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List:       lyx-devel
Subject:    Feature request - exam.sty
From:       jfrasier () io ! com
Date:       2000-12-30 16:24:09
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Hi--

Please accept my apologies if I have written to the wrong list.

I would like to suggest an addition to LyX: an exam document style
(exam.sty) done by Philip Hirschhorn (phirschhorn@wellesley.edu) in
1994.

I teach in a high school and currently use this application in emacs
under LaTeX 2.09, for which it was originally written. However, I
normally use LyX instead of Latex because I don't know enough LaTeX to
do anything of consequence with it.

No other application that I know about does what this style does:

1. Allows users to prepare a highly-polished exam which:

1.1 paginates automatically
1.2 numbers questions & renumbers same as needed
1.3 differentiates treatment of odd and even pages, if necessary

2. Provides for a variety of:

2.1 types of titles
2.2 running headers & footers as desired
2.3 horizontal rules

3. Enables insertion of:

3.3 boxes
3.4 tables
3.5 space fills, etc.

4. Gives considerable leeway for:

4.1 indicating point values for questions, if desired
4.2 including special instructions for question groups
4.3 naming parts of the exam

5. Automates:

5.1 question numbering
5.2 part and subpart additions as desired & numbering thereof

6. Facilitates:

6.1 manual page break override
6.2 flexible page layout, etc.,
6.3 thus providing a user-friendly layout for those taking the exam

7. Prevents:
7.1 mistakes in page numbering
7.2 errors in sequencing questions
7.3 blunders in sequencing parts & sub-parts

Feature #7 sold me on this style immediately because I misnumbered a
final exam of about eighty questions just before starting to use this
application. The part of the test which contained those question was
to be answered on a scantron. Consequently, two numbers were
apparently to be answered on the same corresponding machine-readable
number. So, if for no other reason than to avoid such a problem, I
would have begun to use this application.

Because this application does so much so well, I think that including
the exam document style in LyX would be a boon to teachers who, like
me, use LyX, but who are not knowledgeable about LaTeX and prefer to
see the "semi-finished product" before their eyes as they are doing
the work-in-progress. IOW, this could do so much so well for so many.

Unfortunately, I'm an ignoramus about doing anything beyond pounding
on a keyboard with some application or other. Hence, I was delighted
when my wife found LyX for me. She is the one who helps me do anything
beyond random monkey taps within Linux and LyX.

I feel sure other teachers who use LyX would derive great benefit from
this style being added to LyX. Furthermore, the addition would add to
the attractiveness of LyX in general to teachers who do not currently
use LyX, especially math and science teachers in high schools.

I teach French but am not at all Cartesian. Consequently, my wife
deals with all system administration in our household. In addition, I
rarely email anybody about anything. So, if you would like to
communicate with me about this, please send her an email at:

Connie Neal
magpie@io.com

(I did not subscribe to this list.)

Finally, I would like to thank everybody who reads this for the
wonderful work which you have done with LyX for the "rest of us". I
appreciate all your efforts and applaud your dedication to this
project. Please do not ever think that your efforts go unnoticed by
the great unwashed outside the GNU-Linux multiverse.

Jim Frasier
jfrasier@io.com





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