Contents
Table of Contents

Examiner is a program that allows you to create your own multiple-choice or fill-in-the-blank exams.  These exams can be used to test your students knowledge or they can be used to tutor your students.

Menu Commands

File

Utilities

Options

Help

Shortcut Keys

Special Keys

General Topics

Selecting Exams

Taking the Exam

Printing Exams

Making/Editing Questions

Making/Editing Exams

Next Question Button

Previous Question Button

Grade Reports

User Names

Voices

Changing Directories

Other Software Products from MES


Select Exam;Print;Convert;Quit

File

Open Exam

Use this menu to choose the exam you want to take.  If you want to quit without opening a new exam just click on the Cancel button.  If you need help click on the Help button to display detailed instructions.

See Selecting Exams for more information.

Print Exam

Use this menu to print your exam on paper.  This menu allows you to choose the default printer, portrait or landscape orientation, paper size and the paper source (this depends on which printer you are using).  Click on the OK button to print the currently loaded exam using the default printer.  Click on Cancel to quit without printing the exam.

See Printing Exams for more information.

Change User Name

Choose this item to change the user name without having to exit Examiner.  If the desired user name does not exist you can create it using this option.  You may also use this option to delete a user name.

See User Names for more information.

Exit

Choose this item to quit Examiner.  The current users grades will be updated.


Make/Edit questions and Exams; Export Compiled questions; Guessing; Fill in the Blank
Utilities

Enter Password

Click here to enter your password.  You may not use the menu items under Utilities unless you have entered a valid password.  Initially, the password will be set to seven.  However, you may change the password.

Change Password

Click here to change your password.  This software comes with the password set to seven but you may change it to any other text you want.  You should do this to prevent your students from using the Utilities options to find the answers or make changes to your exams.

Make/Edit Questions

Use this menu to create new questions or to edit existing ones.  See Making/Editing Questions for more information.

Make/Edit Exams

Use this menu to make new exams or edit existing exams.  After you open this menu you should either open an existing exam to edit using the Open button or you should type the name of the exam you are creating in the Exam Name text box.

See Making/Editing Exams for more information.

Convert DOS Exam File

Use this option to convert School-Mom for DOS exam files to the format used by this program.  You will be asked for a directory in which to store the converted exam files.  If you want to create a new directory to store the converted exams you can use File Manager to do so. See the page  Selecting Exams for more information on how to access exams in sub-directories.

The original DOS exam files will have an .EX2 extension.  However, if they are from an older version of School-Mom they will have an .EXM extension.  If they are from the older version need to use the DOS program, EXAMCONV.EXE, to first convert them to .EX2 files.  You will find this program in the directory with this program.  Simply run the program and it will look for any old exam files and convert them automatically.

Export Compiled Questions

This program should come with at least one exam that is compiled with a .DLL extension.  These are exams supplied by the authors.  If you want to use some of the questions located in these exams in your own exams you must first export the compiled questions.

You will be asked for a directory in which to store the exported question files.  If you want to create a new directory to store the converted exams you can use File Manager to do so.

Note that all this option does is export the questions from the compiled exam, it does not create an exam to use the questions. See the Make/Edit Exams item a few paragraphs above this one for details on how to create an exam to use these exported questions.

Fill-in-the-Blank

Choose this option if you want your student to type the answer in the blank.  No choices will be shown for him/her to choose from.

Multiple Choice

Choose this option if you want your student to see a list of answers.  Your student will be allowed to select the correct answer by pressing the corresponding number key or by using the mouse to drag the correct answer to the blank.

Allow Guessing

Click here if you want to allow your student to continue looking for the correct answer even after choosing the wrong answer.  If you do not choose this option, your student will not be allowed to attempt the question again after choosing the wrong answer.


Fill in the blank; Multiple Choice; Voice; Font size, style, and color; Text Justification
Options

Voices On/Off

To turn off the voices select this item.  To turn the voices back on select this item again.  Voices are used for reinforcements.

See Voices for more information about voices in this software.

Font

This menu allows you to choose any font you may have installed in Windows.  You may also change the font size.  However, this software will not allow you to choose a font size that is too large for the screen.


Help Index; How to contact MES
Help

The Help menu is where instructive information is contained.  The options are:

Help Contents

This option is the option your are now using.  It may be invoked at any time by pressing the  F1  function key.

Help on Help

This option invokes the Windows instructions on how to use the HELP utility.

View Description of other Products from MES...

This option invokes Windows Write Editor with a file containing descriptions of other educational software available from Motes Educational Software.

About Examiner...

This option brings up a dialog box with miscellaneous information about this program.


Special shortcut keys; Next problem; Abort answer
Shortcut Keys

There are several shortcut keys that can make the operation of Examiner more convenient.

Right Arrow: pressing the right arrow button is the same as clicking on the Next Question Button. See also Next Question Button

Left Arrow: pressing the left arrow button is the same as clicking on the Previous Question Button. See also: Previous Question Button

Esc (Escape): Pressing the Esc key will abort the dragging of an answer to a blank.  This is useful if you click on the wrong answer by mistake and realize it before you drop the answer into the blank. After pressing the Esc key you may attempt to answer the problem again.  However, once you drop the answer into the blank the Esc key will not undo a wrong answer.


Selecting a new exam
Selecting Exams

You can use the Open Exam option in the File menu to choose an exam to take.  You may choose a compiled exam that is created and distributed by MES as a dynamic link library (DLL), or a user-made exam that you have created.  Initially, both types of exams are shown but by clicking on the proper option button the listed types can be limited to one or the other type.

Now, you should see a list box that shows all the exams you can choose from.  Highlight the one you want then click on the OK button to open the exam.  You may also double click on the exam you want.

To load exams from another directory you can change the directory by using the listbox on the right hand side of the screen.  This dialogs works just like the standard File Open… dialog.


Taking the Exam

After you open an exam using Open Exam in the File menu and return to the main window, you should be ready to take the exam.  You will not be able to begin the test unless you tell the computer to start the timer.  Do this by using the mouse to click on the Start button.

The first question should now be visible.  Choose the correct answer by either using the mouse to drag the correct answer to the empty blank or by pressing the corresponding key on the keyboard.

To get the next question you must click on the button in the lower right of the screen that looks like a hand pointing to the right.

After you have finished the exam your grade report will be shown.


Printing an Exam
Printing Exams

Choose the Print Exam option from the File menu if you want to print a paper copy of your exam.  You may want to do this to give an in-class exam.

You may print with portrait orientation (the standard orientation).  You may also print with landscape orientation which rotates the printed page 90 degrees.

Click on the OK button to print the currently loaded exam using the default printer.  Click on Cancel to quit without printing the exam.

If you want to see other adjustments you can make to your printer before you print the exams click on the Options button.  What comes up after you do this depends on what printer you are using.


Making/Editing Questions

(This dialog has brief instructions in a scrollable list box at the bottom of the dialog)

To make or edit questions choose the Make/Edit Questions option from the Utilities menu.  You will have two main text fields or boxes to type in -- the Background Text box and Question Text box.  The Background Text box is optional and allows you to provide the student with background information that you do not want to place in the question.

If you want to create a fill-in-the-blank test, place a single underscore in the text where you want the blank to occur in the question.  If you do not place an underscore in your question, a blank will be placed at the end of your questions.  You may place one or two blanks in each question.

To properly organize your questions (you may want to sort them later) you should always type the subject, grade, and year in the text boxes provided for these.  There is also a miscellaneous text box that you can use.  Later you can use this information to sort your questions or to do searches.  For example, you may have hundreds of questions stored but you want to give a science test to your 3rd graders.  When you are ready to create a test just have the program display all questions that have science for the subject and 3 for the grade.

To add questions, type the question in the text box (List A if you have one answer or both List A and List B if you have two answers) then click the Add button.  The answer will be added to the list box shown directly below the Add and Remove buttons.  Add several answers that are not correct using the same procedure.  When you are done make sure the answer that is correct is highlighted and is showing in the answer text box.  To highlight the correct answer just click once on the correct answer that is listed in the list box with all the possible answers.

To preview the question just click on the Preview button.  You will see the entire question with all possible answers.

Click the Save button to save your question.  Remember that the correct answers must be highlighted before you click on this button.

Click the Cancel button to quit without saving your question or click Help to display this help text.

If you want to edit an existing question just click on the Open button and choose from the list of questions shown.  Highlight the question you want to edit then click on the OK button.  The question you chose will be displayed ready for editing.


Making/Editing Exams

After you open the Make/Edit Exams dialog from the Utilities menu, look under the Available Questions text box to see a list of all the questions that are located in the current directory. If you want to see questions in another directory then click on the Change Dir. button and select a new directory.  Remember though, that only questions in the same directory can be placed into an exam.

You can load an exam for editing by clicking the Open Exam button, the questions in the exam  are shown in the list-box under the exam name. You can move questions from the list of available questions to the list of exam questions by highlighting the questions then clicking on the >> button.  To remove a question from the exam simply highlight it and click on the << button.

You can create an exam by typing in a filename in the Exam Name text-field. The exam is not saved until you save it by clicking on the Save Exam button.

To view a question that is listed just highlight its name.  You will see the question and its answers at the bottom of the screen.

You can edit a question by highlighting its name and then clicking on the Edit Question button directly below the list-box of the question you want to edit.  There are two Edit Question buttons, be sure to click the correct one.

The list of available questions can be sorted by subject, grade, year and any other thing you may have typed into the miscellaneous field.  Use the drop-down lists to choose text to sort by.  If the sorting category you need is not there you may use the Add Category button to add it.

After you add all the questions you want to the exam, save your exam before you exit the Make/Edit Exams menu.


Skipping to the next question
Next Question Button

This button looks like a hand pointing to the right.  You may use this button at any time to abandon the current question and go on to the next question.  This DOES NOT increment the number of questions attempted and will affect your current score.

Pressing the right arrow button on the keyboard is a shortcut to clicking on this button with the mouse. For more details about special keys, see: Special Keys


Skipping to the previous question
Previous Question Button

This button looks like a hand pointing to the left.  You may use this button to abandon the current question and go to the previous question.  This DOES NOT increment the number of questions attempted and will not affect your score.

Pressing the left arrow button on the keyboard is a shortcut to clicking on this button with the mouse. For more details about special keys, see: Special Keys


Grade Report

After you complete an exam your grade report is given.  You will be given a numeric score and a letter grade.  Also, you will be shown all the correct answers to the exam along with the answers you gave.

There are three buttons at the bottom of the dialog.  Pressing the OK button will dismiss the dialog.  Pressing the Produce Save-able Report button will place the information in the dialog in the file REPORT.TXT and open Windows Notepad to view this file.  Notepad can be used to either print the Grade Report or save the report to another file.  The file REPORT.TXT is overwritten each time the Produce Save-able Report button is clicked.  Be sure to save your reports in a filename other than REPORT.TXT.

Pressing the Help button brings up this information page.


Specifying the User Name, Changing User Name
User Names

To change the user name see the File item.  This item will produce a dialog box that will allow the user name to be changed from the current user to another already existing user name.  It will allow creation of a new user name or deleting an existing user name.

On the left hand side of the dialog is a list box from which the user name can be selected.  If there are more user names than can be displayed at one time a scroll bar will appear on the list box so that more user names can be brought into view.  On the right are five pushbuttons.  Press the OK button after the user name is chosen.  The CANCEL button cancels the current change user name operation, however, pressing CANCEL will not undo the creation of new user names or undelete user names that have already been deleted.

The NEW button creates a new user name, a text entry dialog will be displayed to accept the new user name.  The DELETE button deletes the user name currently selected in the list box.  Confirmation is obtained before the user name is deleted.

The HELP button brings up this information page.


Turning voices on or off, PC speaker drivers
Voices

To turn voices on or off see the 	Options  item.

Examiner for Windows has the ability to give verbal feedback.  These voices are played through the Windows WAV sound driver.  If you own a Sound board you should have the sound board driver installed in Windows, see your Sound Board and Windows Documentation for detailed instructions.

If you do not have a sound board there is still a way for you to activate the voices through the PC internal speaker.  While the quality is not as good as a sound board the result has enough clarity to be recognizable and useful.  To do this you must install a PC speaker driver in Windows.


Changing the Current Directory

Several operations in Examiner become much more useful if you are allowed to change the current directory.  For example, storing exams and questions in sub-directories by grade is a very useful way of organizing exams.

There is a special dialog in Examiner to allow you to easily change the current directory and browse the hard disk for certain questions or exams.  The operation of this dialog is very similar to the standard File Open dialog.

If you press the Cancel button it will completely undo any browsing activity.

See Also: Making/Editing Exams


More Educational Software through MES
Other Educational Products from MES

Examiner is the sixth of a series of educational software applications from Motes Educational Software (MES) for Microsoft Windows.  MES also has a successful line of educational software for DOS that has won various awards from the educational software community.   If you would like to receive more information about MES products, please contact MES through one of the means listed below.

In addition, MES offers educational software for both DOS and Windows environments.  To view a brief description of the software available at this time choose the Help|View Description of Other Products from MES... menu item.

You may write to MES at the following addresses:

U.S. Mail: 	Motes Educational Software

P. O. Box 575

Siloam Springs AR, 72761

Electronic Mail:	73757,1111       on CompuServe

or from Internet	73757.1111@compuserve.com

MES maintains an internet web site where you may find updated information about new products and new versions of existing products. The URL address is:

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/schoolmom

See you on the World Wide Web!