Copyright: Copyright ©1998 by Macmillan Computer Publishing.  All rights reserved.


Display Properties

Before running the Practice Exam, check to make sure that the font size property used by your system is set to "Small Fonts", as shown below.  To display this dialog, here's what to do:

a. Press the Start button in the task bar.

b. Select Settings, then Control Panel

c. When the control panel window appears, double-click the Display icon.  The settings tab provides the fonts setting shown below.

"Small Fonts" must be selected in the Font Size combo box.


Practice Exam Online Reference Guide

The Practice Exam is a member of the Top Score application suite, developed exclusively by Macmillan Computer Publishing.  Questions are presented in multiple-choice format.  Unlike Study Cards and Flash Cards, the Practice Exam does not allow you to reveal correct answers to questions, or link to online reference materials.  When you pass the practice exam, you're ready to take the actual certification exam in a testing center.

The Practice Exam is simple to use.  There are only a few screens to learn.  Click on a link below to learn more.

Start the Practice Exam

The Welcome Screen

The Copyright Screen

The Questions Screen

The Item Review Screen

The Examination Score Report Screen

Before running the Practice Exam, or any Top Score application, please check the Display Properties of your video card are set to use small fonts.


Start Practice Exam
Start the Practice Exam

To launch the Practice Exam, use Windows Explorer to open the directory on the CD-ROM which contains the test.  The Practice Exam runs directly from the CD, and does not require a setup program.  Double-click PRACTICE.EXE to run the program.

Select a Course

If more than one course is available, the Practice Exam lists the names of courses, as shown below.  To proceed, click on the name of a course.  Then press the OK button, to proceed to the Welcome screen.  If you are running the Practice Exam from the Top Score Navigator, the Welcome screen will appear automatically.  You will not have to select a course manually.


TestPrep Navigator
The Top Score Navigator tracks reading assignments, quiz scores, exercises, and exam scores, across multiple course modules.  The Top Score Navigator is normally not included with single-course tests, such as those developed for a book.


TestPrep application suite
Top Score Application Suite

Applications in the Top Score application suite include: Study Cards, Flash Cards, Chapter Quiz, and the Practice Exam.  As a rule of thumb, you should run Study Cards first to become familiar with the questions.  Next, use Flash Cards to enhance your recall, before running the Practice Exam to simulate an actual test environment.  And of course, you should take Chapter Quizzes immediately after reading a chapter.

Study Cards introduces you to the question set, using a multiple-choice answer format.  You can reveal the correct answers and link to the electronic book from within this application.

Chapter Quizzes test your understanding of material recently read.

Flash Cards use a fill-in-the-blank metaphor to present questions.  Since Flash Cards does not present a list of possible answers, it tests your memory and analytical skills.  Flash Cards also reveals correct answers and links to electronic books.

The Practice Exam emulates the look and feel of many certification tests.  Like Study Cards, it uses a multiple-choice format.  The Practice Exam does not reveal correct answers, or link to references within electronic books.  You can not determine the number of questions asked, or limit the number of objectives covered.


The Copyright Screen

The Copyright screen presents copyright information about the test.  This screen contains 4 buttons:

The Start button advances to the next screen.  To start the test, press this button.  The exam begins counting down remaining time once you press this button.

The Previous button redisplays the Welcome screen.

The Help button opens this help file.

The Exit button terminates the application.


The Examination Score Report Screen

This Examination Score Report screen compares your score against the score required to pass the test, and provides the percentage of questions answered correctly by objective.

The Passing Score field displays the score required to pass the actual exam.

Your score is displayed in the Your Score field.  The Grade field indicates the Pass/Fail status of your Practice Exam  session.

The Objective Analysis report lists each objective, and the percentage of questions you answered correctly for each objective.

Buttons

The Print Button prints a textual representation of this screen.

The Show Me What I Missed button displays on on-screen report listing questions you missed.  This report can also be printed.  It lists each question, the correct answer, your response, and associated cross references.

The Help button opens this file.

The Exit button closes the Practice Exam application.


The Item Review Screen

Once you have navigated through all of the questions, the Item Review screen appears.  This screen allows you to jump directly to any question.  The major components of this screen are as follows:

Question List

Review Marked Button

Review Incomplete Button

Grade Now Button

Help Button

Print Button

Review Item Button

Question List:  Each row in Item Review contains these items of information about a question.

Question Number Column:
The first column in the list contains a question number.  To jump to a question, type its number in the Review Item text box in the lower right side of the screen.  Then press the Review Item button to jump to the question.  Or double-click on the row which lists the question.

Marked/Incomplete Column:
A yellow M indicates a marked question.  A red I indicates an incomplete, or unanswered question.  If you did not select the correct number of answers to a question, it will be marked incomplete.

Your Response Column:
The answers you selected appear next, indicated by A, B, C, D, etc.

Question Text Column:
The first few words of each question are displayed in the last column to make it easier to match questions with responses.

Review Marked Button

To Review marked questions, press the Review Marked button.  The first marked question will be displayed, along with buttons for Item Review, Next Marked, and Previous Marked.  Use these buttons to return the Item Review screen, or to review questions you have marked.

Review Incomplete Button

To Review Incomplete Questions, press the Review Incomplete button to jump to the first incomplete question.  Then use the Next Incomplete and Previous Incomplete buttons to answer unfinished questions.  You can return to the Item Review screen at any time by pressing the Item Review button.

Note:	Navigation buttons such as Previous and Next Incomplete are disabled whenever there is no additional data to display in a given direction.

Grade Now Button

When you have finished reviewing questions press the Grade Now button.  This will display the Examination Score Report screen.  The Examination Score Report screen will be displayed automatically when time runs out.

Help Button

Press this button to open this help file.

Print Button

To print a report of items in the Item Review Screen, press this button.

Review Item Button

The textbox next to this button can be used to enter a question number.  Pressing this button takes you directly to the question.


The Questions Screen

The Questions Screen is the primary screen you interact with.  The major components of this screen are as follows:

Question Area

Answer Area

Mark Question Checkbox

Exhibit Button

Previous Button

Next Button

Prompt

Question Area

Questions are displayed against a green background at the top of the screen.  A scroll bar appears next to questions that do not fit entirely within the display area.   Be sure to read each question carefully, since some questions have more than one correct answer.

Answer Area

Possible answers for the current question are listed in the middle part of the screen, against a white background.  To answer a question, check the radio button or checkbox that appears to the left of each answer.  Radio buttons are used when only one answer is appropriate.  Checkboxes are used when more then one answer is correct.

Mark Question Checkbox

Marking a question allows you to return to it later.  To mark a question, check the Mark Question checkbox at the bottom left of the screen.  Marking a question allows you to return to it from the Item Review Screen.

Exhibit Button

Some questions may refer to an Exhibit.  Exhibits are external files, such as text files or bitmaps, which the Practice Exam opens in a floating window.  To open an exhibit, press the exhibit button.  Exhibits are most often used to display code fragments, diagrams, and other visual elements. The Exhibit button is greyed unless an exhibit exists for the current question.

Previous Button

Pressing this button takes you to the previous question asked.  You do not have to answer to current question before pressing this button.

Next Button

Pressing this button takes you to the next question selected from the database.

Prompt

When answering questions, take note of the prompt which appears just above the "Previous" button at the bottom left of the screen.  The prompt tells you what type of response is expected for the current question.  Each question has its own prompt text.  Some of the prompts you might see are:

Select all that apply.

Select the best answer.

Select 1 Answer

Select 2 Answers

Select True or False

The prompt text may vary from question to question, so be sure to read this information carefully.


The Welcome Screen

The first screen which appears in the Practice Exam is the Welcome screen.  It tells you how many minutes you have to complete the test, how many questions will be asked, and minimum passing score information.  This screen contains 3 buttons:

The Next button advances to the next screen.

The Help button opens the Practice Exam Online Reference Guide (this file).

The Exit button terminates the program.