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BESTTEST USERS MANUAL (DISK VERSION) Copyright (c) 1990 by WiseWare P.O. Box 148139 Chicago, IL 60614 ____|__ | (tm) --| | |------------------- | ____|__ | Association of | | |_| Shareware |__| o | Professionals -----| | |--------------------- |___|___| MEMBER BESTTEST and the BESTTEST USERS MANUAL are provided "as is" and without warranties as to performance or merchantability or any other warranties whether expressed or implied. Because of the various hardware and software environments into which this program may be put, no warranty of fitness for a particular purpose is offered. Good data processing procedure dictates that any program be thoroughly tested with non-critical data before relying on it. The user must assume the entire risk of using the program. Any liability of the author and/or provider will be limited exclusively to product replacement or refund of the purchase price. This program is produced by a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at P.O. Box 5786, Bellevue, WA 98006 or send a Compuserve message via easyplex to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 INSTALLATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 QUICK START . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 TUTORIAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Starting the Program. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Using the Help System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Using the Main Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Creating Your First BESTTEST File . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Creating a New File Item. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11 Using the BESTTEST Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12 Working With an Existing File . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 Changing Program Defaults . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 Composing and Printing Tests. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25 CONVENIENCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30 PRINTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33 GRAPHICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35 SPELLING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36 GOOD TESTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37 REFERENCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39 ABOUT BESTTEST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54 KEY CHART . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55 INTRODUCTION BESTTEST is a little like a word processor and a little like a database manager. Users familiar with one or both of these kinds of software should be able to get up to speed with BESTTEST fairly easily. A glance at the INSTALLATION and QUICK START sections of this manual should be enough to allow such experienced users to begin working with the program. Those new to computers (or simply wary of new software) will want to begin with the TUTORIAL section on page 4. We hope you find BESTTEST useful and we hope, too, that you enjoy working with the program. We would be interested to hear any suggestions you have for improving BESTTEST and/or this manual. Please write to us at: WiseWare P.O. Box 148139 Chicago, IL 60614 BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 1 INSTALLATION To run BESTTEST, you will need an IBM PC or compatible with 384KB RAM, at least one disk drive, and an 80 column monitor and printer. BESTTEST is distributed in a compressed format, and the program cannot be run until it has been properly installed. If your disk contains the file INSTALL.BAT (as well as the file, BESTTEST.EXE), just type INSTALL at the DOS prompt and press ENTER. Then read and follow the directions displayed on your screen. If you have only the file BESTTEST.EXE, then, at the DOS prompt, type: BESTTEST [d:] where [d:] represents the drive or directory where you want the program to be installed. For example: BESTTEST B: would install the program on floppies in Drive B. If you will be running BESTTEST from a hard disk, we suggest that you make a new directory and use it as the target of your installation. If you are installing the the program to floppies, you will need two disks: one for the program file, BT.EXE, and one for the tutorial file, SAMPLE.BTD. If you want to create a readable and printable disk version of this manual, you will need a third disk. BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 2 QUICK START 1. Insert a disk containing BT.EXE in the currently active drive (or, if you are using a hard disk, change to the directory in which BT.EXE is stored.) 2. Type BT at the DOS prompt and press F1, 3. Read the title screen* and press ESC 4. Press F1 once to view the FILE LEVEL BASICS help screen, and then press F1 again to view the HELP INDEX. 5. With the "Help on Using Help" option highlighted, press ENTER From this point, you will be able to use the online help system and the key chart on the inside back cover of this manual to guide you in your exploration of the program. Please consult the REFERENCE section of this manual when you need detailed explanations of program unctions. *Once the BESTTEST title screen is displayed, you can remove the program disk and replace it with a data disk. You may want to do this if, for instance, you are using BESTTEST on a laptop with only one floppy disk drive. BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 3 TUTORIAL Probably the easiest way to understand what BESTTEST does is to try to imagine doing yourself what the program does for you automatically: You start with of a box of file cards. On each card you write a test item. When you want to make a test, you choose the cards you want, lay them out in order, and tape them together. Then you cut up your chain of cards (test items) into page-sized sections, and photocopy them. Then you type out a sheet showing the correct answers. If you want another version of the test, you have to untape the cards and start the whole business over again. Finally, you untape your file cards and put them back in the box. In this "manual" version of the program, you do two very different sorts of jobs; one involves writing and/or editing individual test items, and the other involves working with the whole box of cards. In BESTTEST, these two basic functions are performed at different levels of the program: the ITEM LEVEL and the FILE LEVEL. The top level (where the program starts when you first load it) is the FILE LEVEL. At this level you will do things such as delete file items, sort the file, select items for a test, etc. At the ITEM LEVEL you will create and edit individual test items. There is no way to avoid a certain amount of jargon when you work with computers. For instance, if you are a very careful reader, you will have noticed that in the last two paragraphs we made, without explanation, a distinction between test items and file items. And if you are especially finicky about such things, you might think that this was adding insult to injury since the ordinary term question would have done the job just fine. After all, what is a test item if it isn't a question? However, in BESTTEST there are test items that are not questions. A BESTTEST test item which isn't a question is a header. Header items are used for titling tests, for distinguishing different parts of a test, for giving instructions etc. And, as it turns out, BESTTEST recognizes yet one more kind of item, a list item, which is neither a question nor a header (and therefore cannot be a test item). List items are used for saving whole tests. The "list" comprises the items included in the BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 4 test. To save disk space, list items do not store the entire text of a test, rather they store only a list of special identification numbers (which you cannot see) that the program uses to remember which items you choose to include in your test. So, in BESTTEST a file item can be a question, or a header, or a list. That only leaves one further term which needs explanation now. In any item (or, on any of the file cards in the imaginary manual system) there will be several different kinds of information. In a multiple-choice question, for instance, there will be the question, the correct answer, and two or more incorrect alternatives (usually called "distractors"). In computerese these are referred to as the different fields in the item.* So, in our multiple-choice example, we would have: the question field, the answer field, and the distractor fields. BESTTEST recognizes a wide variety of question formats: Essay, Fill-In, True/False, Multiple-Choice, and Matching. As you will see, the differences among these formats are a function of the different kinds and different numbers of fields each format includes. There will be other terms to learn, of course, as you make your way through the tutorial. But if you are clear about item and field, and the three basic item types (list, header and question), that's all you need for now. And remember, there is nothing to prevent you from consulting the REFERENCE section of this manual while you are working through the tutorial. Starting the program. (If you have not completed the steps in the INSTALLATION section on page 2, do so now.) The procedure for starting BESTTEST depends on what sort of machine you are using. If you are using a machine with a hard disk: change to the directory in which BT.EXE and SAMPLE.BTD are stored, type BT at the DOS prompt and press ENTER. If you are using a machine with two 360K floppy drives (and no hard disk): insert a disk containing BT.EXE in Drive A and a disk containing SAMPLE.BTD in Drive B. Make Drive B the default drive, then type A:BT at the DOS prompt and press ENTER. BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 5 If you are using a machine with no hard disk and only one floppy disk drive: insert a disk containing BT.EXE in that drive. Type BT at the DOS prompt and press ENTER. When the BESTTEST title screen is displayed, remove the program disk and insert a disk containing SAMPLE.BTD*. Read the BESTTEST title screen and then press ESC (EXIT/CANCEL) You should now be at the FILE LEVEL, and the screen should look like this -------------------------------------------------------------- | Format Level Reference-A Reference-B Item Text | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------- | Current File: no file | | Current Path: (default path) | | Total Items: 0 | | System Date: (today) | -------------------------------------------------------------- The bottom part of the screen is the message area. Most of the time, the message area will look pretty much as it does now, but when there are special messages, or when you call up the main menu, or when the program needs information from you, the display in the message area will change. The top part of the screen is the work area. There is nothing much you can do in the work area right now because there is no file for you to work with. * This swap is not necessary if your floppy disk holds 720K or more because such high capacity disks can hold both BT.EXE and your data files. BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 6 Using the Help System Even at this early stage, however, there are two keys that are worthy of your attention. The first is the HELP key. Press F1 (HELP) NOTE: There is almost always a reminder about this key at the lower left-hand corner of the screen. You will see the FILE LEVEL BASICS help screen - FILE LEVEL BASICS -------------------------- F1 = Help Index - | | | F1 Help | | F2 Find | | F3 Sort | | F4 Filter | | F5 Files | | F6 List | | F7 Print | | F8 Utilities | | F9 Defaults | | F10 Create a New Item | | INS Create a New Item | | ENTER Edit the Highlighted Item | | DEL Delete the Highlighted Item | | * Mark / Unmark the Highlighted Item | | Ctrl ENTER Move Marked Item / Printer Definition | | Ctrl PgUp Top of File | | Ctrl PgDn Bottom of File | | PgUp Screen Up - KeyStroke Recorder - | | PgDn Screen Down | ALT = Start || | HOME+RIGHT Shift the Display Right | ALT - Stop || | HOME+LEFT Shift the Display Left | ALT P Playback || | ESC Exit / Cancel ---------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------- BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 7 Press F1 (HELP) again and you will see the HELP INDEX --------------------------- HELP INDEX ------------------------- | Help on Using Help | | BESTTEST BASICS | | FILE LEVEL BASICS | | ITEM LEVEL BASICS | | Configuring Your Printer | | Formatting Test Items | | Good Tests | | Keystroke Recorder | | Loading Files | | Print/Answer Position | | Sorting, Searching and Filtering Files | | Using Header Items | | Utilities | | Working With Lists | | How to Register Your Copy of BESTTEST 1.1 | | Disclaimer | | About Besttest | | | | | | | ---------------------------------------------------------------- The Help Index is a typical BESTTEST menu. In all such menus, you will use the cursor keys to highlight the different options. If you press ENTER the highlighted option will be invoked. In this case, the help screen associated with that item is displayed. Now press ESC (EXIT/CANCEL) and you will exit the menu without doing anything. In this case, you will exit the BESTTEST help system and return to the FILE LEVEL screen. In general, whenever you exit the Help System, you will be returned to the previous program level, whatever it was. This EXIT/CANCEL key is the other important key mentioned earlier because you can use it to cancel any BESTTEST function, and, ultimately, you can use it to exit from the program File Level and return to the DOS command line. NOTE: Never turn off your machine while you are running BESTTEST. Always exit from the program and return to the DOS command line first. Failure to do this may result in damage to your data file. BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 8 Using the Main Menu BESTTEST is designed with a function key interface. This means that you invoke different program functions by pressing the specific key associated with each one. New users often find using the function keys difficult at first. For that reason, BESTTEST also provides a Main Menu (at both the FILE LEVEL and the ITEM LEVEL) which allows you to pick program functions just as you would pick options from any other menu. To call up the Main Menu (at either the FILE LEVEL or the ITEM LEVEL) just press ALT M (MAIN MENU) Creating Your First BESTTEST File. You should be at the File Level screen now, so all you need to do to create your first BESTTEST file is press F5 (FILES) Notice that the display in the message area changes when you do this, and that it now shows this menu -------------------------------------------------------------- | Select File | | Create File | | Change Path | | | -------------------------------------------------------------- Highlight the "Create File" option and press ENTER In the message area you will see -------------------------------------------------------------- | Enter new file name: ........ | | | | | | ESC = cancel F10 = done | -------------------------------------------------------------- You can use letters and/or numbers in naming your files. The dots following the "Enter new file name" prompt show you how many characters you have to work with. BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 9 For now, let's keep things simple, just type WORK and press F10 (SAVE/DONE) When you do this, the program will create two files on the default drive/directory. One will be named WORK.BTD. This file will hold the data, i.e. the actual text of your file items. The other file will be called WORK.BTX. This is the index file associated with the WORK.BTD. You will never view or use this file directly, but the program will use it when sorting and filtering the data file. Now your screen should look like this -------------------------------------------------------------- | Format Level Reference-A Reference-B Item Text | | This file is empty. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------- | Current File: WORK | | Current Path: (default path) | | Total Items: 0 | | System Date: (today) | -------------------------------------------------------------- The display in the message area has changed to show the name of the file you have just created. As you work with the program, the information displayed in the message area will be continually updated. BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 10 Creating a New File Item To create your first BESTTEST test item. Press INS (NEW ITEM) This will take you to the ITEM LEVEL and your screen will look (roughly) like this Question:.................................................... .................................................... .................................................... .................................................... .................................................... .................................................... .................................................... .................................................... .................................................... .................................................... .................................................... .................................................... .................................................... .................................................... Answer Comment: ............................................... |----| Answer: ........................................... (*) |F1 | Distractor: ........................................... (*) |HELP| Distractor: ........................................... (*) |----| Distractor: ........................................... (*) This is a typical BESTTEST item template. This one is for the factory default item format: MC-4v. This format yields a Multiple Choice item, with 4 response options (i.e. the "Answer" and three "Distractors") which are printed vertically. Each of these counts as a distinct field (i.e. an area where you will enter text) in the template. You may be puzzled by the "Answer Comment" field. This is an optional field which will print, if at all, only on answer sheets. You can use it to explain why the correct answer is correct, to give a source validating the answer etc. There are four other fields on this screen that you may not notice at first. These are the tag fields at the end of each response option line. They look like this: (*). These fields contain print position indicators. BESTTEST will automatically shuffle the order of the response options every time you print a test unless you indicate, by using these fields, that you want a given response always printed in a given position. You will want to do this with "All of the above" and "None of the above" type responses. (See page 18 and the POSITION entry on page 49.) BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 11 Now press TAB (NEXT FIELD) and SHIFT TAB (PREVIOUS FIELD) several times and watch how the screen changes. You may find this screen a little jumpy at first. What is happening is that, as you move from field to field, BESTTEST is automatically adjusting the screen to give the current field (the one in which the cursor is blinking) the maximum number of lines available. NOTE: A given item can contain as many lines as will fit on the screen. On a standard monitor this means a maximum of 25 lines, but EGA/VGA monitors can display more lines. (See the SCREEN FONT entry on page 51.) Using the BESTTEST Editor Entering text in BESTTEST is easy and straightforward. There is automatic wordwrap in all fields, so you can just type what you want and let the program move you from line to line. When, for instance, at the end of a paragraph, you want to force a new line, press ENTER (NEW LINE) You can, of course, use the cursor keys to move back over the text you have already typed and make changes. When you see the normal cursor, that means you are in insert mode and any text to the right and/or below the cursor will be pushed down to make room for the new characters you enter. If you want to change to typeover mode, press INS (INSERT/TYPEOVER) and you will see a large block cursor. To change back to insert mode, press INS (INSERT/TYPEOVER) again. The BESTTEST editor supports four screen/print attributes: bold, underline, subscript and superscript. To use any one of them, position the cursor under the character you want to change, and press the appropriate key. You can check the ITEM LEVEL help screen to determine which key you need. To undo the change, repeat the same process. (Only bold and underline can be combined.) While you are editing there are various ways to delete text. These are all identified in the ITEM LEVEL help screen, and a little experimentation with them should clear up any confusion. BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 12 Now enter some text for a question into this template. (Remember: Use TAB and SHIFT TAB to move from field to field.) It doesn't matter what the question is about, but it would be better if you didn't enter nonsense text or random characters. Enter something in the "Answer Comment" field even if you don't fully understand what it is for. And make sure you enter the correct answer to your question in the "Answer" field. When you have finished entering and correcting the text for your question, press F10 (SAVE) The window which will now appear in the middle of the screen is called the Reference Window* -- ESC = cancel ---------------------- F10 = save -- | | | Item Level: 4 | | Reference-A: .......... | | Reference-B: .......... | | | --------------------------- last revised: (today) -- The information you enter in the fields in this window will be used by the program in sorting and filtering your file, and it will be displayed in the appropriate columns of the work area screen. But for now, don't enter anything, just press F10 (SAVE) again, and BESTTEST will save your item to the disk and return you to the FILE LEVEL. * Don't worry if this window appears to overwrite some of the text you just entered. All of your text is saved in memory, and will be restored when this window is "closed." BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 13 Your screen will now look like this -------------------------------------------------------------- | Format Level Reference-A Reference-B Item Text | | MC-4V 4 Your first line | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------- | Current File: WORK | | Current Path: (default path) | | Total Items: 1 | | System Date: (today) | -------------------------------------------------------------- (In the "Item Text" column, your screen will show the actual text you just entered in the "Question" field of the item template. In fact, your screen will show a little more text than appears above because the pages of this manual are not quite wide enough to reproduce a true image of an 80 column monitor.) If you want to view the item you have just created, just press ENTER (EDIT) and you will be returned to the ITEM LEVEL. You can then make changes and save them as you did previously, or you can simply return to the FILE LEVEL (canceling any changes you may have made) by pressing ESC (EXIT/CANCEL) Working with an Existing File: SAMPLE.BTD. To make the SAMPLE file active (and automatically close the WORK file you have just created) press F5 (FILES) With the Select File option highlighted, press ENTER BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 14 Highlight SAMPLE.BTD in the menu displayed in the message area, and press ENTER to select (load) the SAMPLE file. When you do this, in the message area, you will see -------------------------------------------------------------- | Attempt to recreate defective index file? YES (NO) | | | | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------- There is nothing really wrong. In order to demonstrate that BESTTEST can reconstruct a damaged or missing index file, the SAMPLE.BTX file was not included on your program disk. Say "Yes" to this question (that is, type: Y), and you will now see this message -------------------------------------------------------------- | Reindexing file, please wait... | | | | | | Working on Key: Records Read: Records Written: | -------------------------------------------------------------- and, for a moment*, your disk drive will be active. * If you are running BESTTEST from a floppy disk, this and other, similar "moments" may require a little patience. However, the bottom line of the message window is updated as the process proceeds, so you need not worry that something has gone wrong. BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 15 When the reindexing process is finished, your screen should look like this -------------------------------------------------------------- | Format Level Reference-A Reference-B Item Text | | LIST 4 BT USERS TUTORIAL THIS IS A SAMPLE | | HEADER 0 EVERYONE READ ME This file gives | | FILL-IN 4 BT USERS ITEM TYPE The "h" item type | | T / F 4 BT USERS ITEM TYPE A file item, once | | T / F 4 BT USERS LISTS A file item, once | | T / F 4 BT USERS ONE FLOPPY A file item, once | | T / F 4 BT USERS LISTS A file item, once | | MC-3h 4 BT USERS KEYS When the order of | | MC-3h 4 BT USERS KEYS Which key do you | | MC-3h 4 BT USERS GRAPHICS In which year was | | MC-3v 4 BT USERS HELP INDEX What should you do | | MC-3v 4 BT USERS KEYS At the FILE LEVEL | | MC-3v 4 BT USERS COLORS Why might you want | | MC-3v 4 BT USERS DEFAULTS Which of the follow| | MC-4v 4 BT USERS SHAREWARE Which Tennessee Wil| -------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------- | Current File: SAMPLE | | Current Path: (default path) | | Total Items: 28 | | System Date: (today) | -------------------------------------------------------------- Each line in the work area represents an individual file item. The highlighted item is the current one. As you can see, there is room in the work area to display only 15 item lines, but a file may contain many more than 15 items. In the example above, the display in the message area shows that the SAMPLE file contains 28 items. (At maximum, a file can contain 1000 items.) As you can see, the work area represents a window 15 items wide (or deep, if you prefer) on the file. When you first load the program, this window is automatically positioned over the top of the file, however, you can use these keys and key combinations PgUp (SCREEN UP) PgDn (SCREEN DOWN) Ctrl PgUp (TOP OF FILE) Ctrl PgDn (END OF FILE) to reposition it. BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 16 Use the cursor keys to move from item to item UpArrow (PREVIOUS ITEM) DownArrow (NEXT ITEM) within the work area window. Move back to the top of the file now, and then down one item so that the highlighted item looks like this HEADER 4 EVERYONE READ ME This file gives Now press ENTER (EDIT) You should now be at the ITEM LEVEL, and your screen should look like this Text: This file gives examples of a variety of item formats, and it also demonstrates some of the possible uses of answer comments. Registered users of BESTTEST will find a step-by-step tutorial based on this file in the BESTTEST USERS MANUAL............................................... ........................................................... ........................................................... ........................................................... ........................................................... ........................................................... ........................................................... ........................................................... ........................................................... ........................................................... ........................................................... ........................................................... |----|........................................................... |F1 |........................................................... |HELP|........................................................... |----|........................................................... The item displayed is a HEADER item. (This one is a dummy item used only to make clear the purpose of the SAMPLE file.) You will use HEADER items to title your tests, distinguish different parts of a test, specify instructions etc. You could make changes to this item now, but instead, press ESC (EXIT/CANCEL) to return to the FILE LEVEL. BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 17 Now press PgDn (SCREEN DOWN) so that the highlighted item looks like this MC-4v 9 BT USERS SHAREWARE Which Tennessee Wil and then press ENTER (EDIT) This time your screen should look like this Question: Which Tennessee Williams character is the role model for shareware developers:........................... .................................................... .................................................... .................................................... .................................................... .................................................... .................................................... .................................................... .................................................... .................................................... .................................................... .................................................... .................................................... Answer Comment: Because, like her, they have always depended on the kindness of strangers...................... |----| Answer: Blanche DuBois............................. (d) |F1 | Distractor: Stanley Kowalski........................... (*) |HELP| Distractor: Big Daddy.................................. (*) |----| Distractor: The Gentleman Caller....................... (*) This is a typical MC-4v item, i.e., a Multiple Choice item with 4 answer options printed vertically. Notice that the tag field for the correct answer indicates (for no particular reason except to demonstrate this function) that that response should always be printed in the last position. BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 18 To see how this works, press F2 (PREVIEW) Now your screen will look something* like this xxx. Which Tennessee Williams character is the role model for shareware developers? a. Big Daddy b. The Gentleman Caller c. Stanley Kowalski d. Blanche DuBois |----| |ESC | |EXIT| |----| Notice that the correct response has been bolded and that the print position specified for the correct answer has been maintained even though the other responses have been shuffled. Press ESC (EXIT/CANCEL) to return to the screen template. If you repeat this procedure several times, you will quickly see how BESTTEST automatically shuffles response options while maintaining specified print positions. * Of course, the BESTTEST autoshuffle function may produce a different ordering of the responses on your screen. BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 19 Now press F10 (SAVE) and the Reference Window will appear in the middle of the screen -- ESC = cancel ---------------------- F10 = save -- | | | Item Level: 0 | | Reference-A: EVERYONE.. | | Reference-B: SHAREWARE. | | | --------------------------- last revised: (today) -- This question is important to all computer users (and not merely BESTTEST users), and the "Reference-A" field should be corrected. Press TAB (NEXT FIELD) to move to the "Reference-A" field. Press Ctrl ENTER (DELETE FIELD) to clear the field and then type EVERYONE Now press F10 (SAVE) again to save the changes you have made to this item and return to the FILE LEVEL. Changing program defaults. The FILE LEVEL work area contains quite a bit of important information. Each line represents an individual file item. There are five different pieces of information in each line. The column headings at the very top of the screen explain what each one is. The first (leftmost) column is used to indicate the item format. The various options in this column should be obvious. The second column holds a value from 0 to 9. These "Level" values are meant to indicate the relative difficulty of the item in question. The headings of the third and fourth columns (Reference-A and Reference-B) can be customized. If you will examine the values in these columns for the items in the SAMPLE file, you will see that we have used those fields to indicate, respectively, the audience and the topic of each file item. BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 20 (Of course, you may prefer a different use for these fields.) To make these headings reflect the functions of their respective fields, press F9 (DEFAULTS) and choose the Program Defaults option from the menu displayed in the message area. Your screen will now look like this - SCREEN AND NEW ITEM DEFAULTS- ----- USER DEFINABLE KEYS ----- | || | | || ASCII | | || | | || ALT 1 = ┌ 218 | | Item Level: 4 || ALT 2 = └ 192 | | Item Format: MC-4v || ALT 3 = ┐ 191 | | || ALT 4 = ┘ 217 | |Reference-A Title: Reference-A || ALT 5 = ─ 196 | |Reference-A Value: ........... || ALT 6 = │ 179 | | || ALT 7 = ┬ 194 | |Reference-B Title: Reference-B || ALT 8 = ┴ 193 | |Reference-B Value: ........... || ALT 9 = ├ 195 | | || ALT 0 = ┤ 180 | | || | | || | | || | ------------------------------- ------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------- | Minimum = 0 Maximum = 9 | | | | | | ESC = cancel F10 = done | -------------------------------------------------------------- Press TAB (NEXT FIELD) twice to move to the "Reference-A Title" field, and then, to edit the field, press ENTER Now press Ctrl ENTER (DELETE FIELD) to clear the field. BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 21 Then type Audience and press ENTER again. Now move down to the "Reference-B Title" field, and use the same series of steps to change that title to "Topic". Now press F10 (SAVE) to save your changes and return to the work area. Notice, now, that the headings or titles of the third and fourth columns in the work area are, respectively, "Audience" and "Topic". If you have a color monitor, you might want to adjust the default screen colors to your own preference. Just press F9 (DEFAULTS) and choose the "Change Screen Colors" option from the menu that appears in the message area. These changes are only temporary. However, when you exit the program, you will see a message asking if you want to make them permanent. If you say "Yes" to this question, a very small file, BT.SYS, will be created on the same disk or in the same directory where BT.EXE resides. (If for any reason you want to return to the factory defaults, all you have to do is erase BT.SYS.) BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 22 You should be back at the file level now, and your screen should look like this -------------------------------------------------------------- | Format Level Audience Topic Item Text | | LIST 4 BT USERS TUTORIAL THIS IS A SAMPLE | | HEADER 0 EVERYONE READ ME This file gives | | FILL-IN 4 BT USERS ITEM TYPE The "h" item type | | T / F 4 BT USERS ITEM TYPE A file item, once | | T / F 4 BT USERS LISTS A file item, once | | T / F 4 BT USERS ONE FLOPPY A file item, once | | T / F 4 BT USERS LISTS A file item, once | | MC-3h 4 BT USERS KEYS When the order of | | MC-3h 4 BT USERS KEYS Which key do you | | MC-3h 4 BT USERS GRAPHICS In which year was | | MC-3v 4 BT USERS HELP INDEX What should you do | | MC-3v 4 BT USERS KEYS At the FILE LEVEL | | MC-3v 4 BT USERS COLORS Why might you want | | MC-3v 4 BT USERS DEFAULTS Which of the follow| | MC-4v 4 BT USERS SHAREWARE Which Tennessee Wil| -------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------- | Current File: SAMPLE | | Current Path: (default path) | | Total Items: 28 | | System Date: (today) | -------------------------------------------------------------- To create a new file item press INS (NEW ITEM) Unless you changed the default item format, what you will see will be the screen template for an MC-4v file item. This time, however, you are going to create an MC-3h item. BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 23 To get the proper template on the screen, press F3 (ITEM FORMAT) and from the menu displayed in the center of the screen, choose the "MC-3h" option. Now your screen should look like this Question:..................................................... ..................................................... ..................................................... ..................................................... ..................................................... ..................................................... ..................................................... ..................................................... ..................................................... ..................................................... ..................................................... ..................................................... ..................................................... ..................................................... ..................................................... ..................................................... |----| ..................................................... |F1 | Answer Comment:........................................... |HELP| *. .............. *. .............. *. .............. |----| └── answer ──┘ └ distractor─┘ └ distractor─┘ Items in this format are especially useful in vocabulary tests. (Notice that there are no "tag" fields in this screen. That is because BESTTEST always shuffles all response choices in "h" type items. Make up a question of your own and enter it now. You might want to press F1 (HELP) and read through the ITEM LEVEL Basics screen again before you begin. When you are through entering text, press F10 (SAVE) and enter something in the "Item Level", "Audience" and "Topic" fields. (Notice that the titles you entered in the Program Defaults screen, are in effect here as well as in the FILE LEVEL work area.) Finally, press F10 (SAVE) again, to save your new item and return to the FILE LEVEL. BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 24 Now, with your new item still highlighted, press ENTER (EDIT) and, when your item is displayed on the screen, press F3 (ITEM FORMAT) and choose the "MC-5v" option from the menu displayed. Notice how the full text of your item is recast in the new format. Add some new text for the fourth and fifth response options. Then repeat the same steps again and choose another of the multiple choice formats. This time some text will be lost because you are going from five response options to only four or three. (None of these changes affects the item as it is stored on your disk unless you deliberately resave the reformatted item.) Go back to the FILE LEVEL, and with your new item still highlighted, press DEL (DELETE ITEM) Notice that a confirmation request is displayed in the message area giving you a chance to reconsider your DELETE ITEM command. (You should probably choose to delete the item you have just created just to be sure that the SAMPLE file will always be properly coordinated with this tutorial.) Composing and Printing Tests. To compose a test, you simply mark the items you want to use. Highlight any item that you want on your test and press * (MARK/UNMARK) Notice that an asterisk (indicating that this item has been marked) now appears just to the left of the first column in the work area. If, with that same item still highlighted, you press * (MARK/UNMARK) again, the asterisk will disappear and the item will be deleted from the marked items list. (See page 40 for an explanation of the AUTO SELECT function which allows you to have the program mark items for you automatically.) Mark four or five more items and then press F4 (FILTER) Choose the "Marked Items" option from the menu displayed in the message area. BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 25 Now the display in the work area shows only the items you marked for your test. The program has filtered out all the others. They are still safely stored in the file, but, for the moment, you cannot get to them. Items appear in the order in which you marked them. But suppose you realize now that the last item you marked should really be the first item on the test. You don't have to return to the full (unfiltered) file, unmark all the marked items and start again. Instead, highlight the item in question and press Ctrl ENTER (MOVE) Now move the highlight to the position where you want the item you are moving to be inserted, and press Ctrl ENTER (MOVE) again. Notice that the item you are moving was inserted above the item that was highlighted when you pressed Ctrl ENTER (MOVE) the second time. Try moving several more items until you are comfortable with this procedure. Now press F6 (LIST) and choose the "Return to File" option from the menu displayed in the message area. As you can see, all the items you previously marked have been unmarked, and you have been returned to the full file. Press Ctrl PgUp (TOP OF FILE) The highlighted item represents a saved list. If you press ENTER (EDIT) while this item is highlighted you will not be taken to the ITEM LEVEL. Instead the list in question will be retrieved into memory, and the items it comprises will be automatically marked. Try this now. BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 26 To view this list, press F6 (LIST) and choose the "Show List" option from the menu displayed in the message area. You will notice that the last question is #10 even though the list comprises only 7 items. The explanation is that the next to last item is a MATCH-h item which itself comprise 4 questions. As you can see, this list contains no Header item. This means that when the test is printed, it will begin immediately with the first question in the list. Most tests, however, have titles and, sometimes, instructions which proceed the first question. It is for this sort of thing that HEADER items are used. However, you cannot create new items while a filter is active, so in order to create your header item, you must first return to the full file. Press F6 (LIST) and choose the "Return to File" option from the menu displayed. This will take you back to the FILE LEVEL with all file items active. Now press F10 (NEW ITEM) and then press F3 (ITEM FORMAT) and choose HEADER from the menu displayed. Now enter text until your screen looks like this Text: My First Test: Instructions: Mark one and only answer for each question. ........................................................... ........................................................... ........................................................... ........................................................... ........................................................... ........................................................... ........................................................... ........................................................... ........................................................... ........................................................... |----|........................................................... |F1 |........................................................... |HELP|........................................................... |----|........................................................... BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 27 When you have finished, press F10 (SAVE) The Reference Window should now look like this -- ESC = cancel ---------------------- F10 = save -- | | | Item Level: 4 | | Audience: .......... | | Class: .......... | | | | Force page break at this item: YES | | Print first line on answer sheets and forms: YES | | | --------------------------- last revised: (today) -- The two new fields in this window apply only to HEADER items. (See page 45 for more information on Header items.) Press F10 (SAVE) to save this item, and then mark it for inclusion in your test. Now press F4 (FILTER) again, and once more choose the "Marked Items" option from the menu displayed. Your new HEADER item will be at the bottom of the list, so move it to the top where it belongs. You can save this new version of the list by pressing F6 (LIST) and choosing the "Save List" option from the menu displayed in the message area. If you do this you will see a special version of the Reference Window (see page 20) in the message area. The first three fields should be familiar. Whatever you enter in the "Description" field will be displayed in the Item Text column of the work area. When you have resaved the list, press F7 (PRINT) and choose the "Preview Test" option from the menu displayed in the message area. When you do this, you will see a message asking if you want to change the print defaults. Say "No" to that question. You will then see a message asking you to enter an ID for the current test. You may enter anything you like here and the program will print it in the footer of every test and answer sheet. BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 28 Enter some text in the "Test ID" field and then press ENTER Now you will see the test scrolling by in the work area exactly as it would actually print (with questions properly numbered, response choices shuffled etc.) The only difference between the preview version of a test and actual printed test is that in the preview version the correct answer for each question is indicated in bold. You can preview a test as often as you like. And, as is indicated in the message area, while a preview is running you can speed it up, slow it down, or stop it altogether. Actually, printing a test merely requires choosing the "Print Test" option from the menu displayed in the message area when you press F7 (PRINT) NOTE: Before you print your first test, you must make sure BESTTEST is properly configured for your printer. You will find instructions for doing this on page 33. This concludes the BESTTEST tutorial. Remember, you can find more information about any program function in the REFERENCE section. BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 29 CONVENIENCES BESTTEST offers a number of features which can make your work with the program easier and more effective. 1. THE KEYSTROKE RECORDER This is a simple macro function which allows you to automate repetitive tasks within BESTTEST. Suppose, for instance, you entered a number of items without filling in their "Audience" and "Topic" fields.* Now you want to update them. Highlight the first of the items you want to update, then press Ctrl = (START RECORDING) to turn the keystroke recorder on, go to the ITEM LEVEL, make the necessary changes and resave the item. Once back at the FILE LEVEL, move down to the next item, then press: Ctrl - (STOP RECORDING) to turn the keystroke recorder off. Now just by pressing ALT P (PLAYBACK) you can update another item, and another, and another... 2. F10 as a synonym for INS at the FILE LEVEL Suppose you know you will be entering a series of new items, all addressed to the same audience and concerning the same topic. First, change the "Reference-A Value" field in the program defaults screen to reflect the audience you want. Then set the "Reference-B Value" field in the same screen to the topic you want. You might want to reset the default format and level as well. Now return to the file level and press F10 (NEW ITEM) At the FILE LEVEL, F10 is a synonym for the INS key. It, too, takes you to the ITEM LEVEL and displays a blank screen template. Now enter your first item and press F10 (SAVE) * Assuming that you have set Reference-A Title to Audience and Reference-B Title to Topic as in the TUTORIAL. (See pages 20-22.) BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 30 the values in the Reference Window will be correct (because you set them previously in the program defaults screen), so press F10 (SAVE) again. Now you are back at the FILE LEVEL, so press F10 (NEW ITEM) one more time and you will go back at the ITEM LEVEL with a blank item template ready to write your next file item. The point is that, with a little preparation, three quick taps of the key will save one new item and set you up to write another. 3. PgUp and PgDn at FILE LEVEL If you want merely to view a series of file items, you can go to the ITEM LEVEL by pressing ENTER and then, without returning to the FILE LEVEL, you can press PgUp or PgDn to view, respectively, the next or previous item. 4. SPECIAL CHARACTERS When you are editing a file item, the BESTTEST editor will accept and display any of the visible ASCII characters (i.e. numbers 1..254). To enter one of these characters, hold down the ALT key and type the decimal ASCII value of the character you want (using the keys on the number pad*), and then release the ALT key. This can, of course, get a little tedious if you want to enter more than a few special characters. But, in the program defaults screen, you will see that there are fields which allow you to define the key combinations ALT 1 through ALT 0 to any single character you like. The factory defaults for these keys are the standard box drawing characters. (See, also, GRAPHICS, page 35.) NOTE: in those fields where BESTTEST will allow you to enter special characters, you can press ALT A (ASCII CHART) and a chart listing all available characters and their decimal ASCII values will be displayed. * The top row number keys will not work. BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 31 5. PRINT TO DISK If, for instance, you have access to a machine with a LASER printer (whereas your own machine has only a lowly MATRIX printer), you can set the "Destination" field in the Printer Defaults screen to DISK, and the "Printer" field to LASER, and BESTTEST will create a file (TEST.TXT) containing all the codes and characters which would have been sent to a LASER printer attached to your machine. You can then carry the disk containing that file to the machine with the LASER printer, load up DOS, put your disk in Drive A, and type: copy a:test.txt PRN /B Your file will print on that machine's printer almost as if BESTTEST were installed there and managing the print job. BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 32 PRINTERS The Print Defaults screen looks like this -------- Print Defaults ------- ---- USER DEFINABLE PRINTER ---- | || | | Copies: 1 || Start Print Job: ............ | | Versions: 1 || End Print Job: ............ | | Shuffle Type: Answers Only || New Page: ............ | | First Question: 1 || New Line: ............ | | First Page: 1 || Ignore Codes: ............ | | Answer Sheets: For Each Copy || Normal Print: ............ | | Answer Forms: None || Underline On: ............ | |Answer Comments: All Items || Underline Off: ............ | | Left Margin: 0 || Bold On: ............ | | Top Margin: 0 || Bold Off: ............ | | Page Type: STANDARD || Subscript On: ............ | | Continuous: YES || Subscript Off: ............ | | Destination: LPT1 || Superscript On: ............ | | Printer: USER || Superscript Off: ............ | | || | ------------------------------- ------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------- | Minimum = 0 Maximum = 99 | | | | | | ESC = cancel F10 = done | -------------------------------------------------------------- The values you set in this screen will affect the hardcopy your printer produces. (Some of them also affect the screen output during the Preview Test function.) Most of these fields are self-explanatory. A little experimentation with them should clear up any confusion. Notice that the display in the message area changes as you move from field to field, giving you instructions appropriate to the current field. Of the fields in this screen, the "Printer" field is the most important. BESTTEST has three built-in printer definitions. They include generic codes for LASER printers, MATRIX printers, and DAISY printers. When you highlight the "Printer" field and use the arrow keys to cycle through these definitions, you will see the actual codes these defaults comprise displayed on the right side of the screen. Select the built-in definition appropriate to your printer, press F10 (SAVE) to save your choice and return to the FILE LEVEL screen. Then press F7 (PRINT) Turn your printer on, and choose the "Check Printer" option from the menu displayed in the message area. BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 33 If you find the results of the printer check to be unsatisfactory, BESTTEST will allow you to define your own USER printer. When you select USER in the "Printer" field you will be able to move the cursor to the fields on the right side of the screen (otherwise you cannot get to those fields.) You can then enter any codes you like. (Check your printer manual to find the codes you need.) Most printer codes require the use of characters not available on the keyboard. You enter such characters via the ALT key and the keys on the number pad. (See page 31.) In most cases you will need to change only a few of the codes in one or the other of the built-in definitions. To save time, you can clone the codes from any of those built-in definitions into the USER printer definition. Then you need only change the problematic ones. To clone a built-in definition, first select the definition you want to clone in the "Printer" field, then, with the "Printer" field still highlighted, press the CTRL ENTER key combination. (To clear the USER printer definition, select USER in the "Printer" field, then, with the "Printer" field still highlighted, press the CTRL ENTER key combination.) The purpose of the "Ignore Codes" field on the right side of the screen may not be clear at first. It is important because some printers can print the entire ASCII character set including those characters which are normally interpreted as printer control codes. To make this possible, you must send a special string of control codes (the "Ignore Codes" string) and then your printer will treat the very next ASCII character as text no matter what it is. (Some printers recognize two versions of this function. One allows for printing a single control code character, and the other allows for printing a string of such characters. In defining your USER printer, you must choose the single character version.) Good luck. BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 34 GRAPHICS There are two ways to include graphic images in tests you create with BESTTEST. You can create character graphics by using extended ASCII character set. (See page 31.) However, you need to prevent BESTTEST from wrapping your lines as you add and delete characters. To do this, just make sure you end each line by pressing ENTER, just as you do at the end of a normal paragraph. With a little practice, you will find you can create bar charts and the like with this technique. The file SAMPLE.BTD includes an example of this sort of thing. If you need true graphics in your tests, BESTTEST is compatible with INSET from: Inset Systems Inc. 71 Commerce Drive Brookfield, CT 06804 203-775-5866 When using INSET, make sure that you enter enough blank lines in the field where your graphic will appear to accommodate the entire rectangle that INSET displays when you call it. If you fail to do this, BESTTEST will not be able to calculate correctly the number of lines the item in question requires, and page breaks will be misplaced when you print your test. BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 35 SPELLING BESTTEST does not include a spell checker, but the program is compatible with TURBO LIGHTNING from: Borland International 1800 Green Hills Road Scotts Valley, CA 95066-0001 408-438-5300 When you use TURBO LIGHTNING with BESTTEST, be sure to select the WordPerfect environment. BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 36 GOOD TESTS Writing good multiple choice items is something of an art. Below are a few tricks of the trade: 1. It should be possible to answer a question without looking at the response options: RIGHT Question: Oedipus' mother was named Answer: Jocasta Distractor: Merope Distractor: Antigone Distractor: Ismene WRONG Question: Jocasta is the one who Answer: married a younger man with bad feet. Distractor: killed Liaus. Distractor: defeated the Sphinx. Distractor: married Creon. 2. Keep your questions and responses as simple as possible. That way you can be confident that you are measuring the testtaker's knowledge of your subject and not his or her knowledge of English grammar (unless, of course, your subject is English grammar.) 3. Responses should be plausible and parallel completions of the question stem RIGHT Question: In the Blitzstein translation, MacHeath "ate frugally a grape or two" for Answer: lunch Distractor: dinner Distractor: breakfast Distractor: a bedtime snack WRONG Question: In the Blitzstein translation, MacHeath "ate frugally a grape or two" Answer: for lunch Distractor: because he was on a diet Distractor: in Tiger Brown's jail Distractor: with Polly Peachum BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 37 4. One response should not subsume another RIGHT Question: Antonio Gaudi was struck down and killed by a Answer: tram Distractor: bicycle Distractor: motor car Distractor: truck WRONG Question: Antonio Gaudi was struck down and killed by a Answer: a tram Distractor: a motorized vehicle Distractor: a public conveyance Distractor: something bigger than he was In the WRONG example above, all the responses could be correct, though the answer is "more correct" than the others. This kind of thing can be legitimate, but you should not let it happen by accident. 5. BESTTEST makes creating and maintaining "objective" tests much easier than it has been in the past. We hope that some of the time and effort you save by using this program will enable you to include more essay questions in your tests. Essay questions both teach and measure. Good essay questions encourage real thinking and promote true-- rather than merely "functional"-- literacy. BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 38 REFERENCE ANSWER For Essay items, you will not specify an answer. For True/False items you will specify options between which the program will choose each time you print a test. For Fill-In, and MC items, you will see a plainly marked "Answer" field in the screen template displayed when you create or edit such items. For MATCH items, you must specify the correct response for each of the questions the item comprises. To do this, you use the tag fields to the right of each "Question" field. These fields look like this [?]. (Do not confuse them with the print position tag fields to the right of response fields. See the POSITION entry on page 49.) To specify an answer in a tag field, move the cursor to the appropriate "Question" field, press F4 POSITION and type the letter which identifies the correct response. You can specify the same response as correct for more than one question. ANSWER COMMENT Answer comments are a BESTTEST innovation. As you create a test item, you can specify, in the "Answer Comment" field, the source of the correct answer. Most often, your answer comments will probably be page references to texts, checkpoints for essay questions etc., but you may find other uses for them. When you choose to print answer comments on answer sheets, the answer sheets for your tests become instant study guides because they will show not only what the correct answer is, but also why it is correct. ANSWER FORM You can generate a customized answer form for any test you print. If, for instance, your test comprises one MC-4 item, one True/False item, 2 MC-5 items and a MATCH item (with 4 questions and 8 response options), the answer form would look like this 1. [a] [b] [c] [d] 2. [T] [F] 3. [a] [b] [c] [d] [e] 4. [a] [b] [c] [d] [e] 5. [a] [b] [c] [d] [e] [f] [g] [h] 6. [a] [b] [c] [d] [e] [f] [g] [h] 7. [a] [b] [c] [d] [e] [f] [g] [h] 8. [a] [b] [c] [d] [e] [f] [g] [h] You may choose to print one answer form for each version of a given test, or for each copy of each version, or none at all. You make this choice on the Print Defaults screen. BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 39 ANSWER SHEET An answer sheet shows the correct answers for a given version of a test. One answer sheet is automatically generated for each version of a test you print, but you may choose to generate one for each copy of each version of a test. You make this choice on the Print Defaults screen. Answer sheet titles are based on the TEST ID you specify when give the print command. You can easily match an answer sheet with the appropriate test by comparing its title with the footer printed on any test page. When you print multiple versions of a given test, dot notation is used to distinguish them. For instance, if you choose to print three versions of a test for which you have specified the TEST ID Sample, the test footers and answer sheet titles will be: Sample.1, Sample.2 and Sample.3. AUTO SELECT You can use this option on the F6 LIST menu to make the program choose questions at random for a test. You specify the number of questions you want, and the rest is automatic. Questions are chosen from the currently active items, and if you first specify a FILTER and then use the Auto Select function, you can control the group of questions from which test items will be chosen. The Auto Select function adds items to whatever list is currently in memory, so if you use it several times in succession with a different filter each time you can easily compose a test based on items chosen at random from different sub-groups of the items in the current file. BOLD (F6) As you are creating or editing a test item you can display any character in boldface. To do this, move the cursor under the character in question, and press the BOLD key. To unbold a character, repeat the same process. (Note: BOLD and UNDERLINE can be combined.) CHANGE PATH You can use this option on the F5 FILES menu to change the default path, i.e. drive and/or directory, for the programs data files. You can change the path while a file is active and the program will still remember the path of the active file. This might seem pointless, but you need to do it when you want to export items from the current file to another file in another directory or on another drive. The procedure for the "Change Path" option is simple: you use the cursor keys to highlight the name of the directory you want (remember ./ represents the parent or the current directory, and you can choose it just as you would any other directory name), and press ENTER. Because you sometimes need to move through a series of directories and subdirectories to reach the one you want, pressing ENTER does not terminate the change path function. Instead it simply moves you to BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 40 the directory you have highlighted (and from which you can move on, if you choose.) When you have reached the directory you want, you will press F10 to make that directory the default directory, and to terminate the "Change Path" function. CHECK PRINTER Use this function on the F7 PRINT menu to determine if the PRINT DEFAULTS are set correctly for your printer. CLEAR LIST Use this function to clear the list of marked items currently in memory. It you want to reuse the current list, make sure you save it before you use this function. CLONE You can copy the codes from one of the predefined printers into the USER printer. This can save time if you need to change only a few of the predefined codes. To do this, highlight the "Printer" field in the Printer Defaults screen, select the predefined printer you want to clone and press the CTRL ENTER key combination. The value of the "Printer" field will change to USER and the codes from the printer you cloned will appear on the right side of the screen. You can then highlight the fields on the right side of the screen and change whatever codes you like. (See, also, pages 33-34.) COLORS If you have a color monitor, you can use this option on the F9 DEFAULTS menu to set NORMAL text and background colors to suit your preferences. BOLD, SUBSCRIPT and SUPERSCRIPT colors are set automatically based on your normal text setting. On CGA monitors, you must also specify an UNDERLINE color, and you may do this on EGA/VGA monitors or you may choose the option which allows these latter monitors to display true underlines. COPY Two copies of a given version of a given test will be identical. Two versions of a given test will differ in that answer choices and/or question order will be shuffled. (Warning: unless you are using a laser printer, making multiple copies using BESTTEST will be very time consuming. Photo-copying will be much faster.) CREATE FILE When you choose the "Create File" option from the F5 FILES menu and specify a new file name, two files will be created in the current directory. One will be the data file, (filename).BTD, and the other will be the index file, (filename).BTX. These files can manage up to BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 41 1000 items depending on available disk space. (Note: if you decide to delete a BESTTEST file, make sure you delete both the .BTD and the .BTX versions.) DELETE (DEL) Pressing this key at the FILE LEVEL, and responding "Yes" to the confirm message, will delete the currently highlighted item. DESTINATION You must specify a destination for printed tests. Usually, the destination you specify will be one of your machine's ports: LPT1, LPT2, or COM1. If, however, you choose the "DISK" destination, the program will send to a disk file (called: TEST.TXT) all the codes and characters that would have gone to the printer. DISTRACTOR A distractor is an incorrect response choice. "Distractor" fields are clearly marked on the appropriate item templates. EDIT (ENTER) Press this key to view and edit the currently highlighted file item. (When a LIST item is highlighted, pressing this key retrieves that list into memory. ESSAY (FORMAT) Items in essay format are the simplest ones the BESTTEST recognizes. There is nothing special to do in creating items of this format. Just type the question and that's it. You can use the "Answer Comment" field to indicate notes toward a good answer as well as to provide the usual sort of reference. EXIT (ESC) Use this key to pause or cancel the current operation. Pressing it often enough will take you all the way back to the DOS command line. EXPORT This choice on the F8 UTILITIES menu will allow you to create copies of items from the current file in another new or currently existing file. (As an option, you many choose to delete the exported items from the current file.) The items exported will be the currently active ones. This means that you can use a FILTER to export a group of similar items from the current file, or you can mark just a few items, choose the predefined Marked Items FILTER, and then export only BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 42 those items. You can use this function to combine items from different files and then print a test from that file. FIELD Item templates are divided up into fields. For instance, the template for items in the MC format includes the following fields: "Question," "Answer Comment," "Answer," and from 3 to 5 "Distractors". Fields can vary in length, and as you move from field to field the screen is automatically adjusted to give the maximum possible space to the current field. FILE BESTTEST uses 4 different kinds of files. First there is the program file itself, BT.EXE, then there is a small file, BT.SYS, which the program will create to store any changes you make to the factory defaults. (Note: if you wish to restore the factory defaults, all you have to do is delete BT.SYS.) Finally there are the (filename).BTD and (filename).BTX files in which data and indexes are stored. FILES (F5) When you choose the "Select File" option on this menu, a list of the BESTTEST files in the current directory will be displayed in the message area. Use the cursor keys to highlight the one you want, and press ENTER. When you choose the "Create File" option and specify a new file name, two files will be created in the current directory. One will be the data file, (filename).BTD, and the other will be the index file, (filename).BTX. These files can manage up to 1000 items depending on available disk space. (Note: if you decide to delete a BESTTEST file, make sure you delete both the .BTD and the .BTX versions.) When you choose the "Change Path" option, you will first see a message asking if you want to change the default drive. Then a list of the sub-directories of the current directory (and the "..\" symbol which represents the "parent" of the current directory) will be displayed. Highlight the one you want and press ENTER. If you want to move on to yet another directory, repeat this same process. When you have reached the directory you want, press F10 to make that directory the default directory. You can use the "File Maintenance" option to reconstruct a damaged index file, and/or to regain disk space after you have purged a group of items. However, the maintenance process creates temporary files which require considerable disk space. This should not be a problem for hard disk users, but if you are running BESTTEST from floppies, you will have to specify a second drive where there is a disk with adequate space for the temporary maintenance files. Since BESTTEST will reuse disk file freed by the delete process, there is little BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 43 point in doing file maintenance to reclaim space on floppy disks. Of course, if an index file has been damaged, that is a different matter. FILL-IN (FORMAT) The screen template for FILL-IN items looks exactly like that for ESSAY items. In writing a FILL-IN item, however, you will use underlining to indicate the phrase which is to be filled-in. You can use this template for writing "short-answer" questions. The advantage in doing this (as opposed to choosing the move intuitive ESSAY format) lies in the fact that this format allows you to specify an answer which will print on your answer sheets (which the ESSAY format does not allow.) FILTER (F4) You can use a filter to restrict the active items in a given file to a sub-group you specify. For instance, you might specify a filter which would pass only the True/False items in a given file, or only the MC-5 items. When you employ a filter, it is as if your file contained only the items in the group you have specified. (Note: when a filter is active, the default message area display will show number of file items out of the total, which are currently active, i.e. which have passed the filter.) With a filter active, you can use the Auto-Select function to mark some items at random for use in a test. In composing a test, then, you might first filter out all but the MC-5 items, choose 25 of those at random, then cancel that filter and specify another which would pass only the Essay items, choose several of them, and continue on in this way until the test comprised as many items of as many different formats as you wanted. Also, when you use the Export or Purge functions with a filter active, only the items which have passed the filter are exported or purged. In specifying a filter, you mark values in the first two columns, and enter values as text in the last two. Only items which match at least one of the (marked or entered) values in each non-empty column will pass the filter. If, for instance, with the SAMPLE file active, you mark MC-5v in the first column and LEVEL 9 in the second column, the filter will pass only one item. If, on the other hand, you mark MC-5v and MC-4v in the first column and, again, LEVEL 9 in the second column, the filter will pass a total of 6 items. You will discover, as you experiment with the FILTER function, that two specifications in the same column are equivalent, logically, to an "or" condition, while two specifications in different columns amount to an "and" condition. That is, in the first of the examples above, the filter passed the only item in the file which was both of the MC-5v format and addressed to "EXPERTS". In the second example, the filter pass all those items (5 in all) which were either of the MC-4v format or the MC5-v format and which were addressed to experts. BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 44 FIND (F2) When you press this key, you will see a display (in the message area) asking you to specify the value you want to find. Exactly what value you will be asked to specify will depend on how your file is sorted at the time. If, for instance, the default sort (by format, then by level, then by Reference-A and, finally, by Reference-B) is in effect, you will be asked to specify an item format to search for. You could then use the FIND function to move quickly to the first MC-4v item in a large file (assuming, again, that the default sort was in effect.) If, to choose another example, you had specified that the file should be sorted first by Reference-A, then by Reference-B, then by Format and, finally, by Level, and you pressed F2 FIND, you would be asked to specify a specific value for Reference-A, and the program would then move to (i.e. highlight) the first item (if any) in the file having that Reference-A value. FORMAT (F3) BESTTEST recognizes all the standard test item formats: essay, fill-in, true/false, multiple-choice and matching. Two further item formats, header and list, are also recognized. Your tests may combine items of any of these format (excluding list format items) in any order. HEADER (FORMAT) Headers are used to title tests and to distinguish different parts of tests. The reference window for a header displays two extra fields. The first allows you to choose whether to begin a new page (when printing a test) at the header in question. The second allows you to specify whether the first line of the header should be printed on answer sheets and forms. This latter option is useful for distinguishing different parts of test on answer sheets and forms. When a list is shuffled, the position of headers is preserved, and so is the grouping of items between them. That is, if you use a header to divide your test into two parts, the shuffle function will reorder the items in part one and then the items in part two, but no item will be moved from one part to the other. HELP (F1) When you press this key, a help screen appropriate to the program function and/or level you are currently using will be displayed. If you press this key while such a help screen is displayed, the Help Index will be displayed and you can then choose an index entry (by using the cursor keys to highlight it) and view the help screen in question by pressing ENTER. BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 45 IMPORT BESTTEST can import and convert files from two other programs: TESTMAKR, and EXAMBANK. All converted TESTMAKR file items will have the format MC-5v, the print position setting will be preserved, and the conversion should be accurate. EXAMBANK uses different files to store items in different formats. You must import each file individually. Items from files with the .tf extension (True/False) will require editing after conversion because the EXAMBANK format for such items does not allow for the distinction between true and false options. Items from files with the .cm extension (CROSS MATCH) will also require some editing because the EXAMBANK format for these items allows for 18 questions and response options, whereas BESTTEST allows for only 15. When the program detects any of these difficulties, you will see the message: "EDIT THIS ITEM!!!" displayed in the Item Text column of the work area screen. INSERT (INS) At the FILE LEVEL, pressing this key will display a blank item template (of the default format) which you can use to create a new item. At the ITEM LEVEL, pressing this key toggles the BESTTEST item editor between its insert and overwrite modes. You can tell when the editor is in the overwrite mode, because when it is, a large block cursor will be displayed. In the (default) insert mode, the standard cursor is displayed. ITEM Not all file items are test items. Some are headers, which, while they are used in tests, are not themselves test items. Some are saved lists of items (in effect, saved tests). And, finally, each MATCH item comprises from three to fifteen test items. KEYSTROKE COMBINATION In this manual, a keystroke combination is indicated by two juxtaposed keytop symbols Ctrl END Delete to End of Line In such a keystroke combination, you hold down the first key and tap the second. BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 46 KEYSTROKE SEQUENCE In this manual, a keystroke sequence is indicated by two keytop symbold with a plus sign between them. Like this Home + END End of Field In such a keystroke sequence, you tap the first key and then tap the second. KEY (SORT) In this manual this term is used to specify how a given sort specification works. The file is always sorted four fields. These fields are the keys of the sort. The first sort key is the primary key. Thus in the default sort (by format, then by level, then by Reference-A, then by Reference-B), format is the primary key. (Note: in using the FIND function, you specify only the primary key.) (KEYSTROKE) PLAYBACK (ALT P) Press this key combination to replay recorded keystrokes. Recorded keystrokes are remembered during a working session unless you redefine them. They cannot be saved to the disk. (See page 30 for a practical example of the use of this function.) (KEYSTROKE) START RECORDING (ALT =) Press this key combination to start recording keystrokes. (KEYSTROKE) STOP RECORDING (ALT -) Press this key combination to stop recording keystrokes. LEVEL (F6) The second column of the work area display shows the LEVEL of each item. The purpose of the LEVEL field is to indicate the relative difficulty of the item in question. LIST You select items from a file for use in a test (or for other special functions such as export or purge) by marking them for a list. You can do this manually by using the MARK key, or you can choose the "Auto Select" option on this menu. A list can hold a maximum of 125 items. Because Header items do not count as test items, and because each Match item comprises more than one test item, the number of test items in a given list may not be equal to the number of file items included in that list. BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 47 The "Save List" option will save the list currently in memory as a file item. A list format item will appear among the others displayed in the work area, but it cannot be viewed or edited in the same way that other items can. When you press the ENTER key while a list item is highlighted, that list will be retrieved into memory. If there is already a list in memory, the new list will be appended to it. If appending the new list to the current one would exceed the maximum list length, you will see a message to that effect. The "Shuffle List" option reorders the items in the current list. If the list is partitioned by one or more header items, then shuffling is done only within each partition. (Note: Essay items are always moved to the end of a shuffled list or partition.) Use the "Clear List" option to clear the list of marked items currently in memory. It you want to reuse the current list, make sure you save it before you use this function. MAINTENANCE This function serves two purposes. It can sometimes repair a defective index (.BTX) file-- though there is no guarantee of this. It can also recover disk space allocated to file items which have been deleted. This can be important if you are using a hard disk, because the recovered space can be used by other programs. Floppy disk users need not bother with this function, since the program will reuse all previously allocated space before expanding the disk file further. The maintenance process creates temporary files which require considerable disk space. Most often this will not be a problem for hard disk users, but if you are running BESTTEST from floppies, you will have to specify a second drive where there is a disk with adequate space for the temporary maintenance files. Remember: you can remove the program disk, and use that drive for maintenance files. MARK (*) You can mark or unmark the currently highlighted item by pressing this key. Marked items are added to the list maintained in memory. In the work area, marked items are indicated by an asterisk to the left of the format column. You can view and work with only the currently marked items by choosing the predefined Marked Items filter. MATCH (FORMAT) Match items are significantly different from other BESTTEST items. First, every match item comprises at least three test items (whereas other item formats comprise only one test item each.) In creating a Match item, you must specify the number of questions and the number of responses it will comprise. Of course, you can always reformat the BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 48 item later on and change these choices if you like. You must use the position key to specify the correct answer for each question in a Match item. MENU A menu is a list of program options. To choose an option from a menu, first use the cursor keys to highlight it, then press ENTER. MOVE (Ctrl ENTER) When you are working with the predefined "Marked Items" filter, you can reposition an item in the list by using this key combination twice. When you first press this key combination, the currently highlighted item will be picked up. You can then use the usual keys to move to another position in the list. When you press this key combination a second time, the item you are moving will be inserted above the currently highlighted item. Note: to move an item to the very end of the list requires two steps. First pick up the item you want, then press CTRL-DOWN to go to the end of the list, then press this key combination again to insert the item you are moving above the last item. Then highlight the last item, pick it up, press the UPARROW key, and then press this key combination again to insert that last item just above the one you originally moved. That original item will now be the last one in the list. (See, also, the CLONE entry on page 41.) MC (MULTIPLE CHOICE FORMAT) Multiple Choice items come in several varieties. They can have 3, 4 or 5 response choices, including the correct answer, and these can be printed either horizontally or vertically. When responses are printed horizontally, you are allowed a fixed number of characters per response. When responses are printed vertically, response fields may vary in length. Horizontal responses are intended to save paper as in vocabulary tests where very short responses can be used. NEW ITEM (INS or F10) When you press this key at the FILE LEVEL, you will see a blank item template of the default item format. You can change the item format by pressing F3 FORMAT. POSITION (F4) This key performs two different functions. In the response fields of Multiple Choice and Match items, it is used to specify the print position of the current response. Print position is shown on the screen at the end of each response field in a tag BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 49 field like this: (*). To set the print position, move the cursor to the appropriate response field, press F4 POSITION and type the letter which identifies the print position you want. You cannot specify the same print position for more than one response. For MATCH items, you must specify the correct response for each of the questions the item comprises. To do this, you use the tag fields to the right of each question field. These fields look like this [?]. To specify an answer in a tag field, move the cursor to the appropriate question field, press F4 POSITION and type the letter which identifies the correct response. You can specify the same response as correct for more than one question. (Try using F2 PREVIEW to check how these functions work.) PREVIEW (F2) This function lets you see how a test item will look when it is printed. Frequent use of this function probably affords the easiest way to learn how the screen templates for the various item formats work. PRINT (F7) The Print Preview option on this menu allows you to print a test to the screen only. While the preview is running you can pause it by pressing the ESC key. You can speed up or slow down the preview scroll rate by pressing, respectively, the uparrow or downarrow keys. When you choose either the Print Preview or Print Test function on this menu, you can pause or cancel the print job at any time by pressing the ESC key. The Check Printer function on this menu will print a sample page showing all the various print attributes (bold, underline etc.) that the program supports. PRINT DEFAULTS You can adjust the Print Default settings to suit your printer. Any changes you make in them will remain in effect until you change them again or exit the program. You can choose to make them permanent as you exit the program. (See pages 33-34 for more information about configuring BESTTEST for use with your printer.) PRINT PREVIEW You can use this function on the F7 PRINT menu to get an idea of how a test will look before you actually print it. PROGRAM DEFAULTS This option on the F9 DEFAULTS menu allows you to specify the initial format and level of new items, the headings for columns 3 and 4 of the FILE LEVEL work area display ("Reference-A Title", "Reference-B BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 50 Title"), and the initial values for these reference fields in new items ("Reference-A Value", "Reference-B Value"). You can make any changes you like to these settings and they will remain in effect until you change them again or exit the program. You can choose to make them permanent as you exit the program. PURGE This option on the F6 UTILITIES menu allows you to delete all the currently marked items. Deleted items cannot be recovered, so use this function with care. REFERENCE-A / REFERENCE-B BESTTEST files can be sorted, filtered, and searched by format, level, and two further categories (Reference-A and Reference-B) that you may specify according to your needs. (See page 22 for a practical example of the use of these categories.) RETRIEVE LIST When you press the ENTER key while a list item is highlighted, that list will be retrieved into memory. If there is already a list in memory, the new list will be appended to it. If appending the new list to the current one would exceed the maximum list length, you will see a message to that effect. Note: if you delete an item belonging to a saved list, when that list is next retrieved you will see a message indicating that fact. Also if you edit an item included in a list, when that list is next retrieved it will be marked with the larger version of the usual asterisk character to indicate that it is out of date. SAVE (ITEM) (F10) Pressing this key while you are editing a file item will display the Reference Window in the middle of the screen. You may edit the values of the various reference fields. When you are ready, pressing this key again will save the item in question to the disk. SAVE (LIST) Choosing this option from the F6 LIST menu will save the current list of marked items to the disk. SCREEN FONT (F5) On EGA/VGA monitors it is possible to use a screen font smaller than the usual one and therefore to get more lines (either 43 or 50) onto a single screen. This may be useful to because BESTTEST file items are limited to the number of lines actually displayed on the screen (25 in the usual case.) If you do create items using this function and then attempt to recall them on another machine with a standard monitor, you BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 51 will not be able to do so. However, this means only that such items can not be edited (or created on such a machine.) You can delete them or mark them for inclusion on a list. SELECT FILE Choosing this option from the F5 FILES menu will display a list of all BESTTEST files in the current directory. Use the cursor keys to highlight the file you want to work with, and press ENTER. SHUFFLE LIST Choosing this option from the F6 LIST menu will randomly reorder the current list of marked items. If the list is partitioned by Header items, the shuffling will occur only within a given partition. Essay items are always pushed to the end of each partition. SORT (F3) By default, BESTTEST files are sorted first by format and then by level then by Reference-A and, finally, by Reference-B. However, you can specify a custom sort based on any ordering of the four available categories or keys (format, level, Reference-A, or Reference-B). Sort specifications are automatically saved along with the file data and they remain in force until you deliberately change them (or until you choose the "File Maintenance" option on the F5 FILES key which automatically restores the default sort. SUBSCRIPT (F7) As you are creating or editing a test item, you can specify that any character should print as a subscript. (Subscripted characters are displayed with text and background colors reversed.) To do this, move the cursor under the character in question, and press the SUBSCRIPT key. To unsubscript a character, repeat the same process. Note: subscript cannot be combined with other print attributes. SUPERSCRIPT (F9) As you are creating or editing a test item, you can specify that any character should print as a superscript. (Superscripted characters are displayed with bold and background colors reversed.) To do this, move the cursor under the character in question, and press the SUPERSCRIPT key. To unsuperscript a character, repeat the same process. Note: superscript cannot be combined with other print attributes. T / F (TRUE/FALSE FORMAT) BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 52 The True/False screen template is designed to allow BESTTEST to shuffle True/False items when a test is printed. Only the "True Option" and "False Option" fields are strictly necessary, but you will find that the "Opening" and "Closing" fields allow for some considerable flexibility in creating items of this format. Probably the easiest way to understand how this template works is just to experiment a little bit. Enter something in each of the four fields in question, and check what happens when you press the F2 PREVIEW key. UNDERLINE (F8) As you are creating or editing a test item you can underline any character. To do this, move the cursor under the character in question, and press the UNDERLINE key. To ununderline a character, repeat the same process. Note: BOLD and UNDERLINE can be combined. VERSION BESTTEST can automatically produce different versions of your tests by shuffling the response choices for each item and, if you so choose, by reordering the test items as well. You specify whether you want to print different versions of your test (and what sort of versions you want to print) by choosing the "Print Defaults" option from the F9 DEFAULTS menu. BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 53 ABOUT BESTTEST BESTTEST was written in Turbo Pascal 5.5 using the excellent tools provided by Turbo Power Software. BESTTEST is distributed as shareware. This means that, although the program is copyrighted, users are free to make copies of it and give them to others provided that: 1. The original program file, BT.EXE, is not renamed or altered in any way. 2. Nothing beyond a small service charge is asked for any such user-produced copy. We hope that you will urge those with whom you share this program, to register with us by sending a check for $50.00 to: WiseWare P.O. Box 148139 Chicago, IL 60614 BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 54 KEYS USED AT BOTH FILE LEVEL AND ITEM LEVEL F1 HELP ESC EXIT/CANCEL F2 FL: FIND PgUp FL: SCREEN UP IL: PREVIEW IL: PREVIOUS ITEM F3 FL: SORT PgDn FL: SCREEN DOWN IL: FORMAT IL: NEXT ITEM F4 FL: FILTER UpArrow FL: PREVIOUS ITEM IL: POSITION IL: PREVIOUS LINE F5 FL: FILES DownArrow FL: NEXT ITEM IL: SCREEN FONT IL: NEXT LINE F6 FL: LIST INS FL: NEW ITEM IL: BOLD IL: (Ins) F7 FL: PRINT DEL FL: DELETE ITEM IL: SUBSCRIPT IL: (Del) F8 FL: UTILITIES * FL: MARK IL: UNDERLINE IL: (*) F9 FL: DEFAULTS HOME+RightArrow FL: SCREEN RIGHT IL: SUPERSCRIPT IL: LINE END F10 FL: NEW ITEM HOME+LeftArrow FL: SCREEN LEFT IL: SAVE IL: LINE START ENTER FL: EDIT ITEM HOME+UpArrow FL: SCREEN UP IL: NEW LINE IL: FIELD START Ctrl PgUp FL: FILE TOP HOME+DownArrow FL: SCREEN DOWN IL: FIRST FIELD IL: FIELD END Ctrl PgDn FL: FILE END ALT = START IL: FIELD END RECORDING Ctrl ENTER FL: MOVE ALT - STOP IL: DELETE FIELD RECORDING ALT M FL: MAIN MENU ALT P PLAYBACK IL: MAIN MENU KEYS USED AT ITEM LEVEL ONLY Ctrl END DELETE TO END Ctrl HOME DELETE LINE OF LINE BESTTEST USERS MANUAL page 55