the Orders page and the recent transactions on the Dashboard. Click Close preview when you're done.
Previewing the Business Simulator
The bar reads Student view preview and offers three moments in a sample café's run: Before day 1, Day 4 of 5 and Finished. The café's days were played by the real simulator, so the street replay and the books are what a real run produces.
You can edit and save a plan to see how the planning screens respond; the confirmation says it was saved in this preview only. Downloads are switched off in the preview. Click Back to class when you're done.
Simulators without a preview
Personal Budget Simulator and Startup Simulator: read the Personal Budget Simulator: teacher guide and Startup Simulator: teacher guide, and the student guides they link to. Once students start, the Students view of the Simulators tab shows each student's results.
Arcade: you don't need a preview. Click Arcade in the sidebar and play the same games your students play.
Twine Town: while it's off for a class, its Class and Students views show where your students would stand, marked as a preview. See Twine Town: teacher guide.
Tips
Project the preview when you introduce a simulator. It's sample data, so no student's name or results appear on the board.
For the Economy Simulator, walk through the Round recap phase with the class. Students see a recap after every round, and it stays on screen until they close it, so it helps to know what it says.
Look at the Finance Minister and Regulator screens before you pick who plays them. Those two roles carry the most responsibility for the whole class.
If you're on a plan that doesn't include a simulator yet, previewing from the sidebar is a good way to decide whether it's worth starting a trial or asking your school about it.
Common questions
Will a student ever see something I did in a preview?
No. A preview isn't connected to your class. Nothing is saved and nothing is shared.
Does previewing start my free trial?
No. Trials only start when you click Start a 14-day trial on a locked simulator. See Trying a simulator free with a 14-day trial.
Why can't I advance a round or run a day in the preview?
Those are teacher actions that run the whole class's simulation, and a preview has no class simulation behind it. To see what your side looks like, read Running Economy Simulator rounds and reading the results and the Business Simulator: teacher guide.
Can I see one of my real students' screens?
Not as a student sees it, but you can see their results. Open the class's Simulators tab, pick the simulator, and click Students.
Why does the preview show a different scenario or numbers than my class?
The preview always uses the same sample players so it works before anything is set up. Your class's numbers come from your settings and your students' decisions.