User Guide

Introduction

The Exam Study Companion (ESC) is for students who want to improve on their grades by quizzing themselves through flashcards. ESC is a command line (CLI) program, with a simple, no frills user interface that is quick and easy to use.

ESC is a flashcard study program, where you are able to create cards and categorise them, and you can also quiz yourself using your flashcards.

ESC is meant to help students be able to study more effectively using the medium that they prefer, providing a simple, easy to use interface for the timestrapped student who prefers using CLI based applications and are able to type quickly.

For release v2.1, after adding the cards the user is unable to view the answers when listing cards. They are only able to view the answers when attempting the quiz function.

Quick Start

1. Ensure that you have Java 11 or above installed on your computer.
2. Download the latest version of ESC from here.
3. Run ESC on your command terminal using this command: java -jar <directory>/esc-v2.1.jar

The program is best viewed in a maximised window.

Quick Use

1. Create a subject.
   • addsubject s/<name>
2. Create cards to add to your subject.
   • addcard s/<index> q/<question> a/<answer>
3. Start a quiz to test yourself.
   • quiz s/<index>

A more detailed explanation of the features are covered in the following sections.

Features

Creating a Subject: addsubject

Creates a subject for categorisation of cards.

Format: addsubject s/<SUBJECTNAME>

• The SUBJECTNAME can be in a natural language format.

Example of usage:

• addsubject s/biology
• addsubject s/CHEM

Screenshot showing addsubject:

Listing all Subjects

Lists all the current subjects.

Format & Usage: listsubject

Screenshot showing listsubject:

Deleting a Subject

Deletes the specified subject AND all the cards in the subject.

Format: deletesubject s/<INDEX>

• The INDEX is based on the index of the subject. This can be found using the listsubject command.

Example of usage:

• deletesubject s/1
• deletesubject s/4

Screenshot showing deletesubject:

Creating a Card

Creates a card and adds it to the specified subject.

Format: addcard s/<INDEX> q/<QUESTION> a/<ANSWER>

• The INDEX is based on the index of the subject. This can be found using the listsubject command.

Example of Usage:

• addcard s/1 q/What year was NUS established? a/1980
• addcard s/2 q/How many electrons does oxygen have? a/8

Screenshot showing addcard:

Listing Cards in a Subject

Lists all the cards in the specified subject.

Format: listcard s/<INDEX>

• The INDEX is based on the index of the subject. This can be found using the listsubject command.

Example of Usage:

• listcard s/1
• listcard s/2

Screenshot showing listcard:

Deleting a Card

Deletes the specified card from the specified category

Format: deletecard s/<S-INDEX> c/<C-INDEX>

• The S-INDEX is based on the index of the subject. This can be found using the listsubject command.
• The C-INDEX is based on the index of the card. This can be found using the listcard s/<S-INDEX> command.

Example of Usage:

• deletecard s/2 c/1
• deletecard s/5 c/17

Screenshot showing deletecard:

Editing a Card

Edits the specified card

Format: editcard s/<S-INDEX> c/<C-INDEX> q/<QUESTION> a/<ANSWER>

• The S-INDEX is based on the index of the subject. This can be found using the listsubject command.
• The C-INDEX is based on the index of the card. This can be found using the listcard s/<S-INDEX> command.

Example of Usage:

• editcard s/1 c/1 q/what is this docunment a/user guide

Screenshot showing editcard:

Starting a Quiz

Starts a quiz of the specified number of questions from the specified subject.

Format: quiz s/<INDEX> n/<NUMBER> OR quiz s/<INDEX>

• The INDEX is based on the index of the subject. This can be found using the listsubject command.
• The NUMBER is the number of questions the user wishes to be quizzed on. This is an optional field that can be omitted.
• If the NUMBER is not specified or if the NUMBER exceeds the total number of stored questions for that subject, ALL questions in that subject will be tested instead.
• A quiz can be aborted early by inputting exitquiz anytime during the quiz.

Example of Usage:

• quiz s/2 n/15
• quiz s/1

Screenshot showing quiz:

Viewing Past Scores

Shows the previous scores of quizzes from the specified subject in chronological order.

Format: score s/<INDEX>

• The INDEX is based on the index of the subject. This can be found using the listsubject command.

Example of Usage:

• score s/1
• score s/2

Screenshot showing score:

Adding New Event

Creates a new event and adds it to the app.

Format: addevent e/<DESCRIPTION> d/<DATE>

• The DESCRIPTION is a text description of the event to be input by the user.
• The accepted DATE formats are:
  1. dd-MM-yy, dd-MM-yyyy
  2. dd/MM/yy, dd/MM/yyyy
  3. dd.MM.yy, dd.MM.yyyy
  4. dd-MMM-yy, dd-MMM-yyyy (e.g. 1-May-2020)

Example of Usage:

• addevent e/CS2113T exam d/2/5/2020
• addevent e/GE4214 final proj presentation d/16-04-2020

Screenshot showing score:

Listing Stored Events

Lists all the stored events in the order they were added.

Format: listevent

Screenshot showing listevent:

Showing Upcoming Events

Shows all upcoming events within a user-specified time frame, listed in chronological order.

Format: showupcoming d/<DATE RANGE>

• The DATE RANGE defines the date range of upcoming events to show.

Example of Usage:

• showupcoming d/30
• showupcoming d/5

Screenshot showing showupcoming:

Deleting an Event

Deletes an event based on its index.

Format: deleteevent e/<INDEX>

• The INDEX is based on the index of the event. This can be found using the listevent command.

Example of Usage:

• deleteevent e/2
• deleteevent e/1

Screenshot showing deleteevent:

Displaying the Help Page

Displays the list of available commands.

Format & Usage: help

Screenshot showing help:

Exiting the Program

Closes the program

Format & Usage: exit

FAQ

Q: Can I import question packs from other people?

A: At the current stage, no, but it is in the development list for if we continue with this in future!

Q: If I exit the program, will all my existing cards be saved?

A: Yes! All your subjects, cards, events and scores are saved. To ensure that your data is not lost, do not delete the folder called ‘data’ that is created when you first run the program.

Q: If I delete a subject, what happens to the cards?

A: By deleting a subject, you’ll delete everything in that subject. So be careful with this.

Q: Can I create a card that does not belong to any subject?

A: Sorry, you can’t. You must need a subject for every card.

Q: Can I create a card that belongs to multiple subject?

A: Sorry, at current stage this is not supported.

Q: Will I be able to export the cards to a external file i.e. a text file?

A: Sorry, at current stage this is not supported.

Q: Can I add something else other than exam date to the program?

A: Feel free to add anything you’d like.

Q: Will the app be able to mark my answers automatically?

A: This is not supported at the current stage of development, as users are allowed to add open-ended questions which cannot be accurately marked automatically.

Q: How do I transfer my data to another computer/folder?

A: Copy the ‘data’ folder to the computer/folder that the .JAR file is in.

Command Summary

• Add a subject addsubject s/<SUBJECTNAME>
• List all subjects listsubject

• Delete a subject and all its cards deletesubject s/<INDEX>

• Add a card into the specified subject addcard s/<INDEX> q/<QUESTION> a/<ANSWER>
• Edit an existing card with new question and answer editcard s/<INDEX> c/<INDEX> q/<QUESTION> a/<ANSWER>
• List all cards in specified subject listcard s/<INDEX>

• Delete the specified card from the specified category deletecard s/<INDEX> c/<INDEX>

• Start a quiz from the specified subject quiz s/<INDEX>

• Get previous scores of quizzes from specified subject score s/<INDEX>

• Add an event addevent e/<DESCRIPTION> d/<DATE>
• List all events listevent
• Delete an event deleteevent e/<INDEX>

• Show upcoming events showupcoming d/<DAYS>

• Displays the help page help
• Exits the program exit