Grtex is a system for writing computer-graded exams, both multiple-choice
and numerical answer questions, in latex. It consists of latex macros
and a program for extracting questions from a set of possible ones and
producing multiple versions. This document outlines the writing of the
source file using the macros --- for running the grtex
program on that file to produce the multiple versions, see
Running Grtex.
The details explaining how to put together the source file for
a grtex
exam is the examexample file,
available both as
LaTeX source and as
a PDF file.
That file explains the numerous formats for the questions. It also gives some recommendations about how one can use a single database file for all your questions, serving for many years and sharable with colleagues. But the file explains only the LaTeX part of grtex, that is, a set of latex macros which make it easy to formulate exam questions in a form that the other part of grtex can use to make exams in multiple versions.
A grtex input file consists of several required parts in order:
% end of exam questions.
\end{document}
for latex or
\bye
for tex.
The source for an exam source.tex
in grtex
format
can (and should) be run through latex for debugging before running it
through the grtex
program.
It should also be checked for being free of non-ascii characters and too-long
lines with
/physics/local/bin/longestline source.tex
and
/physics/local/bin/nonascii source.tex
.
The longest line should be no more than 99 characters, and there should be
no non-ascii characters reported.
Then you are ready to run grtex
, which will
select the problems and make the multiple versions. This is described
in Running Grtex.
The best way to get started is to copy the file
examex.template
and add what you want.
But if you are using
one of the databases already in existance for your course, you should
follow the instructions in Using a Database.
Here are some other documents which describe
grtex
. They are somewhat older.