AA9PW Exam generator for Java

Welcome to the AA9PW Exam generator for Java, v0.2. This is the second beta release of the java exam generator and hence may still contain the odd bug. If you come across any misbehavior on the part of the applet, or if you have any suggestions on how to improve it, please let me know. I can be reached via email at simon@aa9pw.com. Feedback is really appreciated so if you think the applet is great and especially if you think it needs some work please tell me! Im making this applet available for download as Shareware - see the Final Comments for more details.
Simon Twigger, AA9PW. 2002

Archive Contents

These are the files you should have when you expand the archive downloaded from the web. I can only vouch for the archives downloaded from my site (www.aa9pw.com). If you downloaded this from somewhere else then this may be an old version or something may be missing. If something is missing, especially one of the class files, then things probably arent going to work as they should, or worse, they may do things they arent meant to do!

README.html 	-- (this file)
AA9PW.html	-- (html file containing the applet itself)

images (dir)	-- Directory containing all the .gif files used in the exams
pools  (dir)	-- Directory containing the five question pools

	AnimateResults.class
	AnswerPanel.class
	AnswerPaper.class
	Answer_p.class
	ExamHelp.class
	ExamPaper.class
	FigureCanvas.class
	FigureWindow.class
	QuestionPanel.class
	Question_p.class
	ReadFileDialog.class
	ReadPool2.class
	TrivialApplet.class		// This is the main class of the applet

Running the Applet

The applet will work when run on a Java enabled browser such as Netscape 3+, or MSIE. To start up the applet, select the 'Open Page' option from the File menu and then open the index.html file. Once your browser has got java up and running you should see the applet's main interface consisting of a drop down menu used to select the exam, a 'Generate Exam' button to start the exam generator going and an 'About' button used to display a dialog box about the applet. The exam pools that are included with the applet are up to date (as of October 1997) and their expiration dates are shown in the graphic above the buttons.

Taking the exams

Either:

• Select a class of exam from the drop down menu and then press the Generate Exam button (or press the return key).
• or press the key corresponding to the first letter of the exam name, ie. n, t, g, a, or e.
  Please note that the Novice and Advanced exams have been discontinued, the Technician, General and Extra exams are the current licensing exams, I will take out the novice and advanced options eventually!.

All figures and tables except Table NT0-1 are provided. NT0-1 is really large and I havent worked out a decent way to display it yet. You can obtain a copy of the table from the Resources page at the on-line exam site in either HTML or Adobe Acrobat PDF formats.

Reviewing the graded exam paper

Your exam results are presented in the same format as is found on the WWW exam practice site. The results are broken down according to subelement so you can see how you are doing and which subelements need further study.

When reviewing the graded exam paper, you may come across a number of different symbols:

If you answered the question and got it correct, you will only see a green check mark, , indicating your correct answer.

If you answered the question and got it wrong, your wrong choice will be indicated by a red cross, , and the correct answer by a green check mark.

If you forgot to answer the question entirely, the correct answer will be indicated by a yellow check mark, , to distinguish it from a question you answered correctly and help you spot missed questions.

Final Comments

As this is effectively an application you can run in your own home, I'm releasing it as Shareware. If you like the applet and wish to support development of future versions then I'd really appreciate a donation of $15. Obviously its up to you if you decide to send anything and you are more than welcome to use the applet either way. I wrote the applet because I enjoyed doing it and I will most likely continue to upgrade it for the same reason. However, it does take time and effort to write the code, and money to keep up to date (or less out of date) with the technology involved so any donations will be gratefully received. Please send any donations to:

	Simon Twigger, AA9PW
	Medical College of Wisconsin,
	8701 Watertown Plank Road
	Milwaukee, WI
	53226.

You are free to put the applet on your own website for others to use, though I would ask that you include a link back to my original exam site.

I hope you find the applet very useful in your preparation for the exams and when you pass I hope you have a great time on the air!

73, Simon, AA9PW
simon@aa9pw.com