LPISim -- Exam simulator for LPIC-1 =================================== This program is designed to help you get used to the LPIC-1 exam questions and the way the exam software works. +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ | | | IMPORTANT NOTICE: | | | | This is just a SIMULATION. Please do not rely on details of | | the exam software -- we aim to give a half-way accurate | | impression but deviations are likely. | | | | The questions are FAKE, too. | | | | Linup Front GmbH assumes no responsibility for problems | | that might result directly or indirectly from the use of this | | software. In particular, we disclaim any responsibility for | | your failing the exam because you thought you just had to | | memorize the answers in this program. | | | +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ GETTING AND RUNNING THE PROGRAM -- STARKIT Download the »lpisim.kit« file. You will also need a current »Tclkit«; get one for your system (presumably Linux) from http://www.equi4.com/tclkit.html You should be able to run the »tclkit« executable like so (make it executable first if necessary): $ tclkit % _ (the percent sign is Tclkit's prompt and the underscore is your cursor). Quit Tclkit by typing »exit« or Control-D. You can now start LPIsim by typing $ tclkit lpisim.kit GETTING AND RUNNING THE PROGRAM -- STARPACK The »lpisim« file on this server is a »starpack«, a file that comes with a Tclkit for Linux already included. Do the following: $ wget http://lpi-buch.linupfront.de/lpisim/lpisim $ chmod a+x lpisim $ ./lpisim PROGRAM OPERATION Invoke the program: $ tclkit lpisim.kit or $ ./lpisim The splash screen should appear; after a while it disappears and the program's main window appears (a small window with three buttons). - Start Trial Exam - Settings - Quit program SETTINGS This allows you to determine the type and subject matter of the trial exam you can work through using »Start Trial Exam«. There are three tabs: General (General settings for LPISim) »Show warning before exam« (Default value: ON) This determines whether there should be a disclaimer before every trial exam similar to the one at the beginning of this documentation file. »Evaluation: Show all answers (even unselected ones)« (Default value: ON) This determines whether all answers should be displayed during the exam evaluation. If this is set to OFF, just the ones you selected are shown. »Evaluation: Show explanations« (Default value: ON) This determines whether explanations of the questions and answers should be offered when available. You can also select the browser to be used for displaying links in the explanations. Currently you get the choice between Konqueror and Firefox. Exam (Settings for trial exams) »Exam style« (Default value: »Quickie«) Determines the style of the trial exam. Possible values are: »Quickie«: 10 randomly selected questions from the subject matter. 5 minutes time available »LPI«: 65 questions from the subject matter, selected randomly according to the weights published by the LPI. 90 minutes time available »1/2 LPI«: 33 questions from the subject matter, selected according to the weights. 45 minutes time available. »Debug«: All questions in unsorted order, no time limit. Serves to check question pools. »Exam Topic« (Default value: »LPI101«) Determines the subject matter for the trial exam. Possible values include: »LPI101«, »LPI101 (RPM)«, »LPI101 (DPKG)«, »LPI102« »Question selection« (Default value: »random«) Determines the method by which questions are selected from the pool. Possible values include: »all« All questions for the desired topic are considered (if there are fewer questions selected in the »Questions«) field than there are questions in the pool, the first n questions are selected) »random«: All the questions for the desired topic are shuffled (again, possibly only the first n questions are selected) »weighted«: A selection of questions from the desired topic is prepared. This adheres strictly to the LPI weights. For n desired questions, k objectives and m = m_1+...+m_k weight points, for each objective j we first select int(m_j/(m/n)) questions. The remaining questions are distributed across those objectives where the »remainder«, frac(m_j/(m/n)) is greatest. If several objectives share the same remainder and there are not enough questions left for all of them, enough objectives are selected at random. »weightedrandom«: Like »weighted«, but the weights m_j are multiplied by 10 before the distribution, and a random number between 0 and 25 is added. This makes the weight distribution more interesting. Note that the actual method the LPI uses is much more stupid than this. In fact, according to their web site there are just two versions of each exam (which is allegedly to do with psychometric validation). »Questions« (Default value: 10) The number of questions in the trial exam. If there are not enough questions available for the desired topic, the exam may consist of fewer questions. »Time (min)« (Default value: 5) The time available for the exam (in minutes) »Question order« (Default value: »Shuffled«) The order in which the questions are presented. The following values are possible: »Shuffled«: The questions are arranged randomly. »Unshuffled«: The questions are not rearranged. However it is possible that they have already been shuffled during the selection process, e.g., »weighted« shuffles the questions within the individual objectives, but presents the objectives in the official order. »Answer order« (Default value: »Shuffled«) Usually, for multiple-choice questions, the answers for each question are shuffled individually (for some questions this does not make sense and is therefore omitted, regardless of the value of this option). This serves to make the questions more interesting. »Number« (Default value: 0) This is the »number« of the exam. This number is used to initialise the random number generator before the exam, and should therefore allow reproducible exams (which is important for LPI preparation workshops, to let all participants take the same exam). The special value »0« initialises the random number generator using a random value. Note: The »instructor mode« is a more convenient way of handling this. About ... Displays information about the program. START TRIAL EXAM Starts the exam viewer. After working through all the questions you have the opportunity to review individual questions, all questions, or marked questions. Once you have declared the exam officially finished, you are shown an evaluation of your answers. LPISim intentionally makes no statement about whether you would have passed a genuine LPIC-1 exam. This is due to the fact that LPIC exams are scored according to a complicated scheme that was impossible to reconstruct for the purposes of this simulator. Your score should, however, allow you a rough estimate of your abilities. COMMENTS, BUG REPORTS, FEED BACK If you have comments, ideas, bug reports, etc., pertaining to LPIsim, we would love to hear from you. Send mail to lpi-buch@linupfront.de possibly stating the version number of your »lpisim« program (you can find this on the splash screen or in the »About ...« tab of the settings dialog). If you have comments or queries regarding individual questions, please state the question ID in addition to the simulator's version number. During exam evaluation, the question ID appears in brackets after the ordinal number of the question within the exam. SOURCE CODE In principle, the source code can be extracted from the starkit/starpack using Tclkit's »sdx« tool (see the web site mentioned above for details). For your convenience, full source code for the program is available in the file http://lpi-buch.linupfront.de/lpisim/lpisim-current.tar.gz This includes the question pools. You can try making this run with stock Tcl/Tk but the Tclkit method is preferable. REVISION CONTROL The current development and release versions of LPISim are available in a Mercurial repository at http://hg.linupfront.de/lpisim/devel http://hg.linupfront.de/lpisim/release (respectively). To obtain bleeding-edge code, do $ hg clone http://hg.linupfront.de/lpisim/devel lpisim $ cd lpisim Read up on Mercurial at http://www.selenic.com/mercurial/. If you have made interesting changes that you would like to contribute, contact Anselm Lingnau .