Separate answer sheet at the beginning of the exam sheet

Added by Wladston Viana almost 9 years ago

Hello,

We're currently implementing automatic exams corrections for a discipline with AMC, but we're facing a problem.

We've already managed to make the full process work by printing the Identification Field, along with the separate answer sheet, at the end of the exam. But to comply with university guidelines, we have to place the student identification box (along with the separate answer sheet) at the beginning of the exam, near to the exam's header, not at the bottom of the exam.

The problem is, when we call "\AMCform" before printing the questions, no questions are displayed in the form. We checked latex commands and AMC's documentation extensively, and we found no way to fix this issue.

Our team here in Brazil would be trilled to fix these problems and finally apply the first exam in the University with automatic correction, so thanks in advance for your help,


Replies (21)

RE: Separate answer sheet at the beginning of the exam sheet - Added by Alexis Bienvenüe almost 9 years ago

The development version allows you to print the separate answer sheet at the beginning or at the end of the copy. Please try it and tell us if this can do the job for you.

RE: Separate answer sheet at the beginning of the exam sheet - Added by Wladston Viana almost 9 years ago

Alexis, thanks for the answer. I was already running the development version, as per instructions in:

http://project.auto-multiple-choice.net/projects/auto-multiple-choice/wiki/Installation_de_la_version_de_d%C3%A9veloppement_d%27AMC_sous_OS_X_Mountain_Lion

In the AMC app, clicking Help -> About says I have version "Auto Multiple Choice 1.2.2014.061901".

Still, when I build the Questions, the answer box comes out empty. Could you provide a simple working example where the answer sheet is printed before the questions, so I can try to figure out what is wrong in our implementation?

Thanks once more,

RE: Separate answer sheet at the beginning of the exam sheet - Added by Alexis Bienvenüe almost 9 years ago

1.2.2014.061901

You need something more recent: change hg.tag in the Portfile. For example, to get the latest development version, have a look at the bottom of the repository page and choose the latest, wich is b36f9124e727 at the time of writing.

Still, when I build the Questions, the answer box comes out empty.

This new feature concerns printing: you have to design your question as usually, with the answer sheet at the end. Then, you will choose Answer sheet first in the printing dialog.

RE: Separate answer sheet at the beginning of the exam sheet - Added by Wladston Viana almost 9 years ago

Hi Alexis,

I've installed that version, but in it, the program won't open, it only says the error: "Unknown action gui at /opt/local/bin/auto-multiple-choice line 79.". Is it working for you on Mac OS? How do you think I could fix this issue?

Thanks!

RE: Separate answer sheet at the beginning of the exam sheet - Added by Alexis Bienvenüe almost 9 years ago

I can't say: I don't work with MacOSX. Maybe this is related with #353 (see note 5).

RE: Separate answer sheet at the beginning of the exam sheet - Added by Joël Brogniart almost 9 years ago

Too busy these days. I'll try to update instructions for the last version I tested (b36f9124e727) before the end of this week. I haven't tested the answer sheet at beginning option.

RE: Separate answer sheet at the beginning of the exam sheet - Added by Joël Brogniart almost 9 years ago

I updated instructions (French version) and will try to update the English version too.

RE: Separate answer sheet at the beginning of the exam sheet - Added by Wladston Viana almost 9 years ago

Great, thanks a lot Joel, I was able to install and run the latest version. Now about says "1.2.2015.042501".

I've just built the questions again, and the answer form is still totally blank.

Is there any special thing I have to do to make it work?

I would to see a working example where the answer form is print before the questions, to see if I can compile it.

RE: Separate answer sheet at the beginning of the exam sheet - Added by Alexis Bienvenüe almost 9 years ago

I would to see a working example where the answer form is print before the questions, to see if I can compile it.

This is not possible.
You have to build a question with the answer form at the end, as usual.
Then, the prinitng process can move the answer sheet at the beginning (there is an option in the printing dialog).

RE: Separate answer sheet at the beginning of the exam sheet - Added by Joël Brogniart almost 9 years ago

@Wladston Viana

I updated again installation instructions (French and English) as a dependency was missing to make answer sheet at the beginning working.

RE: Separate answer sheet at the beginning of the exam sheet - Added by Joël Brogniart almost 9 years ago

You could add the new dependency with just the following command.

sudo port install pdftk

This command will make AMC happy to print answer sheet at beginning but it won't modify auto-multiple-choice-devel port file.

RE: Separate answer sheet at the beginning of the exam sheet - Added by Wladston Viana almost 9 years ago

Thanks! I've finally managed to print the answer sheets with the answer sheets in the first page. But what we needed was actually to change the location of the answer sheet, in such way that it is printed next to the exam's header, and not at the end of the questions.

That really is not possible?

RE: Separate answer sheet at the beginning of the exam sheet - Added by Alexis Bienvenüe almost 9 years ago

This is not possible. Why do you need this?

RE: Separate answer sheet at the beginning of the exam sheet - Added by Wladston Viana almost 9 years ago

Alexis, so our exams sheets comply to the University guidelines, where the form to fill-in the student name is in the exam's header. Our professor would really like that...

RE: Separate answer sheet at the beginning of the exam sheet - Added by Alexis Bienvenüe almost 9 years ago

But you can setup the exam header on the answer sheet, which will be printed at the beginning, no?
I understand this is quite odd, but the result will be OK.

RE: Separate answer sheet at the beginning of the exam sheet - Added by Wladston Viana almost 9 years ago

No, because even if I put the exam header close to the answer sheet (at the end of all the questions) the exam header isn't going to be the first thing on the page: there are going to be questions before the exam header and answer sheet.

RE: Separate answer sheet at the beginning of the exam sheet - Added by Alexis Bienvenüe almost 9 years ago

You can put the header at the beginning of the answer sheet (in the answer sheet).

RE: Separate answer sheet at the beginning of the exam sheet - Added by Wladston Viana almost 9 years ago

Yes, but then I'd have to print at least two sheets. For optimization, we always aim at printing everything (questions and separate answer sheet) into one piece of paper.

RE: Separate answer sheet at the beginning of the exam sheet - Added by Alexis Bienvenüe almost 9 years ago

If you need an answer form, then questions, on the same page, this is not easy at all with AMC I'm afraid.
You can get the answer form on one page, and questions on another page, so a single double-sided sheet.
You can get questions (with answers following each question — without separate answer sheet) on one page.

RE: Separate answer sheet at the beginning of the exam sheet - Added by shreikant kv almost 9 years ago

If all the copies of the exams have the same number of sheets, get pdftk (https://www.pdflabs.com/tools/pdftk-the-pdf-toolkit/)
to reorder pages in DOC-sujet as per your needs. You need only minimal experience with *nix command line.

RE: Separate answer sheet at the beginning of the exam sheet - Added by Wladston Viana almost 9 years ago

I see. The problem is that we are already using a double-sided sheet for questions and answer sheet, we're talking almost all available space in the double-sided sheet for that. I understand now that AMC doesn't support that, thanks for the help Alexis.

I was thinking that maybe we can use a special latex command to create an empty space at the exam's header, and then use another special command to reposition or print the answer sheet in an arbitrary location -- in my case, the exam's header. Would you have anything in mind, regarding latex libs and commands, that would allow such arbitrary positioning?

Shreikant, thanks for the answer :) The thing is, like I explained to Alexis before, the problem doesn't lie in the ordering of the PDF pages, but in the positioning of the answer sheet in the page itself.

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