First, it is strongly recommended that users go to the brown menu bar across the top of your screen after logging in and get the Instruction sheets for the proper use of LAPWARE to prepare for your exam.

LAPWARE, in the STUDY mode, records the number of times a user has answered each individual question as well as the score that has been achieved on each question. LAPWARE records your overall grade for all questions answered under the Review Questions screen. It does NOT record grades for questions taken on real or study tests. The user has the capability of reviewing ALL of the questions in a section or by setting filters (selecting categories), up to 4 levels deep. The student has the capability of studying, training or testing his/her skill on just the limited number of questions selected. This gives the user chance to improve his/her skills and knowledge just in the categories where he/she determines or knows he/she is weak. Use LAPWARE to study for your original license or upgrade to a higher level license. A system that can't be beat!

If the wrong answer is selected, by double clicking on an answer, or using the keyboard (A, B, C, or D), the background turns red and the correct answer background turns green. If the user selects the correct answer the background turns green.  A record of the student's score is maintained as the user progresses through the questions, studying and/or testing. The user has the capability of seeing which questions in a particular category have not yet been answered, or allows the user to review just those questions selected that were incorrectly answered. LAPWARE allows the user to identify and concentrate on individual weaknesses to sharpen his/her knowledge and skills. This allows the candidate to work at his/her own pace. No one does it better! 

LAPWARE, in the TRAINING mode, the correct answer (A, B, C, D) background is highlighted in green allowing the student to study the questions and the correct answer. Grades are not recorded in this training mode. 

LAPWARE, in the TESTING mode, the user selects the answer and the background turns grey. Upon completion of reviewing all of the desired questions, the user can select the study mode and review the correct and wrong answered questions and see his/her final grade. The user can reset the grade scoring at any time and review the same questions over and over, WITHOUT LIMIT, until the skill or desired level of knowledge is mastered! A system that can't be beat.

The authors painstakingly reorganized the sequence of the examination questions into clear cut categories for each of the five engine disciplines. The objective of this effort is to provide the license candidate with quick access to definitive areas of required expertise in order to accelerate systemic study and stimulate cognitive learning.

LAPWARE allows the user to select questions based upon these pre-defined categories, from 1 to 4 levels. Finally, you have the option of selecting just one of the levels. For example, you could select to view all of the USCG questions classified one specific Sub Category (1, 2 or 3). This "Cascade Filter" capability is seen throughout the entire LAPWARE program for questions, reports, exams, etc.

Furthermore, ALL USCG diagrams and diagram solutions, and many references are built into the program. References in the public domain are stored as PDF files are available for users to download and reference on or offline.  Our goal is to have all of the mathematical solutions displayed in the program for every question requiring computations - no matter how simple or complex. The first solution in a series is detailed in its explanation to more adequately explain how to properly solve the problem. The LAPWARE authors are working diligently to develop the most common and practical mathematical solutions for ALL questions. Those questions containing errors will be pointed out to the National Maritime Center (NMC), hopefully, for correction. Many USCG-NMC questions contain similar question stems with different answers or distracters. These ALL exist in LAPWARE.  Most, but not all, duplicate questions (identical questions and answers) have already been eliminated after notification by the LAPWARE authors to the NMC.

NMC has expressed a desire to eventually generate computer based tests that mariners would take in the exam room, which would be instantly graded. LAPWARE has been doing this since 2004, that's over 10 years and counting PLUS mariners can quickly see REFERENCES to the question, if available, a SOLUTION if available and DIAGRAM applicable to the question.

Finally, LAPWARE reports will be generated to show each student where his weaknesses lie. Other reports (Diagram and Category) allow the student to more efficiently and effectively spend his/her time preparing for the exam. After all, isn't this your main goal in studying for your license exam? LAPWARE makes this easy. Each of the USCG-NMC book sections work in an identical fashion reducing the learning curve and allowing students to concentrate on studying subject matter, questions, solving problems and moving forward towards achieving their goal - successfully passing the license exam.  

New features added in 2013 and 2014 are "RE-TAKE WRONG" allowing students to review questions they answered incorrectly by eliminating the CORRECT answered questions and showing the user just those he/she got wrong to retake and attempt to properly answer the questions. This works in both the "REVEIW QUESTIONS" screen and on STUDY TEST. On a Real Test a user can only take it ONCE so there is no opportunity to retake it.  More recently, the capability of students to be able to "GENERATE TEMPLATE" allows mariners to generate their OWN templates from which randomly generated tests can be generated with an answer sheet. There are two limits. First, the number of tests that can be generated at a time is ONE. The second test will overwrite the first test and answer sheet which is allowed to be printed or saved to one's hard drive before generating the second test. Second, the maximum number of questions that can be created in a student generated test is 100 questions. LAPWARE authors will continue to make improvements as deemed necessary for the benefit of mariners in studying. LAPWARE Study Aids is another recent development and can be checked out at www.Lapware-StudyAids.org.

The authors wish each of you success on your USCG license exam and a long, safe career at sea.

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