McDougal Littell Test Generator ReadMe file ------------------------------------------------------------- PC information: Operating System: Windows 98, NT, ME, 2000, XP. Free Disk Space: Approximately 100MB, depending on the actual number of Test Generator books and standards installed. Memory: 32MB minimum, 64MB recommended. Processor: Pentium Installation on the PC: 1. Insert the CD into a CD-ROM drive. 2. Double click on the Setup program. 3. Read the setup notes and licensing agreement. If you wish to continue, click Yes. Click No to terminate the installation. 4. On the next screen, confirm the directory to which Test Generator will be installed. You can type in a path here or you can use the Browse button to select a path. 5. On the next screen you will be prompted to enter your home state. Test Generator may install some state specific information based on your selection. Choose your state from the drop-down list of states. When you have selected your state, click Ok. 5. After entering your state, all Test Generator files will be installed. A program group named McDougal Littell Test Generator will be installed in your Start menu. The program group will contain one icon to run Test Generator, one icon to uninstall Test Generator, one icon to launch the program tutorial, and one icon to open the user's guide. 6. Finally, a concluding dialog box will be displayed reporting the success of the installation process. You will be given information regarding who to call for additional technical support. Running on the PC: 1. In your Start Menu there will be a program group named McDougal Littell Test Generator. In the Test Generator menu will be an icon named Teacher. Click on this icon to start Test Generator. 2. On some computers, as Test Generator starts up, a console window will be displayed. The Test Generator uses this window to report status messages, system information, etc. You cannot close this window without closing Test Generator, but you can minimize it or move it anywhere on your screen. On other computers, the Test Generator logo will be displayed as the program starts. On these computers, the console window will not be displayed. 3. Next, Test Generator's main menu will be displayed. Also, a dialog box will be opened asking which McDougal Littell book you would like to open. You can select one, several, or none of these books. Hit Ok to open the books you've selected. Hit Cancel to exit the dialog box without opening a book. The first time you open the Test Generator, the Program Tutorial will be opened. 4. You are now ready to create your own tests. ------------------------------------------------------------- Mac Information: Operating System: Mac OS 8.6 or later. Free Disk Space: Approximately 80MB, depending on the actual number of Test Generator books and standards installed. Memory: 32MB minimum, 64MB recommended. Processor: PowerPC Installation on the Macintosh: 1. Insert the CD into a CD-ROM drive. 2. Double click on the Setup program. Click Continue on the title screen. 3. Read the licensing agreement. If you wish to continue, click Accept. 4. Read the read-me note. If you wish to continue, click Continue. 5. On the next screen, confirm the directory to which Test Generator will be installed. You can change the default path by clicking on the Install Location drop-down box to select a new path. 6. Next, you can choose which components you want to install. Choosing Easy Install will install everything you need to run Test Generator: the Test Generator software, and Macintosh Runtime for Java, version 2. 4. 1. You should install these components unless you already have them installed. If you do not wish to install one of the components, choose Custom Install from the drop-down box, and then click on the checkbox to deselect the component you do not want to install. When you are ready to continue click Install. 7. On the next screen you will be prompted to enter your home state. Test Generator may install some state specific information based on your selection. Enter the two-character state code for your state in the entry box, and then click Ok. 8. After entering your state, all Test Generator files will be installed. A folder named McDougal Littell Test Generator will be installed at the location you selected. The folder will contain one icon to run Test Generator, and one icon to launch the program tutorial, and one icon to open the user's guide. 9. Next, if you chose to install Macintosh Runtime For Java (MRJ), the install program will search your computer looking for versions of MRJ. You will be notified if a version is found. In either case, you can continue with the installation of MRJ, or you can cancel the installation. 10. Finally, a concluding dialog box will be displayed reporting the success of the installation process. You will be given information regarding who to call for additional technical support. Running on the Macintosh: 1. The install program creates a folder named McDougal Littell Test Generator in the location you selected. In this folder there will be an icon named Teacher. Click on this icon to start Test Generator. 2. On some computers, as Test Generator starts up, a console window will be displayed. The Test Generator uses this window to report status messages, system information, etc. You cannot close this window without closing Test Generator, but you can minimize it or move it anywhere on your screen. On other computers, the Test Generator logo will be displayed as the program starts. On these computers, the console window will not be displayed. 3. Next, Test Generator's main menu will be displayed. Also, a dialog box will be opened asking which McDougal Littell book you would like to open. You can select one, several, or none of these books. Hit Ok to open the books you've selected. Hit Cancel to exit the dialog box without opening a book. The first time you open the Test Generator, the Program Tutorial will be opened. 4. You are now ready to create your own tests. ------------------------------------------------------------- Publishing Your Test Online: For information about how to setup an account and publish your test online please read the eTest User's Guide provided in the help menu of your Test Generator, or visit the Premium Services section of www.classzone.com. ------------------------------------------------------------- Technical Support: If you need technical assistance, you may contact McDougal Littell Technical Support at 1-800-727-3009 from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. ET Monday through Thursday and from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET on Friday. You may also visit our tech support site on the web at www.mcdougallittell.com. ------------------------------------------------------------- Note to previous Test Generator users: If you have an older version (version 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, OR 3.0) of the McDougal Littell Test Generator installed you may continue with installation of the new 5.0 version. Version 5.0 will automatically convert any older version books or tests for use with version 5.0. The conversion will take place once per book or test, and will occur upon opening that book or test for the first time with the new software. To ensure smooth conversion, take care to install version 5.0 in the same place you had the previous version installed. When printing an older version test with your new software for the first time, you may want to preview and adjust manual page breaks or other formatting, as version 5.0 may handle printing a bit differently. ------------------------------------------------------------- Adobe Acrobat Reader: Acrobat Reader is occasionally used to open some materials provided with the Test Generator. It can also be used if you choose to build a test and export it as a .pdf file. If you do not already have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer, you may download it for free from http://www.adobe.com. ------------------------------------------------------------- Trouble Shooting: In a few cases with the use of older printers some printing abnormalities might occur. If your print job experiences any of the symptoms listed below, you may follow the steps in the workaround section for a printing solution. Symptoms: 1) When you send a test to the printer, you only get a blank page. 2) When you send a test to the printer, the first page prints fine, but all subsequent pages are blank. 3) When you send a test to the printer, text pages print fine, but images don't print, or print as black rectangles. Fixes: There are no fixes for this problem. The Test Generator is a Java-based application. The printing problems reported above are known Java problems that most frequently occur on HP (Hewlett Packard) printers. If you are having this problem, please try one of the workarounds listed below. Workarounds: 1) Instead of sending your test directly to the printer, first, export it to PDF (Adobe Acrobat Format). Then, open the test in Acrobat and print from there. In most cases this will work fine. 2) If you want to make Test Generator print to PDF automatically when you hit the print button, you can change a system setting to do this. In the Data folder of your Test Generator installation, there is a file called "default.props". In this file there is a line that reads: TestGen@PrintToPDF=false If you change this setting to "true", Test Generator will always print to PDF. You can edit this file using Notepad or SimpleText. If you use some other editor, like Word, make sure you save the file as a text-only file. The new line will look like this: TestGen@PrintToPDF=true You can change this setting back to "false" at any time. If you need further assistance, please call tech support at: 1-800-727-3009. ------------------------------------------------------------- When choosing "McDougal Littell on the Web" the launching of Netscape on Windows NT may cause the following error message to pop up. Cannot find the file C:\Program Files\TestGen\help\classzone.html (or one of its components). Make sure the path and filename are correct and that all required libraries are available. The message is meaningless and the website launches just fine. However, if you would like to prevent the message from appearing you can take the following steps. 1. Open the "My Computer" window. 2. Choose "view" from the file menu and then select "options." 3. Choose "file types" from the tabs. 4. Scroll through list to find and highlight "Netscape Hypertext Document." 5. Choose "edit" from the right. 6. Highlight the word "open" in the Actions list. 7. Choose "Edit" below that box. 8. Uncheck the box that says "Use DDE." 9. Click OK and Close everything. ------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright Notices of Standards Used in Test Generator: NCSS: Copyright 1995-2003 National Council for the Social Studies, 8555 Sixteenth Street, Suite 500, Silver Spring, Maryland 20910, USA. All rights reserved. NGS: Copyright 1998-2002 National Council for Geographic Education. All rights reserved. NSES: Copyright 1995 National Academy of Sciences. All Rights Reserved. SAT-9: Copyright 2001 by Harcourt, Inc. All rights reserved. ITBS: Copyright 2001 by The University of Iowa. ACTFL: Copyright 1999 National Standards in Foreign Education Project. All rights reserved. Terra Nova: Copyright CTB/McGraw-Hill. All rights reserved.