Document Classes ⇒ Basic problem with the exam class

[Johannes_B]

Do you need al the fuzz the exam class is adding? You don't want to print the points, as all questions have the same amount of points. A table summing up how many points are available for each question seems a bit pointless as well.

The screenshot you have shown just shows enumerated lists. Easy to do, no need for a special class or package.
See https://en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?ti ... cial_lists

You can also have a look at Teacher's Corner, which covers exsheets, but not yet xsim.

[Cham]

Do you have a current good-looking example to test? I lost the one I worked it when my computer crashed right now.

Here's a working code which is very close to what I need :

Code: Select all

\documentclass[11pt]{exam}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[french]{babel}
\usepackage{microtype}
\usepackage[margin=1in]{geometry}

\setlength\answerskip{4ex}
\setlength\answerlinelength{0.5in}

\begin{document}

\pointsinmargin\pointformat{}

A few questions to disturb you :

\bigskip

\begin{questions}

\question[2] Who's buried in Grant's tomb?

\answerline

\question[2] Blabla?

\answerline

A few more questions to annoy you :

\bigskip

\question[3] Which is heavier: A pound of feathers, or a pound of lead?

\answerline

A few choices questions :

\bigskip

\question[3] Blabla :

	\begin{choices}
		\choice John
		\choice Paul
		\choice George
		\choice Ringo
		\choice Socrates
	\end{choices}

\end{questions}

\end{document}

It just need three things to be modified :

1. Slide the answer line to the left, with a slight offset (indent).
2. Remove the answer line number (it's useless if it's at the left)
3. Change the choices capital letters to small letters, or maybe numbers?

[Cham]

Another glitch : the vertical spacing of the choice answer (in the choices environment) is a bit too large. Is there an option or some command to reduce it ? The manual isn't clear to me about this. Here's a MWE code to try :

Code: Select all

\documentclass[11pt]{exam}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[margin=1in]{geometry}

\begin{document}

\begin{questions}

\question[3] Who are you ?

	\begin{choices}
		\choice John
		\choice Paul
		\choice George
		\choice Ringo
		\choice Socrates
		\choice Me
		\choice You
		\choice Him
	\end{choices}

\end{questions}

\end{document}

[Cham]

I solved the answer line problem (simple line at left, without a number). A simple macro does it :

Code: Select all

\newcommand{\TFLine}{\vspace{0.75cm}\hspace{1cm}\rule{1.5cm}{0.5pt}\vspace{0.25cm}}

I just use \TFLine, instead of \answerline.

My exam is almost done ! I only need to customize the choices capital letters to some other symbols (small letters or numbers). I would prefer something like a), b), ... instead of A, B, .... Any suggestion about this ?

[Johannes_B]

Code: Select all

\renewcommand\thechoice{\alph{choice})}

[Cham]

Cool ! It's working. Unfortunately, it leaves a point after the ")". It should be "a)", instead of "a)."

Also, what other options could we have ? Numbers instead of letters ?

Or circles to mark with an X ? (I think that the last one is described in the manual. I'll check this).

[Stefan Kottwitz]

Code: Select all

\renewcommand\thechoice{\alph{choice})}
\renewcommand\choicelabel{\thechoice}

Or, if you consider ) ad part of the label only:

Code: Select all

\renewcommand\thechoice{\alph{choice}}
\renewcommand\choicelabel{\thechoice)}

The latter macro had the period.

Stefan

[Cham]

It's all working great. Thanks a lot!

Now, while the result seems pretty with "a)", I'm not sure anymore that it's better looking than "A." ! At least, I now have a choice in the code.

A long time ago, I was creating this kind of exams with a WYSIWYG word processor (pesky Word and the likes). The printed output was good, but editing was always a pain in the arse. Now that I have a full LaTeX version, I could throw away Word to the trash bin. Adios, Micro$ !

[Codyben123]

In the exam class the comments you want are called "Instructions for a group of questions" (see section 6.1 of the examdoc.pdf document).
In your case type \uplevel{A few questions to annoy you:}
That's all you need.