AThe files that appear on the system screen with a 3D question mark as their icon, are those created by Reviser, and hold both the test data and the test criteria for that data
ie. You might have a Reviser file for each of the subjects French, Chemistry and Geography.
Within each file Reviser will store all the data on a subject ie French, along with the tests you wish to run with that data, ie Nouns, Adjectives and Verbs.
hen mark the questions you are confident with, allowing you to concentrate on those you are less familiar with.
You know .... Revision !
EYou may enter data into Reviser by one of two conversion methods in addition to entering it manually one record at a time.
Convert Data
This allows you to convert a 2 field Series 5 Data file into Reviser.
ie the first field in each record might be the English form, and the second field the French form, of a vocabulary database. The conversion process will prompt you to either provide global defaults for the lesson and group fields, or you may elect to enter the lesson and group for each record as it is converted.
Convert Reviser
Some users may wish to convert the Data file that the Series 3x version of Reviser supported. This Data file simply had a record format of 5 fields :
Lesson
Group
Field X
Field Y
(each field must be a simple text field, ie Memos or Numeric fields cannot be converted)
This method of entering data into Reviser may be useful to some users who have a large dataset that they first wish to prepare using Word to edit a text file, before merging into a Data file, and then converting the Data file into Reviser.
ie Say you source from the internet a text file containing English / French vocabulary. This file may be easily edited in Word, having the Mark, Lesson and Group columns added, then exported in text format, and providing the correct delimiters are used, merged into a Series 5 Data file. That file can then be regarded as a Series 3 Reviser file ...
DData is entered into Reviser using one of the following three methods :
a) entering the data manually within Reviser.
b) converting a simple Series 5 data file.
c) converting a Reviser file created with the Series 3x version of Reviser.
When entering data using method a. you will need to enter 5 data fields per entry :
Mark
Lesson
Group
Field X
Field Y
The Mark field corresponds to the Hard mark option, see 'Marking', and is either 'No' or 'Yes'.
The Lesson and Group fields are numeric fields that are used by Reviser to select subsets of data for testing. They may each range between 1 and 999. ie. Lesson might be between 1 and 40 and the group may range between 1 and 3, where 1 is Nouns, 2 is Verbs and 3 is Adjectives. You may then test yourself on any combination of Lessons and Groups. ie you may wish to test yourself on all the Nouns covered in Lessons 10 through to 16.
The numbering scheme you use is entirely up to you.
You may choose to ignore either Lesson or Group and always enter 1 in one of them, but if you choose not to use either you will not be able to select subsets of data, ie run selective tests on your data.
For details on entering data using methods b) and c) see the help entry titled "Conversion"
:ABy using the Browse menu option you can step through the data entries one by one. You can delete or edit any displayed entry.
The Browse dialog is the Edit dialog you get in Find and Edit, except Next and Previous go through all data entries, not just those that match the Find criteria.
See Also : Find and Edit
AEach Reviser file uses one set of data as the source for its questions and answers. The data fields used (referred to as Field X and Field Y throughout this text), can each have a 20 character label associated with it.
ie For an English / French vocabularly Reviser file, you would set the labels to be "English" and "French" !
The labels are then used in Revisers menus and in the Question and Answer flash cards.
AEach Reviser file has a page within which you can store information about the format of the data entries held within it. It is intended to act as a key for the lesson and group codes you choose for your data.
When you select the Key menu option you will be given a dialog, with two editable fields, one for the lesson key and one for the group key. Each can have upto 255 characters.
DEach data entry has a hard mark field which may be marked Yes or No. An entry will only be included in a test if it's hard mark is set to No.
The hard marks may be set/unset :
a) when first adding the entry
b) using the "Start - Hard Mark" menu option - this sets the Hard mark field of all entries that match the current Test Includes to be "Yes". ie no longer use these questions in a test.
c) using the "Start - Clear Mark" menu option - this set the Hard mark field of all entries that match the current Test Includes to be "No". ie allows all entries matching the current Test Includes to b used in a test.
There is also another form of marking called "Soft Marking".
As a test progresses you may mark each entry to indicate your familiarity with the question, using either the Hard Marking mentioned previously or Soft Marking :
- This marks an entry in memory only, for the duration of this test. ie. Once a test has been completed, it repeats itself, randomly shuffling all unmarked entries. Soft Marked entries will be withheld only for duration of the current test cycle. ie return to the main Reviser screen, and restart the test and you will find that entries previously marked with the Soft Mark are now unmarked.
DReviser perfoms a test by first creating an index of all the data entries that match the current Test criteria. it then shuffles these up randomly and presents them as a series of Question and Answer flash cards. ie view the Question card, decide your answer and proceed to the Answer card. From within the Answer card you may mark the current entry, and may even edit it ie if you wish to amend the data, correct a typo, or even change the lesson and group fields.
The Start menu option allows a test to be started in one of three ways :
(where Fields X and Y are replaced by the Labels you have entered.)
Q.Field X
The questions asked are always the X field from your data set, ie always the "English" field.
Q.Field Y
The questions asked are always the Y field from your data set, ie always the "French" field.
Q.Random
The questions asked can be either the X or Y field from your data set, ie might be the "English" or "French" field.
Once all questions in a test have been presented, a summary is shown of Marking information. The test is then given again, being randomly shuffled again, with entries you have marked being excluded.
See also : Marking, Labels
bBTo aid in managing you Reviser dataset, the Find and Edit feature allows you to first find data entries you wish to manage. Enter the text string you wish to locate. along with other search criteria such as location and case. The first matching record will be displayed using the "Browse" dialog. From this dialog you may edit then save, and delete the displayed entry. You may also abandon the search or proceed to the next or previous matching entry.
Note: If you make changes to the displayed entry be sure to select "Save" before "Next Entry", otherwise changes made will be abandoned.
See also : Browse
CReviser for the Series 5 is a significant redesign of the Series 3x version of Reviser.
The most significant changes to be aware of if upgrading from the Series 3x version are :
The 5 version uses the new dbms SQL model, and consequently combines the data entries and the test definitions into one file.
Because of a limitation in the Series 5 handling of database files, the Data file created by the Series 5 Data program cannot be written to by a program such as Reviser. Hence Reviser now has a private file, that cannot be examined by the inbuilt Data app.
The Series 3 version of Reviser used a string field to represent the Lesson and Group fields so that the Series 3 Data app. could share the Reviser data file. As this sharing is no longer possible on the 5, the lesson and group fields are now represented in the data entries as integers. The upshot of this is that you no longer have to consider the consequences of string "2" being greater than "100" when considering the numbering scheme to use.
C
Reviser is a general purpose revision aid, allowing you to collate sets of questions and answers on any subject, along with multiple test criteria.
Basically (using the main menu from left to right) :
You create a Reviser file (File)
You add some Data to it (Data)
You define a Test (Test)
You run the Test on the Data (Start)
When you Start a test, Reviser picks out a specific subset of questions and answers from the larger data set.
The test is presented as a random selection of this subset, presented in a flash card format. ie a Question card followed by an Answer card.
Using the marking options provided you can then mark the questions you are confident with, allowing you to concentrate on those you are less familiar with.
You know .... Revision !
The format of this Help is informal and is intended to describe the concept of Reviser, rather than a menu option guide.
Hopefully, understanding the concepts will make the menus and commans in Reviser self explanatory.
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AThe status line displayed at the bottom of the screen shows the current configuration of Reviser. There are two rows as follows :
Test Name Test Incl. Registered to Test Excl. Matches
Each field is pen sensitive, so touching on Test includes for instance, displays the Test Includes dialog. These pen shortcuts are not available during a test or list.
The "Hits from" field shows how many records from the total avaliable in this Reviser file will be used in the current test.
CThe test includes values are the key to selectively picking out subsets of questions from your larger data set.
By intelligently identifying each data entry as belonging to a particular lesson and group, you can create a Reviser file for your chosen subject, which allows you to be tested on a large number of subsets of your data.
ie : With a language data set, you may be tested on all the nouns from lesson 3 through to 6, the verbs from all lessons, or the adjectives from lesson 12 only.
But only if you identify your data entries correctly.
The test includes dialog allows you to select the minimum and maximum ranges for both the lesson and group to include in a test. The current test's includes are displayed in the status line at the bottom of the screen.
See also : Test Excludes
CJust as you can nominate which data entries to include in a test, you can also elect which entries are to be excluded. This feature is really only of use if you wish to exclude a lesson within a range, or a group that lies within the include range.
ie the test includes may include entries from lessons 2 through to 8, but you may wish to exclude lessons 3 and 4.
or - you may have grouped verbs according to their tense, group 1 for past, 2 for present and 3 for future. With a test that includes entries from group 1 through to 3, the test excludes would allow you to ignore the present tense in a test.
By default the Test Excludes are always set to 0. This switches off any exclusion. ie If you only wish to add group exclusions, leave the lesson min and max as 0.
See also : Test Includes
Introduction to Reviser
Intro
Reviser Files
Data entries
data add entry
Test Includes
include test
Test Excludes
test exclude
Comments
Each test may have some simple comments associated with it, to allow some reference notes, You may elect to display these comments each time a test is opened.
comment
Labels
label
Starting a test
start test
Conversion
convert conversion data
Find and Edit
find edit data browse
Listing entries
Using the "Start - List" menu option it is possible to list all entries that match the current Test Includes (and aren't excluded by Test Excludes !)
Entries are displayed a page at a time, with Hard marked shown with a line through them.
(.txt)