You don't know in advance.
Arrghhh, I hate responses like that.
photodave referenced an "LLL" flag. Anybody with firsthand experiences can tell us if their boarding pass was in any way different when they were Precheck approved for that flight? Was it at the podium they were notified (thus the TDC needed a barcode reader, which is not standard at every airport...yet?)
Obviously the *SSSS* is obvious on boarding passes, if they still do this (I haven't had one in years and years), but is the "LLL" obvious? TIA.