Practicing a Test

     Use “Open...” on the File menu to open a test for practice.

Note:  Tests created by other people may be shareware.  The person’s address and requested payment will be displayed in the test’s title page.  Please be honest and pay for both Tester (refer to the Introduction for more information) and any tests that you use.

Note:  Please refer to the section titled “Windows” for information about how the Question window works.  (The Question Category popup menu will never be visible when you practice the test.)

     When you open a test to practice taking it, Tester randomly selects a pre-specified number of questions and then scrambles them and the order of the answers for each one.  You can then use the scrollbar at the left of the window to browse through the questions and select the answers that you think are correct.
     The test may be configured so that you receive instant feedback after selecting an answer.  If the sound is on, you will hear a ping if you select the correct answer and a clunk if you select an incorrect answer.  If the sound is off, nothing will happen if you select the correct answer, but the menu bar will flash if you select an incorrect answer.
     There may be instructions associated with the entire test or with certain groups of questions.  The “Show general instructions...” item on the Practice menu lets you read the instructions for the entire test.  The “Show specific instructions...” item lets you read the instructions for the current question.

     Once you are done, select “Check answers...” from the Practice menu.  Tester will compare your answers to the correct answers and count up how many you answered correctly, how many you answered incorrectly, and how many you didn’t answer at all.  You will then be presented with a dialog window showing you how well you did.
     If you passed, Tester will also congratulate you.  The better your score, the more enthusiastic the response will be.  (Thanks to Ambrosia Software, Inc. for the sounds!)

     Essay and Short Answer questions will be displayed when you practice the test, but their answers will be hidden.  These questions are counted as “unanswerable” because Tester can’t check your answer to such questions.  The best way to deal with these questions is to write down the answers on a sheet of paper during the test.

     Once Tester has displayed your score, you can choose to either see the answers or try again on the questions that you answered incorrectly.  (If you answered everything correctly, the “Try incorrect again” button will be inactive.)

     If you choose to try the questions again, Tester will display only the questions that you answered incorrectly.  You can then browse through these questions and select the answers that you think are correct.  When you are done, you can select “Check answers...” again to see if you answered them correctly this time.

     If you choose to see the answers, Tester will display all the questions that were originally selected.  Now, however, the correct answer will be indicated with a frame around its radio button.  You can thus compare your answer with the correct answer because your answer will be the selected radio button.  The answers to Essay and Short Answer questions will also be displayed so you can check the answers you wrote down.
     If a solution was entered for the question being displayed, the Solution button will now also be visible.  Simply click on it to display the Solution window.

     Often, one is most interested in examining the questions that one did not answer correctly.  To search for these questions, use “Find next incorrect answer” on the Practice menu.  This will find and display the next question that you either answered incorrectly or didn’t answer at all.  Since Tester can’t check your answers to non-multiple choice questions, this option will also find all such questions so that you can check their answers.

Note:  You can print a test at any time.  The default number of questions to select will be the same as the number of questions displayed on the screen.  This allows you to print out copies for practice on paper.  You can change how many questions to select if you want to, but the changes will not be saved when you close the test.  Please refer to the section on printing for more details on how printing works.