Export exams from Visual CertExam to Anki
Studying at the MCITP course, I, like many other IT specialists, faced with dumps of exams, on which you can learn specific questions and the correct answers to them. Even knowing the theory well, dumps greatly increase the chance to pass the exam itself, and along the way, fix the details of the topic itself. This, of course, and so everyone knows.
The actual preparation process usually looks like repeated passing of the same exam time after time in Visual CertExam. This approach, in my opinion, has a big disadvantage: the program does not take into account how well I know a specific question, and with each pass I have to spend time after time for those questions that I have already learned well to go to those not yet.
I have been using Anki for a long time, using the Spaced Repetition algorithm.
The translation, in my opinion, is too literal, but it does not matter. The system itself is described in detail by reference, but in brief it can be described something like this: cards with a question and answer are formed. During the repetition of the material the question is shown, and you need to remember the correct answer. The answer is compared with the answer on the card, and if the answer is the same, the program will show the card a little later. With the correct answers, the intervals look like this: day, two, week, two weeks, month, and so on. If the answer is incorrect, then the program resets the interval and everything starts on a new one. Thus, using this system daily (preferably), the material is deposited in the long-term memory.
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This approach has many advantages:
This is a very brief description of Anki. The program has a lot of settings, support for many languages and all that.
Anki can be downloaded here .
So I decided to write a script that exports a dump from the Visual CertExam format to the Anki deck. It is still quite raw and limited, but it works and has already helped me pass the exams, saving a lot of time.
The script is written in Python and can be downloaded here .
It works like this. The exam is exported from VCE Designer to a text format, after which the script from this text file creates a finished Anki deck.
The question and the list of answers go to the front side of the card, and the correct answer (or answers, if there are several) goes to the back side. If there are notes or an additional explanation to the answer, they are also added to the back side of the card.
The current version of the script is sharpened for work with ankimini. Basically, because this assembly has all the necessary dependencies.
I personally tested it only on Windows, but theoretically it should work on other systems.
How to use the script:
Everything. If everything went well, the test.anki file should appear in the ankimini folder, which you can open in Anki and start learning from it.
The minus of the script is that it does not save the pictures if they are in the dump. They, fortunately, are usually very few. I began to be interested in disassembling the binary .vce format so that it could be converted directly, without exporting to txt, and with minimal data loss (like pictures), but I went close and just managed to decipher the name of the exam and the first question. If someone is interested, I can put what I managed to make out on gist.github or pastebin.
I hope this little script will help someone the same way it helped me.
The actual preparation process usually looks like repeated passing of the same exam time after time in Visual CertExam. This approach, in my opinion, has a big disadvantage: the program does not take into account how well I know a specific question, and with each pass I have to spend time after time for those questions that I have already learned well to go to those not yet.
I have been using Anki for a long time, using the Spaced Repetition algorithm.
The translation, in my opinion, is too literal, but it does not matter. The system itself is described in detail by reference, but in brief it can be described something like this: cards with a question and answer are formed. During the repetition of the material the question is shown, and you need to remember the correct answer. The answer is compared with the answer on the card, and if the answer is the same, the program will show the card a little later. With the correct answers, the intervals look like this: day, two, week, two weeks, month, and so on. If the answer is incorrect, then the program resets the interval and everything starts on a new one. Thus, using this system daily (preferably), the material is deposited in the long-term memory.
')
This approach has many advantages:
- Well-learned material is shown less often, therefore, no need to spend time on it
- New / forgotten material repeats more often.
- Anki is for all platforms (Windows, Linux, Mac)
- There are Anki clients for Android, iOS and other mobile platforms. That is, you can learn the material on your mobile phone, standing in line, on the bus, etc.
- Even in Anki there is a cramming mode in which you can walk through all the material, ignoring intervals, so that, say, repeat the material before the exam.
This is a very brief description of Anki. The program has a lot of settings, support for many languages and all that.
Anki can be downloaded here .
So I decided to write a script that exports a dump from the Visual CertExam format to the Anki deck. It is still quite raw and limited, but it works and has already helped me pass the exams, saving a lot of time.
The script is written in Python and can be downloaded here .
It works like this. The exam is exported from VCE Designer to a text format, after which the script from this text file creates a finished Anki deck.
The question and the list of answers go to the front side of the card, and the correct answer (or answers, if there are several) goes to the back side. If there are notes or an additional explanation to the answer, they are also added to the back side of the card.
The current version of the script is sharpened for work with ankimini. Basically, because this assembly has all the necessary dependencies.
I personally tested it only on Windows, but theoretically it should work on other systems.
How to use the script:
- We swing Python 2.7 (32 bit) (Python 3 and 64bit again did not test).
- Download ankimini from here .
- Unpack the ankimini.
- In Visual CertExam Designer, open the .vce exam.
- Click File-> Export to, and export to the folder with ankimini. The file is called test.txt (it is important to select the .txt format - the script does not work with rtf).
- Open the file test.txt in Notepad ++.
- Click Encoding-> Convert to utf-8 and save the file. (theoretically any editor should be able to save the file in utf-8 format).
- Copy the script vcetoanki.py in the ankimini folder.
- Run vcetoanki.py
Everything. If everything went well, the test.anki file should appear in the ankimini folder, which you can open in Anki and start learning from it.
The minus of the script is that it does not save the pictures if they are in the dump. They, fortunately, are usually very few. I began to be interested in disassembling the binary .vce format so that it could be converted directly, without exporting to txt, and with minimal data loss (like pictures), but I went close and just managed to decipher the name of the exam and the first question. If someone is interested, I can put what I managed to make out on gist.github or pastebin.
I hope this little script will help someone the same way it helped me.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/143502/
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