The AutoTest toolkit

The AutoTest toolkit allows a teacher to generate and evaluate classroom tests.

Requirements:

• a Linux system
• the SANE (Scanner Access Now Easy) library
• a well-supported optical scanner (check here) preferably with an Automatic Document Feader
• a good PostScript printer

The toolkit is in alpha stage (current version 0.7.2), and it is released under the terms of the GNU General Public License.
See the recent changes in the ChangeLog file.

To install the toolkit, download the source code (a 188KB gzipped tar archive), unpack the archive file, and follow the instructions in the README file.

Read the NEWS file for several important changes in the last version!

A few words on using the toolkit:

1. Write an ATQ file (AutoTest Quiz) including all questions of your classroom test. You might refer to a fictitious example.
2. Check the ATQ file by generating a master PostScript file:

   master <filename>.atq

   The PostScript file is named <filename>.ps.

   Starting from version 0.5, you might also feed the ATQ file as standard input of the checkatq program. Currently checkatq performs the same sanity checks as the gentest program (see below), but more checks will be included in future releases.

3. Invoke the command

   gentest <filename>[.atq] <number>

   to generate the PostScript files for <number> students. The command also creates an ATD file (AutoTest Digest) named <filename>.atd containing the solutions for all tests. Do not remove or expose this file!
4. Print all PostScript files generated in step 3 above.
5. After the classroom test, place the answer forms in the scanner and invoke the command

   scanform <basename>

   The command creates a bitmap image file for each scanned form. All image files are named <basename>-<seq numb>.pbm. The command assumes that the scanner has an Automatic Document Feader. scanform is a shell script, and you can customize it for your scanner model.
6. Invoke the command

   score <filename>[.atd] <basename>*.pnm

   to evaluate the tests. The ATD file must be the same file generated in step 3 above. Results are placed in an ATR file (AutoTest Result) named <filename>.atr.

Good luck (you'll need it)!