The student’s guide to getting started with Poll Everywhere

Student paying attention in class.

Poll Everywhere is at work every day in schools and universities worldwide. Instructors include Poll Everywhere activities in class to conduct quick assessments, to enable deeper discussion, or just to gauge your impressions of a new topic.

If you’re using Poll Everywhere as a student, there are a few things you can do to make sure you get credit for your attendance and responses. Here are the basics for a successful semester.

Create a participant account

Creating a Poll Everywhere account is a straightforward process.

  1. Download the Poll Everywhere app, or go to PollEverywhere.com.
  2. Sign up as a participant.

Make sure to sign up using your school-issued email address, if you have one. Using a personal email address may prevent you from receiving credit for your answers.

Register with an instructor

There are a few ways you can register with your teacher or professor. Registering with a professor ensures they can count you in attendance checks, and award you class participation credit.

Note: Your professor may have already registered you for Poll Everywhere participation through the school LMS. If that is the case, you can simply use your student email to log in, and use the password reset link to create a new password. Also note that some professors do not require registration, and do not grade Poll Everywhere responses. 

Instructor registration link: The instructor might send you an email to register as a participant in their account. Click the registration link in the email, and create a password if you haven’t already done so.

Find an instructor by email address: To locate your professor in Poll Everywhere, you can go to polleverywhere.com/register, and enter the instructor’s email address.

Register in class: When your instructor presents a Poll Everywhere activity, a pollev.com link will display below the question. Go to that link. If your instructor requires registration, Poll Everywhere will automatically walk you through the steps to register before you respond to the question.

You can register with as many professors as you need, using your original participant account. There is no need to create more than one Poll Everywhere account.

Certify your mobile phone number

Sometimes it’s easier to use a text message to respond to Poll Everywhere questions. First, make sure to certify your phone number, so you get credit for your answers.

Here’s how:

  1. Open your account settings.
  2. Enter your mobile phone number.
  3. Double check the phone number and country code are correct.
  4. Save changes.
  5. Follow the text confirmation instructions.

This will pair all future and previous SMS text responses to your Poll Everywhere account.

The mobile app is free and helpful

Download the mobile app for easy responding. Every time you open the app, you’ll see a dropdown menu of your usual instructors, so you can just select the class you’re in and go.

When you download the app, make sure to log in using the same school-issued email you used to create your Poll Everywhere account.

Student-paid plans

Some universities opt for a student-paid Poll Everywhere plan. Your professor will send a link for you to purchase your Poll Everywhere license. You only need to pay once for the entire school year, no matter how many of your instructors use Poll Everywhere in class.

In some cases, a student-paid Poll Everywhere account is included with the purchase of your McGraw-Hill textbook. Your professor should notify you if this is the case. Instructions to redeem the code will be printed on a card in the book package.

Learn more

Check out the video tutorial page, or contact your university’s instructional technology department.