Author ID: 06484BAIJ Program Submission: Program Title: Verbal Vanquish PC-SIG Catalog Number: 2729 SUBMISSION/UPDATE INFORMATION FORM Submission's Version Number: 1.21 This program is an update of a program already in the PC-SIG Library. Author Information: Name: James Bair Address: P.O. Box 203 City: Shelton State: CT Zip: 06484 Daytime Phone: (203) 261-6230 Evening Phone: (203) 924-4930 I am the author of this shareware program and hereby authorize PC-SIG to distribute my new version of this program. SUBMISSION/UPDATE INFORMATION FORM (cont.) Program Title: Verbal Vanquish Detailed Program Description: Tutorial for preparing for the Verbal Portions of College Entrance Examinations, P.S.A.T., S.A.T., A.C.T., G.R.E., and similar tests. VERBAL VANQUISH serves a need which no other shareware program that I know of addresses directly--preparation for the Scholastic Aptitude Test's Verbal questions. Computer programmers are often Math whizzes and educational software selctions reflect that. Other than vocabulary builders and simple Question-Answer quizzers there has been nothing geared towards preparing for the Verbal/English Aptitude portion of College Board tests. And the Verbal portion of the tests is more critical for college and grad school admissions and scholarship awards. (For example, to determine eligibility for National Merit Scholarships, the P.S.A.T. Verbal score is doubled while the Math score remains the same.) VERBAL VANQUISH is meant to "vanquish the anguish" of people taking the verbal portion of the S.A.T. and similar tests. It consists of ten tutorial lessons and a strategic vocabulary list. VERBAL VANQUISH emphasizes test-taking strategy and includes sample questions which have actually appeared on S.A.T.'s. The program reviews the kinds of questions to expect, how to best answer them, things to look for and look out for, what the tests are supposed to show, and how to avoid common mistakes. If students use the information and practice the strategies in VERBAL VANQUISH, they will be mentally and psychologically ready to do their best. The program is based on the author's research and personal experience with the S.A.T.'s. He has taught classes and tutored individuals on the subject of the S.A.T.'s. His own S.A.T. score was just shy of 1500. He has been teaching High School English for over ten years. In 1990 he was awarded a General Electric STAR Teacher Award and was named to WHO'S WHO AMONG AMERICA'S TEACHERS. In 1987 he received an achievement certificate from the National Council of Teachers of English. Who is the intended user? Students applying to college or graduate school who want to improve their verbal scores on college entrance exams. Teachers and tutors helping such students. Parents of such students. This update includes a few text corrections, more information on the new S.A.T.-I test, and an improved menu. Also makes the companion program, MATH VANQUISH (for Math S.A.T.) available to registered users. Unique Features: (See review above). It emphasizes strategies. It tells how to take such standardized tests. It is based on research and experience. It will work. There is nothing like it in shareware. There are some excellent vocabulary builders in shareware. (VERBAL VANQUISH does have word list to help, but programs like WORD-PART DICTIONARY are more extensive.) I have seen simple Question-Answer programs using standardized questions. But VERBAL VANQUISH analyzes the questions, tells you what to expect, and even tells you what the test makers are thinking and what the colleges expect. It includes guessing strategies, key words to look out for, and how to avoid common mistakes. Take a look and you will see what I mean. Program's capacity or limitations: The Lesson files must be on the same diskette or in the same directory as the CAI.EXE, FILE1.BUF, VV.COM, and VV.CAI files. Since the complete program takes up about 500K of disk storage, this means that, if smaller diskettes are used, those four files must be on all diskettes. If 360K diskettes are used, for example, both 360K floppies must contain those four files since two 360K floppies are needed to store all the files. 720K or higher capacity disks recommended. System Requirements: 512K memory, one floppy disk drive, monochrome monitor. No special graphics card or driver is needed. Color monitors work fine. Uses D.O.S. version 2.1 or higher. Any ASCII printer for the text files. How to start the program: Enter VV at the D.O.S. prompt. Choose which lesson you want to study when the menu appears. For full instructions enter README at the D.O.S. prompt and a self-scrolling instruction file will appear. This can be printed. Registration Fee, Materials, and Services: S.A.T. VANQUISH Registration $35.00. This has all the features of the Complete Registration plus MATH VANQUISH, a companion program for the Math S.A.T. Complete Registration is $25.00. This includes latest diskettes, support and updates for a year, and one publication--probably the best vocabulary builder written with the S.A.T. and similar tests in mind. The first publication is SCHOLASTIC APTITUDE VOCABULARY by J. R. Orgel. This book was the pioneering work on the S.A.T.'s and has been updated several times. It is not normally available in commercial bookstores. Teachers and tutors registering will get a teacher's guide to this as well. These materials would also be included in a site license for schools or businesses which is available. The site license terms apply to tutors who want to distribute copies for their students. Basic Registration is $5.00. This includes support for a year. The author meant this option for the students themselves so that virtually anyone could afford registration. List of program files and one-line description of each file: CAI.EXE--The Computer Assisted Instruction interpeter, PC-CAI. FILE1.BUF--A null or small file needed to run CAI.EXE. README.EXE--Self-scrolling instruction file described above. VV.COM--The VERBAL VANQUISH command file which runs the program. WORDLIST.EXE--Self-scrolling list of words and word parts described above. ORDER.EXE--Self-scrolling order form. SATREPLY.EXE--Self-scrolling file on choosing a test preparation program. 1STARTUP.CAI--Lesson One. How to get started with the lessons. 2PURPOSE.CAI--Lesson Two. The Purpose and Scope of the S.A.T. Verbals. 3ANTONYM.CAI--Lesson Three. How to do your best on Antonym questions. 4ANALGY1.CAI--Lesson Four. How to do your best on Analogy questions. 5ANALGY2.CAI--Lesson Five. A continuation of Lesson Four. 6SENTCOM.CAI--Lesson Six. Doing your best on Sentence Completion questions. 7READIN1.CAI--Lesson Seven. Doing your best on Reading Comprehension passages. 8READIN1.CAI--Lesson Eight. A continuation of Lesson Seven. 9TSWE.CAI--Lesson Nine. How to do your best on Grammar (TSWE) questions. LASTIPS.CAI--Lesson Ten. Hints for general test-taking and applying to schools. VV.CAI--The VERBAL VANQUISH Menu file. The compressed distribution disk currently uses LHA-based self-extracting files. The files on the compressed distribution disk are as follows: READ1ST.EXE--Self-scrolling extraction instruction file. VVFILE1.LZH--Compressed file with the four necessary files. VVFILE2.LZH--Compressed file with the first six lesson files and README.EXE. VVFILE3.LZH--Compressed file with the last three lesson files, WORDLIST.EXE, ORDER.EXE, and SATREPLY.EXE.