prepared by Ulf Arndt, ulfa at global.co.za, November 2002
to replace the handwritten test approach
less admin in marking the tests
ensure equal level of marking
ensure traceability, audit trace, authentication
meet the quality control requirements expected by CAA and AeCSA
Pilot applies to SAHPA for a test.
SAHPA would arrange for a test session to take place at
a certain venue under
the supervision of a SAHPA representative in the area
of the test applicant.
SAHPA office/test coordinator will prepare an individual test
package and
email it to the SAHPA representative for the area
Local SAHPA representative would arrange to have one PC or
in the case of multiple applicants multiple PC's
loaded with the code to run the test at a venue.
The code will be available from SAHPA for free.
The code is packaged either inside of each test or will
be
available from the SAHPA website for download.
SAHPA will email the SAHPA representative
a unique test question package file for each applicant.
The test package will be a self extracting zip file containing
- information for who this package is
The file would contain the name and id info
for the pilot.
- And a set of random picked test questions from a range
of topics determined
by the level of rating that the
pilot applies for.
- And gif picture files related to the questions.
- and optional the code to run the test
Each test for a person would be in a separate directory.
directory name would relate to the person
SAHPA representative would unzip the package and startup the
test code
and point the code to use the specific directory containing
the test
for a certain person.
The code will test if this is the first attempt, only one attempt
allowed.
Pilot would arrive at the venue, could be at a school, a club
meeting,
a competition,..
Still to solve is the problem of authentication ..to make sure
the correct person took the test..
Pilot will have to bring along 2? methods of ID, eg drivers
licence and ID book,
or passport or company badge with a picure. SAHPA will
need some paper proof
to show that this was really the person who did the test.
Copies of the id material along with a printed out score to
be signed by SAHPA rep
and sent back to SAHPA office.
Once arrived and seated in front of a PC the person will then
read the explanantion how the test works and then start
the test.
A timer will start.
The test will have a certain time to answer all
the questions.
Each question has a certain time allocated.
Lenght of the test is determined by the sum of times
for all the questions.
The test is in multiple choice, with a various amount ( up to
9 or 10 ) answers.
Multiple answers can be correct.
Each answer can have a positive, zero, or negative score.
Expect around 100 - 200 questions. In case the questions
and answers are public,
the test has to be tight since one can expect to
person to know most of the answers.
July 2002 SAHPA committee opted not to disclose any questions
, answers and scores .
Options are to keep the test restricted and point
the test takers to a curiculum
or have the questions open to the public and a curiculum
or have the questions and answers without any indication
of the scores
or have everything out and make the test very time constraint
and tight
Once the person reckons that they answered all the questions to
the best of
their knowledge, or reached the maximum time limit,
the test gets scored.
A certain percentage of the total score is required to pass.
SAHPA will need back for audit purposes the results
of the test, along
with the questions and answers given. The test program
creates a results file.
This results file is then emailed back to he SAHPA office.
Along with some statistic info of what questions got answered correct, which wrong.
Results will be encrypted to avoid being tampered with before getting sent back to SAHPA.
A printer would be required to give the person a printout of
the score.
As proof that he did the test, in case there is some system
problems and the results
never make it back to SAHPA.
Also the result sheet will provide some feedback for the pilot
where he failed and where he scored.
Unlimited amount of questions in a xml file which is used for creating a test for a pilot.
Maximum of 250 questions in a test stf file to be processed by
the TakeTest VB module.
This is a VB restriction, which only allows maximum 64k
for an object.
Expected test size will be around 120 questions.
The Java web based version uses XML DOM elements for tests
and has no limit on the amount of questions.
To be compatible with the VB code version and share the same
XML files, the limits from the VB side shold be adhered to.