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CREATE A QUIZ Version 2.2 Description: CREATE A QUIZ is a simple yet comprehensive program that can be used to create and take multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank quizzes. This one program can be used by both the teacher and student. Teachers can create on- screen quizzes that can be used by students, or create hardcopy quizzes if a printer is available. Special features: A) Pop-up menus, mouse support, full line text editing capabilities make using CREATE A QUIZ simple and fun. B) Both multiple-choice and fill-in-the blank questions can be used in the same quiz. C) Quizzes and/or questions can be printed out in several formats to meet the needs of both teacher and student. The solutions to each question can be suppressed or displayed on a printout. Students can receive an echo printout of each question they take on- screen. Teachers can review their database of questions by printing out all the questions or by defining a range (from # to #) to print. D) Several command line instructions allow the program to be "fine-tuned" by a teacher to meet the needs of a student. These command line instructions can force a student to answer "x" number of questions before they are permitted to exit the program. Or the teacher can set up a time limit for the student where after "x" number of minutes have elapsed the program will quit. E) Progress charts are kept for each quiz that will record the best 10 students' quiz results. This is an excellent way for a teacher to track the progress of a student. A separate progress chart is maintained for each quiz created. F) Up to 9 students can participate in the same quiz at a time. Great for contests! G) Display ASCII text files prior to each question. A full screen display of a pre-defined ASCII text file can be displayed and scrolled prior to a question, and then after the user has read the text file, they will be confronted with a question dealing with that text. H) Businesses and organizations can use a command line instruction that will turn CREATE A QUIZ into a stand-alone display for customers or prospects. This can make a great advertising tool and counter display, testing a prospect's knowledge of your product. The program will even prompt each user for his name, address and phone number that can be retrieved later for follow- ups. I) The quizzes that are created can be password protected and encrypted to prevent students from altering a teacher's questions. Requirements: No special requirements are necessary for most computers. A DOS version of 3.0 or higher is necessary (although it is possible that some 2.x versions will work, but not guaranteed). The program can be used on both monochrome and color monitors. A printer is the only option that is required IF you wish to create quiz printouts. To start: To start the program type ---> QUIZ then press the [ENTER] or [RETURN] key at the DOS prompt. The program will load itself into memory in seconds. After an opening screen or two, a Main Menu will appear. Menus: Selections from the Main Menu (or any menu) can be made by moving the highlighted bar to the selection of your choice, then pressing the [ENTER] or [RETURN] key. Selections also can be made by pressing the corresponding first letter for each option in the menu list. If you press the [ESC] key instead, the user will be taken to the previous menu (if any). To create a quiz: From the Main Menu the user can create a NEW quiz by choosing the "Create a new quiz" selection. The user will then be prompted for a filename, under which all questions will be stored to disk. The filename entered will automatically receive the extension ".QZ". Do NOT enter the ".QZ" extension! Pressing the [ESC] key at this filename prompt will take the user back to the Main Menu. After a new filename has been entered, the user must give the quiz a title and description, and may elect to enter their name as the quiz creator. Once this preliminary information has been entered the user will be prompted to enter a question. Questions can be up to four lines in length. You can move from one question line to another by using the cursor control keys (the keys with the up and down arrows), or by using the [ENTER] key. To move to the answer field, press the [F10] function key. This key will cause the input prompt to leave the question field, allowing the user to enter possible answers to the previous question. Should the user need to jump back to the previous question to make any necessary changes then press the [F9] function key. Pressing the [F10] function key from the answer field will instruct the program to continue to the next step (if any). Multiple choice questions: The multiple choice question format is the default format when you enter questions. Each multiple choice question can have up to 5 possible answer choices and as few as 2. After entering the desired number of answer choices, the quiz creator must verify which of the possible answers is in fact the correct answer. This verification step will display the question and possible answers in a play screen. After verifying the correct solution, the user can enter a reference note. Such notes will be display- ed after a student takes the quiz at play time. Fill-in-the-blank questions: Fill-in-the-blank questions are different from multiple choice questions in that only one possible answer can be entered. The way CREATE A QUIZ distinguishes between a multiple choice question and a fill-in-the-blank question is that the latter has an UNDERSCORE "_" character (ASCII 95) somewhere in the question. This underscore character is NOT to be confused with a "dash" or "hyphen". If an underscore character exists ANYWHERE in the question, then that question automatically becomes a fill-in-the-blank question, and will as a result accept only one answer when the time comes to input an answer when creating the quiz. You can enter one "_" underscore by itself or a string of underscores (e.g., "______"). The result is the same - one word will be prompted for during the quiz. The following are acceptable in creating a fill-in- the-blank question: George _ was the first president of the United States. George Washington was the first _____ of the United States. Name the first president of the United States?: __ Keep in mind the difference in formats between multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions: "DECEMBER 25 IS:" This will result in a multiple- choice question. "DECEMBER 25 IS _" This will result in a fill-in- the-blank question. You can enter alternate or multiple answers for fill-in-the-blank questions by separating each acceptable answer with a comma ",". For instance, if a fill-in-the- blank question prompts: "How much is 50 cents added to 50 cents? _", the quiz creator can anticipate several possible answers by entering "$1, $1.00, 1 buck, 4 quarters" in the answer field. Note that each solution is separated by a comma ",". When a student in confronted with this question on the screen during an interactive quiz, the student will receive a "correct" response if they enter any of the 4 answers: $1 $1.00 1 buck 4 quarters References (optional): If you would like to have a reference note appear after each question during an interactive on-screen test, enter your notes at the "Reference:" prompt line. If you (the teacher) would like to display an ASCII text file PRIOR TO A SPECIFIC QUESTION during an on-screen quiz, then enter a filename (and path if needed) with a pair of {} brackets. For instance, {MY_TEST.ASC} is valid, as is {DATA\HISTORY.92}. If you would like to have the ASCII text display start at a particular line number, enter a comma followed by the line number. For example, if you wish to have the text file {MY_TEST.ASC} pop-up on line 8, enter {MY_TEST.ASC,8}. We have included a fine example of this extended reference usage in a quiz file on this disk. Retrieve the file "COMMANDS.QZ" and take a good look at it. Better yet, try taking this quiz to understand what this is all about! If you would like to enter a lengthy reference note that can be displayed AFTER a specific question during an on-screen quiz session, use the [ALT+M] keys to maximize the reference input field. This will make data entry much easier for the teacher. Pointers (optional): Some teachers may wish to force a specific question based upon the student's on-screen response with the use of "pointers" or "directives". Here's an example. Let's say that you have a TRUEFALS.QZ file with 25 true and false questions you wish a student to use on a test. You wish to present the questions in sequential manner, starting at question number 1. From the command line (or batch file) you start the proram --> QUIZ TRUEFALS.QZ STARTAT=1 The first question the student is presented with is let's say: ⁄ƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒø ≥ Q: 5 quarts is equivalent to 1 gallon? ≥ ¿ƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒŸ ⁄ƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒø ≥ True ≥ <-- Possible answers ≥ False ≥ available to student ¿ƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒŸ If you wish to have the student's answer to this question DETERMINE WHAT QUESTION HE GETS NEXT, then you could use "pointers". For instance, if the student picks "False" for this question, then you may wish to display question # 2. But is the student picks "True", then he should be presented with question # 3 instead, skipping over question #2. How does the program know to do this? By the use of "pointers". A "pointer" is placed by THE TEACHER WHEN YOU ARE CREATING OR MODIFYING A QUIZ. A pointer consists of a pair of {} brackets, enclosing a question NUMBER. For instance, {10} would be a pointer to question # 10. Pointers are placed BEHIND the answer choices as shown below: Choice: True {3} Choice: False {2} Edit an existing quiz: If the user wishes to modify, change, or add a question to an existing .QZ quiz file, then select the "Edit existing quiz" option from the Main Menu. This feature will permit the user to change any question or answer that had been previously entered. If the user has dozens or hundreds of questions in a .QZ file, and wishes to edit just one question, but is uncertain as to its position in the file, the user can "list" all the questions in the file quickly by pressing the [L] key. A pop-up menu list will appear that will list all the questions in sequential order. If more questions exist than can appear in the menu, use the cursor control keys to scroll down the menu list. Once the question is located in the menu, press [ENTER] and that question and its corresponding answers will be displayed in their entirety. Press the [C] key to make any necessary "changes". Note: Once a question has been entered as a "fill-in- the-blank" type question, it is possible from within the program to convert it to a multiple-choice question. To make the switch, remove the "_" underscore character. This will allow the user to add the usual five possible answer choices. You can also make the switch from an existing multiple-choice to a fill-in-the-blank question by simply inserting an "_" underscore character anywhere in the question itself. Quiz printouts: There are two ways to obtain printed quizzes using CREATE A QUIZ: 1) Before taking an actual quiz, the user can select the "Print quiz:" choice from the "Take/use a quiz" sub- menu. Once the "Print quiz:" option is toggled "ON", all questions that are displayed on the screen during the course of the quiz will also be echoed to a printer attached to port LPT1: The solutions to these printed quizzes will appear after every two pages of questions. 2) From the "Create a new quiz" and "Edit existing quiz" selections from the Main Menu, the user can press the [P] key to print a range of questions. The quiz creator can then enter the beginning question number and the ending question number. This range will then be sent to the printer. The quiz creator also has the option of displaying the correct answer on these printouts, or to suppress the correct answer. Correct answers are marked by an asterisk symbol "*". Repeat errors: Before taking a quiz, the user can select the "Repeat errors:" option from the "Take/use a quiz" sub- menu. When the "Repeat errors:" option is toggled "ON", then questions that have been answered incorrectly will be saved into memory and recalled at random during the remainder of the quiz session. Scoreboard: When a user has finished with a quiz and wishes to exit to DOS, their score will be entered into a scoreboard file and then displayed on the screen in a "Top-Ten" chart if they have one of the ten best records for that quiz. Each quiz that you create has its own scoreboard ".SCB" file. For example, if you have a student using a quiz named "MUSIC.QZ" then the student's quiz results will be kept in "MUSIC.SCB" as he finishes the quiz. The "*.SCB" scoreboard files are encrypted to prevent dishonest students from changing their scores. To reset a specific scoreboard file back to zero, eliminating all player's histories, just delete the scoreboard file from the DOS prompt. Command line options: The "command line" refers to what was typed at the DOS prompt before loading CREATE A QUIZ into memory. For example, if your CREATE A QUIZ disk is located in drive A:, your screen should display "A>QUIZ" before you press the [ENTER] key to begin the program. "A>QUIZ" can be referred to as the "command line". Additional text can be appended to the command line after the key word "QUIZ" that will instruct CREATE A QUIZ to perform certain functions not available through the menu selections. QUIZ filename.QZ If a name of an existing .QZ file is added on the command line after the key word "QUIZ", then that .QZ file will be automatically read and used to quiz the user/ student. In such cases the "Main Menu" will be skipped, and the student will be greeted with a prompt to enter his name, followed by the quiz. In the above example replace the word "filename" with the actual name of the quiz you wish to use. If your quiz is called "MATH.QZ" then you must enter "QUIZ MATH.QZ" on the command line before running the program. An example of this command line option in action can be seen by using or viewing the "QUIZ1.BAT" file on this disk. QUIZ filename.QZ RESTRICT The additional word "RESTRICT" on the command line will prevent the student/user from reaching the "Main Menu". This is useful if you have given the program disk to a student and have created a batch file to force the student to use a particular quiz, but you do not want the student to gain access to the "Main Menu" where he may be able to change your questions or answers, or peek and cheat. QUIZ QTY=x The above "QTY=" command line option can be used to force CREATE A QUIZ to stop and return to DOS after "x" number of random questions have been attempted by the student. You can replace the "x" with any positive number that you wish. For instance, "QUIZ QTY=2", "quiz qty=150", "QUIZ qty=90" are all acceptable command line instructions. Do NOT forget to separate the key word "QUIZ" and the "QTY=" option with a space! If the user wishes to see an example of a .BAT file with this option at work then see the "QUIZ2.BAT" file on this disk. QUIZ STARTAT=10 STOPAT=20 The above combination of "STARTAT=" and "STOPAT=" commands instruct CREATE A QUIZ to start at a specific question number and to display subsequent questions sequentially (10, 11, 12,...19, 20). Once the number designated by "STOPAT=" is reached, the program will exit to DOS. If you use "STARTAT=" without a "STOPAT=" statement, CREATE A QUIZ will still proceed with questions sequentially until the very last question is reach, and then will terminate to DOS. QUIZ TIMEOUT=x The above "TIMEOUT=" command line option can be used to force CREATE A QUIZ to stop and return to DOS after "x" number of minutes have elapsed since the first question was attempted by the student. You can replace the "x" with any positive number that you wish. For instance, "QUIZ TIMEOUT=5" will cause the program to end after 5 minutes of play have elapsed. An example of this command line option in action can be seen in the "QUIZ3.BAT" file on this disk. Command line instructions can be combined or placed in any order. In other words, the following command line instructions are all acceptable: QUIZ TIMEOUT=10 QTY=100 The command line instructions above will cause the program to end after 10 minutes of play have elapsed or 100 random questions have been attempted, whichever comes first. QUIZ filename.QZ DISPLAY The above command line instructions force CREATE A QUIZ into a continuous loop using "filename.QZ". When a player is prompted for his name, the program will insist that the user input his FULL name, AND address, city, state, zip and phone number before they can participate in the quiz specified by "filename.QZ". This "DISPLAY" command line instruction (with .QZ file) turns CREATE A QUIZ into an excellent sales or promotional tool for businesses and organizations. For example, a company that specializes in selling and installing home water filters can create a "WATER.QZ" file that presents several questions that tests a prospective client's knowledge of tap water, chlorine, heavy metals, cost comparisons, etc. If CREATE A QUIZ has been started with the "WATER.QZ DISPLAY" command line instructions, then WATER.QZ will be presented to each client that approaches the company's computer display. Each user's name and address are stored in a file called "USER.LST". The "USER.LST" file can later be retrieved and used to print out mailing labels or possible client list. Should you wonder how to stop CREATE A QUIZ from looping into eternity in the "DISPLAY" mode, enter "GOODBYE" when the input window prompts for a user's full name. Of course you could reboot your computer, but that's not very graceful... QUIZ NODUPES The command line instruction above when used in conjunction with random question mode will insure that no duplicating questions will be given to the student. In other words, each question presented to the student will appear only once (i.e., no duplicates). QUIZ ENFORCE QTY=15 The command line parameter "ENFORCE" when used with "STOPAT=" or "STARTAT=" or "QTY=" parameters will prevent a student from exiting the program/quiz until the specified range or quantity of questions have been attempted. QUIZ PLAYERS=1 If you would like to skip over the "How many students are participating?:" prompt when your users begin using a quiz (particularly when ONLY ONE USER would ever be taking your quiz), then specify the number of participants on the command line with "PLAYERS=x" where "x" is replaced with actual number of participants. QUIZ SCORELOG=ON Since the scoreboard only records the top 10 high scores, there may be times when your student/user obtains a score worth knowing about and yet falls short of making it into the "top ten" scoreboard. To maintain a record log of your user's scores (regardless of the score), use the "SCORELOG=ON" parameter. This will cause CREATE A QUIZ to maintain a file with all user's scores, along with date and quiz used. The file generated will be straight ASCII text and will automatically be named "SCORE.LOG". QUIZ SCRAMBLE When taking a multiple choice quiz, you will notice that the "pick list" of possible answer choices appears exactly in the same order as the answers were entered by the teacher when first creating that question. In other words, if a multiple choice question exists where... Question: How much is 1 + 1? Answer: 2 Answer: 4 Answer: 6 Answer: 8 Answer: 11 ...when your student is present this question within a quiz on the screen, the order of answers "2,4,6,8,11" will be identical to the order in which the teacher entered them. If, however, you would like to see the order of answers SCRAMBLED up, then add the "SCRAMBLE" command line parameter when starting QUIZ. The scramble that will occur will vary from moment to moment, so that if a question was to reappear twice, the order of answers would be different from the first appearance. QUIZ FIBCHAR=x The way CREATE A QUIZ determines whether a question is a multiple-choice or fill-in-the-blank type is by use of the underscore "_" character. If an "_" appears in a question (anywhere) then that question is assumed to be a multiple- choice type question. However, there are sometimes where you would prefer to have a different character determine this, therefore use the FIBCHAR=x command line parameter where "x" is replaced with the actual single character that will determine whether a question is fill-in-the-blank or not. QUIZ SCOREALL The student taking a quiz will be allowed to determine whether they want their scores recorded to the scoreboard when they are finished. If the teacher wishes to eliminate this option, forcing the student's score to be compared to the top 10 scoreboard instead, then add the SCOREALL paramenter. Although SCOREALL will not guarantee that your student's score will be added to the top 10, it will guarantee that the student's score will be compared with the current scoreboard. If you want to guarantee that your student's score is recorded to the scoreboard, then delete the *.SCB scoreboard file before taking the quiz. By deleting the appropriate *.SCB scoreboard file, your student's score will definitely be recorded in the scoreboard since there will be no other scores to compete against. QUIZ NOREVIEW When a student takes a quiz in which a multiple-choice question is presented, the student has to select from a list of possible correct answers. If the student picks the wrong answer, the message "xyz IS INCORRECT!" At this point the student may still not know the correct answer. Also at this point an instruction prompt at the bottom of the screen offers the student to reveal the answer (or review the choices) by pressing the [R] key. Should the teacher wish to withhold this prompt, and preventing the student from discovering the correct answer he missed, add the NOREVIEW parameter on the command line when starting CREATE A QUIZ. QUIZ NOOPTS This command line parameter will suppress/withhold the "Play Options Menu". This will prevent the student from changing the question order, printout, or repeat errors options. You canNOT currently combine the NOOPTS and RESTRICT (see above) parameters, since some form of introductory menu will always be necessary. QUIZ NODOC This parameter is only valid with the STUDENT'S EDITION of CREATE A QUIZ. This will prevent access to the on-screen documentation file (what you are currently reading). QUIZ REFNOTES The parameter REFNOTES will AUTOMATICALLY display any EXTENDED LENGTH reference notes that are associated with a question during play after the student has entered their answer. Any reference notes will be displayed in a full- screen window for easier reading. If REFNOTES is not used (default), then the student taking a quiz will have to press the [D] key to manually display any extended length reference notes. Possible conflicts: There is a font file that was distributed with CREATE A QUIZ that may give a small number of users some problems. The QUIZ.FNT is used with systems running VGA graphics. If you do NOT have VGA graphics you may wish to delete this file ONLY IF YOU ENCOUNTER VIDEO PROBLEMS. Disclaimer: The author makes no warranties, expressed or implied, as to the quality of performance of this program. The author will not be held liable for any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages resulting from the use of CREATE A QUIZ. Your use of the program constitutes your agreement to this disclaimer and your release of the author from any form of liability or litigation. Shareware and distribution: CREATE A QUIZ is being distributed as shareware. Shareware is a "try before you buy" software marketing concept that allows the user to obtain fully functional copies of programs for evaluation. The distribution and copying fee that you may have paid to obtain this disk does not cover the cost of the software contained on this disk. Shareware programs such as the one that you are about to try require separate payment to the author if it is found to be a useful product and if it is used beyond a reasonable evaluation period. Individuals can make copies of this program and pass them on to friends and acquaintances as long as the program is NOT sold and the concept of shareware is made known to them. Commercial distributors and vendors should contact the author BEFORE distributing CREATE A QUIZ publicly IF THE DATE/TIME STAMP OF THE QUIZ.EXE FILE IS OVER 2 YEARS OLD! Distributors and vendors who wish to receive the latest unregistered version of CREATE A QUIZ can do so by contacting the author AND SUBMITTING A COPY OF THEIR PRODUCT CATALOG or download QUIZ*.ZIP from our BBS (see below). Site licenses: Businesses, groups and schools must obtain a site license for CREATE A QUIZ if this program will be used on more than one personal computer. Teachers who plan on making more than one copy of their registered version of CREATE A QUIZ must likewise obtain a site license. Contact the author for more details. We also have a student's version of CREATE A QUIZ that can provide a teacher with a very inexpensive way of distributing (or even selling) their on-screen quizzes. The student's version is a "lite" version of the teacher's edition - it does not allow access to generating new or changing existing quizzes. Program Author: Philip Kapusta P.O. Box 5423 Falmouth, Va. 22403 USA Other programs: If you are interested in other programs written by the author, an illustrated catalog is available. Most of our programs are family or Bible oriented and very affordable. Mail 4 U.S. first class postage stamps to cover materials and shipping to the above address, and request a catalog. If you are registering and wish to receive a catalog, don't mail any stamps - the catalog is free IF you ask for one to registrants. A stripped down version of CREATE A QUIZ is available directly from the author, and is intended for use by your students. This "student's edition" of CREATE A QUIZ is nearly identical to the version that you are now using, with the exception that the user (student) canNOT create or edit any quizzes. The "student's version" allows the user to TAKE an existing quiz generated by you, but that is all. The student's version can be licensed so that you may sell or distribute your quizzes royalty free. This license arrangement pertains only to the STUDENT'S version. The TEACHER'S version that you currently have (when registered) is NOT to be distributed to others! If you would like to receive a trial copy of the "student's version" contact the author, enclosing 6 U.S. stamps, and state the disk size your computer supports. We also have a special version of CREATE A QUIZ that is used to generate SCANTRON smart quizzes. SCANTRON are the type of "bubble" format quizzes that you often use with SAT style tests. Again, contact the author if this would be of interest to you or your school. Your feedback: We welcome all feedback - positive and negative. We will consider your suggestions for future program enhancements. Many of the features in this current version are a result of user's suggestions. If you desire a reply, enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope when writing! If you have a modem, you may wish to leave an e-mail message to "SYSOP" on The Mustard Seed BBS at (703) 372-9680 N81.