===== Product Information ==============================
Product:             True Study Skills
Version:             5.01
Version Date:        16-Febrary-2001
Product Type:        Software
Distribution Policy: Freely by all channels

Product Description: True Study Skills v5.01. [ESC] Students learn
                     To report what they know with confidence: 
                     the basis for authentic assessment. Write 
                     Questions. Generate tests. Score knowledge 
                     and judgment. Large type for group and class
                     use.  Short-line, easy to read, double 
                     column paper tests. Practice being a self-
                     correcting scholar. Windows. Support: 
                     http://www.nine-patch.com. $29.95. 
                     Student and individual teacher: Free.

Reason for version:  Free use by students and by teachers when
                     working with students.

Category:            Education; Teachers, Trainers, and Students
Keywords:            Question Writer Test Generator Study 
                     Skills 
   
Required Configuration
   Processor Family: Intel 80x86 (minimum 80386)
   Clock Speed:      16 MHz
   Minimum OS:       Windows 3.1
   Standard RAM:     2000K
   Hard Drive Space: 600K

Orders:
   Address:          Nine-Patch Software
                     803 Somerset Drive
                     Columbia, MO 65203 USA
   Phone:            573-445-7275
   FAX:              573-445-4776
   Email:            sales@nine-patch.com
   Internet:         www.nine-patch.com

Support:
   Address:          Nine-Patch Software
                     803 Somerset Drive
                     Columbia, MO 65203 USA
   Phone:            573-445-7275
   FAX:              573-445-4776
   Email:            support@nine-patch.com
   Internet:         www.nine-patch.com

===== Information for Users ("READ-ME") ================

Welcome to True Study Skills, an application of 
scoring and rewarding both knowledge and judgment 
(quantity and quality).

The contents of this file are also accessed by clicking the
DESCRIPTION button on the OTHER USEFUL STUFF menu.  Use 
Notepad to read files ending in .TXT and .FIL.  TXT files 
are part of the program.  FIL files are working files that 
can be deleted when you are finished with them.

True Study Skills creates test files best viewed with
Courier, size 12, 10 characters/inch.  Single column tests
have 1/2 inch left and right margins.  Double column tests
have one inch margins.


===== Packing List =====================================

This package contains the following program files:

 Filename             Description
DESCRIPT.TXT   This file.
FACTS   .TXT   Short introduction for beginners.
MANUAL  .TXT   Detailed instructions for advanced usage.
ORDER   .TXT   Order form for single use and site licenses.
TRUEHEAD.TXT   Test heading for scoring by knowledge and judgment.
TRUEHEAD.INI   A simple test heading for traditional scoring.
TRUENOTE.INI   Permanent note pad for the question editor.
TRUESS  .EXE   Click TRUESS.EXE or its icon to run program.
EQPGRAPH.INI   Practice progress graph background.
EQTGRAPH.INI   Test progress graph background.
DTEST1  .UQF   Five question sample file.
ESAMOD1 .IQF   Entomology, introduction, ESA Module 1.
MODRIV1 .IQF   Missouri Driver's License, roads and signs.
SCIMAT4 .IQF   Scientific Literacy, the atom.
SFAA4   .IQF   Science Literacy, the physical setting.
SGW1QST .RQF   Biology, methods and concepts, college.



===== Installation =====================================

A. Insert-and-run disk (Windows 95 and 3.1).

   Click TRUESS.EXE, installed on the disk, to run.

B. Zipped file or disk.
   
   1. Copy the downloaded file to a folder named TRUESS.  
      Unzip to expand the file. 

   2. An icon is included for Windows 3.1.  Windows 95
      shows the icon properly.  

   Check the READ_ME.TXT file for additional information.

   Click the icon or enter TRUESS to run (from within the
   folder or active disk drive).
   

===== Warranty =========================================

WARRANTY

Users of True Study Skills must accept this disclaimer of
warranty:

True Study Skills is supplied as is.  The author disclaims
all warranties, expressed or implied, including, without
limitation, the warranties of merchantability and of fitness
for any purpose.  The author assumes no liability for damages,
direct or consequential, which may result from the use of
True Study Skills.


===== Licenses =========================================

A free license is given to students and individual teachers.
Email freetss@nine-patch.com to register.  For all other usage,
email tss@nine-patch.com for permission, a license or current
pricing.

Single-user license
-------------------
A license for use on one computer (a stand-alone computer 
station) or by one person.

Site license
------------
A license for use on several computers, a network, or online 
system.  In general, the cost of a site license for each set
of 1 to 5 stations or computers is equal to the cost of a 
single-user license.  It can be negotiated to include use at
school and at home.

Student and teacher license
---------------------------
A free license is granted to students using True Study Skills
and to teachers working directly with students.  This is in 
keeping with the policy of Nine-Patch Software, to promote 
the conversion of passive pupils into active self-correcting
scholars.


===== Program Summaries ================================

(See current postings at http://nine-patch.com)

True Score
----------
The program scores for both rank (traditional scoring) and for 
knowledge and judgment.  When a test is created with True Test 
Writer, True Score can create one item analysis from multiple 
forms of a test.  The program is also optimized for small data 
sets.  It makes two estimates of difficulty and two estimates 
of discrimination ability.  It labels question quality bad, 
good, better and best.  It labels questions that need to be 
discussed with the class and gives an indication of why the 
question or the students performed poorly.

True Test Writer
----------------
This program was created to assist in writing large numbers of 
high quality questions from current class activities and 
reading assignments.  They were needed in the test booklets 
administered to measure knowledge and judgment.  Students were 
given the responsibility to report what they knew or could do 
with confidence, based on their own judgment.  This is the 
basis for authentic assessment.  Such testing demands timely,
high quality, questions as part of an instructional system.

True Test Writer (TTW) contains the same question editor 
designed for students.  TTW creates more complex questions.
All files hold up to 200 questions.  TTW creates single column
and double column (NCLEX style) tests.  It also creates
multiple form tests that can be reduced to one item analyis by
True Score.

True Study Skills
-----------------
True Study Skills contains the routines students have reported 
helped them to start studying seriously and to become 
self-correcting scholars.  The program allows students to 
report what they know or have learned from their class 
activities and reading assignments in stylized paragraphs:
(statement, label, relate, classify, verify, and apply)

1.  An opening statement.               The question stem.
2.  A related label or part.            The first right answer.
3.  A second related label or part.     A second right answer.

During review, the above returns as a short answer question or 
flash card.

4.  An unacceptable label or part.      The first wrong answer.
5.  Up to 3 more labels or parts that   Second to fourth wrong 
    are not within acceptable limits.   answers.
    
A fully developed question returns at five levels of thinking 
or questioning.  When writing, students need to determine what 
is like and unlike, what is within and outside of acceptable 
limits, what is related and what is not related to the question 
stem.  This is applied critical reading and thinking.  They 
practice inquiry learning and metacognitive skills.

Large type makes the program usable for the visually 
handicapped and for group activities.  Printing practice tests 
in two columns (question on the left and answers on the right) 
produces short lines that are easier to read than one column 
tests.

