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1993-06-26
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[**************************************************************************]
Welcome to the ultimate self-test learning utility for the Amiga!
[**************************************************************************]
S T U D E N T A I D ][
Designed by
Rick Rojas
2530 White Oak Drive
Titusville, Fl 32780
(407) 268-8958
For more info call:
The Student Aid support BBS
(407) 267-8155
2400-14.4K Baud Dual Standard HST
[**************************************************************************]
Student Aid Copyright 1992,1993 by Rick Rojas, All rights reserved.
[**************************************************************************]
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Section Description Pages
-------- ------------------------------------------------------------------
i Cover
ii Table of contents
iii License agreements and disclaimers
1.0 Introduction
1.1 What is this program?
1.2 System requirements
1.3 How to become a registered owner
1.4 Updates and technical support
1.5 Credits
1.6 Copyrights and trademarks
2.0 Getting started
2.1 Running the program
2.2 Installing on hard drive
3.0 Help with areas and commands
3.1 The main menu area
3.1.1 The main menu commands
3.1.2 The main menu pull down menus
3.2 Configuration area
3.2.1 Configuration commands
3.3 Edit/Create test area
3.3.1 Edit/Create test commands
3.4 Take test area
3.4.1 Take test commands
3.5 View grades area
3.5.1 View grades commands
3.6 Print test area
3.6.1 Print test commands
4.0 Technical
4.1 Data file format
4.2 Disk file structure
4.3 Memory usage
4.4 Multitasking ability
4.5 Microprocessor support
5.0 Problems and workarounds
5.1 Error handling
5.2 Incompatibilities
5.3 Known problems
[**************************************************************************]
LICENSE AGREEMENT: (Registered version only) [DO NOT DISTRIBUTE!!!]
The Student Aid program is being licensed to you. You may NOT distribute
the registered version of the program in any form. If you sell or trade this
program to another user you MUST pass on the original copy and destroy all
backup copies. Note: Your registration support from the developers is
NON-TRANSFERABLE, new owners must register by sending a check or money order
if they desire to receive any updates to the program. In addition, the
following terms apply to all users of student aid.
(1) It may not be modified in any way.
(2) You may not reverse engineer The Student Aid Package nor may you
examine their inner workings in any way.
(3) You may make backup copies as needed (software is NOT copy
protected) but you MUST register EACH copy you install in
different machines. ie... Registering 1 copy does not license
you to use it on 3 machines!
Your use or distribution of the Student Aid program states that you agree
to these terms and have accepted this licence agreement.
[**************************************************************************]
LICENSE AGREEMENT: (Demo version only) [Demo is FREELY DISTRIBUTABLE!!!]
You may use and distribute the demo version of the Student Aid program as
long as the following terms are agreed to:
(1) It may not be modified in any way.
(2) You may not reverse engineer The Student Aid Package nor may you
examine their inner workings in any way.
(3) Student Aid may not be distributed for profit nor will it be made
part of a "for sale" software collection without prior permission
from author.
(4) If distributed, it must include all of the original programs and
documentation it came with and all copyright notices must remain
intact.
Your use or distribution of the Student Aid program states that you agree
to these terms and have accepted this licence agreement.
[**************************************************************************]
DISCLAIMER:
The Student Aid program is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind,
either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied
warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. In
no event will author be liable for incidental, consequential or other
similar damages. The entire risk as to the quality and performance of
The Student Aid Program is with you.
In addition, Author is NOT responsible for content or accuracy of any
tests (data files) distributed with the Student Aid package, these tests
are provided as examples of the capabilities of Student Aid.
Author reserves the right to change The Student Aid Programs' copyright
status and/or cost at any time, without notice.
[**************************************************************************]
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Welcome to The Student Aid program. We hope this program will help you in
all your educational endeveours. Though this program was originally
intended for Elementary, High School and College students it can easily be
adapted to be used for everything from psychological evaluations to studying
questions for a certification test. In addition, it can be used by teachers
for the creation of multiple choice tests and quizzes for class.
This manual assumes that you are familiar with the basic usage of the CLI
and WorkBench. If you are not please consult your Amigados user's guide.
1.1 WHAT IS THIS PROGRAM?
Student Aid CAN help you LEARN something FASTER than normal studying! WHY?
Because rather than reading the information and trying to remember it,
Student Aid challenges you to THINK of the right answer! As you fail to
answer - you learn (from your own mistakes). On top of that - you get
instant feedback! And can continue onward, with minimal delay, learning
more. You can even monitor your progress on various tests over time.
To best use the program you should collect the quizzes from your instructors
during the semester and type in those questions (or similar ones from your
class notes) as the semester goes on and then use Student Aid to refresh
your memory before major tests and exams.
Though the data entry can be a lot of work initially, it does significantly
aid in the review process. In this version of Student Aid data entry has
been simplified to allow most everything to be done from the keyboard,
and/or from the mouse.
1.2 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
The Student Aid program will work on any Amiga 500, 1000, 2000 and 3000
with a minimum of 1 megabytes of memory. It has been tested under V1.3
and V2.x operating systems under most 680x0 microprocessor. Student Aid ][
will re-configure itself upon start to operate under PAL or NTSC video
modes.
1.3 HOW TO BECOME A REGISTERED OWNER:
Student Aid is available directly from author for $34.95 (see address
below).
Send a US check, money order, or cash (US or International M.O.) to:
Rick Rojas
2530 White Oak Drive
Titusville, Fl 32780
U.S.A.
Please allow a few days for personal checks to clear.
Sorry no CODs or charge cards!
1.4 UPDATES AND TECHNICAL SUPPORT:
The Student Aid program may be updated from time to time. Author will
notify registered owners, by mail, whenever The Student Aid program has
a major revision. For additional info, status, updates, tests, contact
author through above address or through the Student Aid support BBS.
Technical support is offered to REGISTERED OWNERS ONLY! To become a
registered owner you must mail in your registration fee.
Technical support, and additional tests are available through the sysop
of the Student Aid support BBS (407) 267-8155 or by mail to author.
1.5 CREDITS:
The Student Aid program was designed and programmed by: Rick Rojas.
Beta testing and sample tests were done thanks to: Arnold Louwerns, Davide
Vaccari, Robert Kersbergen, Donald Smith and Idiata Ebhodaghe.
1.6 COPYRIGHTS AND TRADEMARKS:
Amiga, AmigaDOS and Workbench are registered trademarks of
Commodore-Amiga, Inc.
[**************************************************************************]
2.0 GETTING STARTED
NOTE: Below is for registered DISK version only and assume you
have booted up the AmigaDos Workbench system. For DEMO version
just dearchive demo file to your destination and click on icons.
2.1 RUNNING THE PROGRAM FROM FLOPPY:
1) Install Student Aid ][ disk in any drive
2) Double click on disk icon, then StAid2 icon to open list of
contents
3) Double click on the SA2 icon to start it up
2.2 INSTALLING ON HARD DRIVE
1) Install Student Aid ][ disk in any drive
2) Double click on disk icon to open list of disk contents
3) Drag StAid2 icon to your destination hard drive
4) Now you can run it from hard drive by opening the drawer
and clicking the SA2 icon
NOTES: 1) You MUST leave the SAData drawer WITHIN the StAid2 drawer
for Student Aid ][ to properly load.
2) If you plan to run Student Aid from CLI, make sure to
Change Directory (CD) to the StAid2 drawer first else it
may not find the SAData drawer. To fix this you can specify
FULL SAData path name (ie... DH0:StAid2/SAData) within the
configuration area and save the config to s:sa.config this
will enable SA2 to find the SAData files it needs.
[**************************************************************************]
3.0 HELP WITH AREAS AND COMMANDS
To simplify operation, Student Aid comes complete with on-line help screens.
To get help for the features available on the current screen simply press
the [HELP] gadget or press the 'H' key on your keyboard. Help for that area
will be displayed.
3.1 THE MAIN MENU AREA
The Main Menu area is the central place that allows you to access most
all the features, such as [L]oad a test, [S]ave, [E]dit, [T]ake, [V]iew
grades etc... Some of the features are also available through the use of
pull down menus. And some options like changing screen or printing to a
file are ONLY available from the pull down menu or /A-key combinations.
Each area has its own set of gadgets which can be activated either by
left mousebutton or by pressing the key that is underlined.
3.1.1 THE MAIN MENU COMMANDS
[L]oad - This option will bring up a file requester to allow you
to select a test file to load from disk
[S]ave - This option will bring up a file requester prompting you
test name to save the currently test as (Default will be the current
name) and when you select 'ok' it will then save the test to disk.
[V]iew Grades - This takes you to the area where you can review the
test grades for the currently loaded test. After each test/quiz is
taken, the score is saved to disk (that is if your configuration is
set to save it). In this area you can monitor your progress in a trend
chart. You can also review grades for everyone who might have taken
that test.
[T]ake test - This takes you to the area where you begin the test/quiz
practice/review process. Before this option can be executed a student
aid test must have been loaded, or created.
[E]dit test - This takes you to the area for editing the currently loaded
test. For the test to be valid, you must at least have 1 question.
[C]reate test - Selecting this starts the processs for creating a new
test. There are basically 5 steps to creating a new test, they are:
1) click on this gadget to enter edit test area
2) select the answer FORMAT for your test (you can mix & match but
that makes it tricky because you'd have to exit edit mode, change
format and reenter edit)
3) add questions to test
4) exit edit mode back to main menu and give test a name and brief
description
5) save newly created test
[P]rint test - This takes you to the area where you can print selected
questions to a print file or directly to printer. You can also print
an answer sheet of those questions. To print a test to a file, you
need to enter the print area by selecting the pull down menu 'PRINT
AS...' selection.
[student name] - This gadget allows you change the name of the current
student. The purpose of maintaining names is to enable you to view
individual trends or progress charts of the quiz and/or test.
[test name and description] - This is the default path and name of the
currently loaded test. The description is saved within the test to
allow you to more specifically identify what kind of test it is.
If you are planning to Create a new test, then change this requester
after you start the CREATE process and add some questions else the
name & description will be lost when you select to Create test.
3.1.2 THE MAIN MENU PULL DOWN MENUS
PROJECT MENU:
[New test] - Same as 'Create test' command on screen.
[Open test] - Same as 'Load' command on screen.
[Save test] - Similar to 'Save test' command on screen except it does
not bring up a filerequester to prompt for a filename.
[Save as..] - Same as 'Save' command on screen.
[Print test] - Same as 'Print' command on screen.
[Print as...] - Similar to 'Print' command except, when you select to
PRINT QUESTIONS or ANSWERS a file requester will prompt for a
destination print file name.
[About] - Lists info about program revision.
[Quit] - Exit Student Aid program.
OPTIONS MENU:
[Use Workbench] - Makes the Student Aid program run as a window
on the workbench screen.
[Custom screen] - Makes the Student Aid program run its own custom
screen.
[Configuration] - This takes you to the area where you can set the
default configuration options during bootup, including the save
grades options.
[**************************************************************************]
3.2 CONFIGURATION AREA
This area allows you to change the default configuration setup. Once
you have selected the configuration you wish to have, these options
can be saved to the S: directory under a file name "sa.config". This
is an ASCII file, should it ever get deleted Student Aid will resort
to it's preprogrammed defaults.
Should the sa.config file ever become corrupt in any way, it is
highly recommended that it be deleted in order for Student Aid ][ to
properly load and reset to its pre-programmed defaults.
3.2.1 CONFIGURATION COMMANDS
[U]se workbench on startup - Select the option to open the student
aid window on the workbench screen at last used X,Y coordinates
used.
[T]est grades save on/off - Activates the saving of grades from all
full tests that are taken.
[Q]uiz grades save on/off - Activates the saving of grades from any
quizzes that are taken.
save grades from [I]ncomplete attempts - Activates the saving of
grades from all incomplete attempts (unfinished tests/quizzes).
[S]ave config - Saves the currently selected configuration options
these configuration options will be loaded for use next time
Student Aid program is run. Note to use these configuration
options during this session only - set the options accordingly
and exit without saving.
[E]xit - exits back to main menu. Note: Any changed configuration
switches become active immediately. To make the changes permanent
(so it defaults next time Student Aid is run) you must also save
the configuration.
[**************************************************************************]
3.3 EDIT/CREATE TEST AREA
This is the area where you may edit or create a test. Basically there are
two modes here. The VIEW mode - which allows you to view and scan through
the questions in the test, and the EDIT mode - which allows you to input
information or edit current question/answer information.
When you first entered this area you were presented with a row of gadgets
in the top row - this is the VIEW mode. From here you can scan through the
questions in the test simply by pressing [+] or [-] by clicking the
respective gadget or even by using the [->] and [<-] arrow keys on your
keyboard.
To quickly move to the top, bottom or a certain question you can do so by
selecting the [T]op, [L]ast, [G]oto# gadget/key or by using the Up or Down
arrow keys on your keyboard.
The edit mode is entered when you select either the [M]odify question or
the [A]dd question gadget/key. Once you are in the edit mode you can
continue to enter information until you press the [ESC] key which will
prompt you for the correct answer and then return to VIEW mode.
In addition to the test [A]dd and [M]odify, you can do a single line
modification by pressing the MOUSEBUTTON on the line you wish to modify
while you are in VIEW mode. Pressing [ESC], [RETURN], arrow key or even
a mousebutton will all take you out of line edit and back to VIEW mode.
From the VIEW mode you can also select to EDIT the verbose [W]hy or even
the test [S]ummary information screen by pressing the respecive key or
gadget. Note: There is a different WHY for each question, so it is best
to write some quick info regarding WHY the answer is the way it is in
there. There is only one [S]ummary page which is always displayed upon
exiting the take test area. For optimal effectiveness, this summary page
should contain a table of how to rate performace based on grade %
3.3.1 EDIT/CREATE TEST COMMANDS
[F]ormat - There are 6 pre-defined answer formats, this selection toggles
the current answer format to use for question. (note: the questions are
always 78 characters x 5 lines). The answer formats for a question are
as follows:
1) 2 Answers (76 characters x 6 lines each) ie.. TRUE FALSE
2) 3 Answers (76 characters x 4 lines each)
3) 4 Answers (76 characters x 3 lines each) typical Multiple Choice
4) 5 Answers (76 characters x 2 lines each)
5) 8 Answers (76 characters x 1 line each)
6) FILL IN THE BLANK with 7 correct Answers (76 characters x 1 line
each) - Note: Unlike formats 1-5 where there is only 1 correct answer
in this format ALL ANSWERS will be compared to a user input and if
any one is identical [NOT capitols/case sensitive] then it will be
considered a correct answer.
[W]hy edit - Enter edit mode for a brief (3 line X 50 chr) description of
why the right answer is so. Displays only if student selects VERBOSE WHY
during the take test review process.
[S]ummary edit - Allows you to change summary page information. This is
the information displayed after the user completes the test as a final
note or to allow him to compare his grades to some given standard.
[M]od - Enter edit mode and MODify current question and answer. After
finishing modification of current question it will incrament to the next
question until you choose to [ESC]ape out of modify mode.
The following keyboard commands are available during line edit,
Mod edit or Add type edit:
ARROWS - Moves cursor up, down, side to side
SHIFT SIDE ARROWS - Moves cursor to beginning or end of current line
CTRL-D - Deletes all text in current line
CTRL-Y - Deletes text from the cursor position to the end of line
[C]py - Copy current question. After performing the copy, the new question
(last one in test) will be displayed for editing.
[A]dd - Enter edit mode and ADD a new question to this test, if the
current question is empty it will begin with it and then append to the
end of test. Also see above [M]od for commands available during edit
mode.
[G]oto# - Allows you to GOTO a certain question number in the current
test.
[-] or [UP ARROW] - Moves you to previous question in current test.
[+] or [DOWN ARROW] - Moves you to next question in current test.
[T]op or [LEFT ARROW] - Moves you to the top (or first) question in test.
[B]ottom or [RIGHT ARROW] - Moves you to the last question in the test.
[E]xit - This quits edit/create function and returns you to main menu.
[**************************************************************************]
3.4 TAKE TEST AREA
The take test area is the core of student aid, here you can review
test questions by taking practice quizzes and tests... Some tests
may have additional information for each question which can be
viewed after each answer for an explanation WHY the answer is the
way it is... In additon when [E]xiting this area a SUMMARY page
will be shown that can be used to evaluate your grade to a table or
just to give yourself some quick info about the test.
If the configuration is set accordingly, the tests, quizzes and
incomplete attempts can all be saved when exiting to a file on the
drive with the same name as the test but with a ".grd" extension
instead of ".tst". These grades stay in memory and can be [V]iewed
in the View grades area.
3.4.1 TAKE TEST COMMANDS
-quiet [W]hy- This mode has no indication of correct or wrong, it is
the quickest mode best used during evaluation type tests where
you dont want immediate feedback.
quick [W]hy - Turns off any detailed answer summary, will delay for
1/2 a second then continue to next question after each answer.
brief [W]hy - Similar to 'quick why' but will stop and let you read
the correct answer until you press key/mouse button.
verbose [W]hy - Activates a complete detailed summary of why the answer
for the current question is the way it is. This mode will also stop
after each answer for a key/mouse press.
[S]kip question - allows you to skip question (assuming you're not on
the last one of a test)
[E]xit - This quits take test, displays current score and after a key
or mouse press, returns you to the main menu.
[**************************************************************************]
3.5 VIEW GRADES AREA
This area is where you can review the test grades for the currently
loaded test. After each test/quiz is taken, the score is saved to disk
(that is if your configuration is set to save it). In this area you can
monitor your progress in a trend chart. You can also review grades for
everyone who might have taken that test.
There are two boxes on the top left hand side of screen that contain
selection options. You can select to graph grades for current student
only or all students, also you can select to graph test, quiz or
incomplete grades or any combination of these. On the top right is the
quantity of grades that met the select criteria, and the average of all
the questions from the selected grades.
NOTE: This is not an average of just the grades, but rather a grade
based on all the correct questions / total questions of the grades
that met the selection criteria.
3.5.1 VIEW GRADES COMMANDS
[C]urrent student - Set graph selection criteria to include grades for
current student only. To change the name of the current student you
must exit to the main menu and click in the student name gadget.
[A]ll students - Set graph selection criteria to include grades for
all students who have taken this test.
[T]ests - Set graph selection criteria to include grades for tests.
[Q]uizzes - Set graph selection criteria to include grades for quizzes.
[I]ncomplete attempts - Set graph selection criteria to include grades
for all incomplete attempts (ie.. the test and quiz grades that were
established based on the questions answered even though the complete
test/quiz was never finished.
[E]xit - return to Main Menu
[**************************************************************************]
3.6 PRINT TEST AREA
From this area you may print the currently loaded test questions (in the
standard layout) directly to printer (PRT:) or to a ASCII print file.
You can also print out an answer sheet of the selected questions.
The questions selected for printing are identified with an X in the
questions matrix to the left hand side. To activate or disactivate
printing of title, subtitle and notes you have to click on the check
mark gadgets or text right next to the check marks.
NOTE: To print to a file instead of the PRT: device you must enter this
print area from the main menu by selecting the pull down menu option
'Print as ...' else this program assumes you are wanting to PRINT to
the PRT: device.
3.6.1 PRINT TEST COMMANDS
[TITLE] - This string gadget changes the title of the print document,
for this to work the 'print title' checkmark must be on.
[SUBTITLE] - Changes the subtitle of document
[NOTE1 and NOTE2] - Note area to indicate data, or teacher name etc...
[LINES PER PAGE] - Gadget allows you to select the number of lines to
print before skipping to new page (form feed). Normally set to 66.
[S]elect all - Marks all questions in current test with an 'X' to
indicate that you wish to print them.
[C]lear all - Marks all questions with a '.' to indicate you do not
wish to print any of them, you can then turn them on individually by
clicking the mouse button in the question matrix.
print [Q]uestions - Starts printing of selected questions and answers.
If the 'indicate answer' checkmark is on, the correct answers will
be identified with an arrow (->).
print [A]nswer sheet - Starts printing of selected question answers in
an answer sheet format for use with the selected test, if you want it
to be a blank answer sheet make sure to turn OFF the 'indicate correct
answer' check mark.
[E]xit - Exit print area and return to main menu.
[**************************************************************************]
4.0 TECHNICAL
4.1 THE DATA FILE FORMAT:
The Student Aid Program uses a custom data file format for the tests which
keep the file sizes down to a minimal amount, this allows you to store a
large quantity of tests on each floppy. The data format is also consistent
with previous versions of Student Aid and will load both tests and grade
files created with older versions.
4.2 THE DISK STRUCTURE:
The program is set up to automatically boot from disk, but contains no copy
protection and can easily be moved to another floppy or hard drive. To do
so requires that both the Student Aid program and the SAData drawer are
moved to the same destination directory.
The SAData directory contains the necessary pictures and text (help)
information for the program to run, you MUST have this directory/drawer in
the same area as the Student Aid program for it to run.
Please note that if you do separate the program into different parts you
may not distribute them. Only the Student Aid demo version may be
distributed (and only in its entirety).
4.3 MULTI-TASKING ABILITY:
Unlike previous versions, Student Aid II operates at a default priority and
will multi-task just fine. Student Aid's MULTI-TASKING ability gives it
power and flexibility and allows it to be a stable and reliable program.
4.4 MEMORY USAGE:
Student Aid is a very memory hungry program and in its full capacity it
will take up close to 400k of your Amiga's memory, therefore it is
recommended that you have at least 1 meg of available memory before
running the program.
4.5 MICROPROCESSOR SUPPORT:
The Student Aid Program will work with any 680x0 microprocessor. They have
been tested with the 68000, 68010, 68020, 68030 and 68040 microprocessors.
[**************************************************************************]
5.0 PROBLEMS AND WORKAROUNDS
5.1 ERROR HANDLING:
Student aid contains a certain quantity of internal error handling, should
an error occur that was not properly handled - please contact author with
a bug report indicating the conditions, your version number, the system
being used (both hardware and operating system) and any related information
needed to duplicate problem.
5.2 INCOMPATIBILITIES:
Program may NOT run with FastROM (Ref. problem report A0012 for details)
5.3 KNOWN PROBLEMS:
Read the SA2.problems text file on disk for a list of open software problems
to your version, their effects, available work-arounds and the current
status.
5.4 THE FUTURE:
Currently there are no immediate plans for an update but author does hope
to (depending on sales and demand) create additional test data disks on
various subjects. Suggestions and submissions are HIGHLY ENCOURAGED!!!
[**************************************************************************]