Bob Kojcinovic's LaTeX Style File for Tests

urmathtest.sty

This is a modification of Bob's LaTeX style file, modified to produce 3 kinds of output: A sheet of questions, and answer sheet for the students to use, and a sheet with both questions and solutions. Put it in the same directory as your LaTeX file. Or, ask your system administrator to install it system-wide. (Please, UR mathematicians, if you want to add additional macros, put them in your LaTeX file. Otherwise, there will be too many incompatible versions of the style file. Or, submit your proposed code to me.)

TestTemplate.tex

This file demonstrates the use of the urmathtest.sty style file. There are some extra macros, namely

\ansbox {XXXX width of box XXXX}
\ansrectangle

which may be used instead of \answer, which is described below. They produce answer boxes. In place of XXXX width of box XXXX, put some size like "3in". These macros may be included in the next version of the style file; give us your feedback.

Although it comes as a surprise to most mathematicians, it isn't hard to write LaTeX style files which will automate a lot of typesetting. Actually, though, Bob has put a lot of work into this one. It should take the drudgery out of typesetting exams. A style file is not a "LaTeX template"; it defines a set of LaTeX commands for you to use.

On this page, I will mainly describe the commands that differ from the usual LaTeX commands.

Start with

\documentclass [12pt] {article}
\usepackage[multipart , questions] {urmathtest}

You can change the options multipart,questions to:

letter - Letter size paper. This option is the default, so you can leave it out.
legal - Legal size paper.
answersheet - For the students to write answers on. Does not include the questions.
questions - Lists the questions.
answers - Lists the solutions to the exam
multipart - For exams with multiple parts. Leave this out if there is only one part.
roman - Label the parts with Roman numerals I,II,III instead of A,B,C.
consecutive - The numbering of problems does not start over with 1,2,... at the beginning of each part.

Note: Using the option legal will produce a .dvi file suited for long paper. To turn the .dvi file into a .ps file on long paper, use the command

dvips -o name.ps -t legal name

where "name" is the name of the file, without the .dvi extension. The command

ps2pdf name.ps

will turn the .ps file into a .pdf file.

If you wish to use pdflatex instead, you must add the following 2 commands to your .tex file.

\pdfpagewidth\paperwidth
\pdfpageheight\paperheight

This LaTeX style file automatically numbers problems, and generates a table for recording scores. The table includes the numerical scores you have specified, along with the totals. If the exam has 2 or more parts, all you need to do is set the appropriate option, as described above. You should put a copy of this style file, urmathexam.sty, in the same directory as your LaTeX file.

Next, put

\begin{document}
\examtitle{MATH CourseNumberXXXX} {ExamTypeXXXX EXAM} {DateXXXX}
\studentinfo
\instructions {XXXX Instructions to the students XXXX}

The second command above generates the exam title, the third creates a line for the students to enter their information, and the fourth gives you room to write instructions for the students. Replace XXXX with the appropriate information.

The command

\finishfirstpage

ends the first page, and generates one or more tables for recording the scores. But if the answers option is specified, the table of scores will not appear.

To put extra information on the next page after the table of scores, type the following command before \finishfirstpage. This information will only appear if the answers option is not specified.

\additionalinstructions {\newpage XXXwhatever you wantXXXX}

Writing the problems

To write a problem (worth 13 points), use the following command.

\problem{ 13 }
{
  Write the question here.
}
{
  Write
  \vfill
  \answer
  or whatever you want to the students to see on the sheet for filling in answers.
}
{
  Write the solution here.
}

\answer generates the word "ANSWER" followed by a line for entering the answer.
\vfill is just there to generate extra space.
\endpage is the same as \newpage, but it will be ignored if the answers option is specified.

At the end of the exam, put

\problemsdone
\end{document}

Generating the sheets

To generate a sheet of questions, specify the option questions

To generate a sheet for the students to fill in answers, specify the option answersheet

To generate an answersheet, specify the option answers

These options go in the top of the .tex file, as mentioned above, for example:

\usepackage[questions] {urmathtest}

More advanced commands

To start a second or third part of the exam, use the option multipart with the urmathtest declaration: \usepackage [multipart] {urmathtest}. You could also specify \usepackage [multipart, consecutive] {urmathtest} so that the problem numbering doesn't start over with the new part. These options will generate tables for recording answers, one for each part. When you want to start the next part, type the command

\anotherpart

This command does nothing unless you specify the multipart option.

To generate subproblems labeled a,b,c and so on, use the commands

\abcs
\item
\item
\endabcs

After each of the \item commands, write the subproblem.