Lertap 5 uses both a "command language" and menu-based clicks to accomplish the tasks users have in mind.

Basic commands and instructions are entered in an Excel worksheet called "CCs" (for "control cards").

These two command lines would set up scoring instructions for a ten-item multiple-choice test:

*col (c2-c11)
*key ACCDBBCCAD

These two lines would define scoring instructions for a ten-item rating scale:

*col (c12-c21)
*sub affective

These three command lines would set up instructions for scoring a 40-item multiple-choice criterion-referenced test with a cut-off score of 80%:

*col (c2-c41)
*sub mastery=80
*key ACCDBBCCAD BCDBBAACCC CABDADBCDA BCDBBAACCC

Pretty simple, eh? In all of these examples, the *col line tells Excel where item responses have been entered in the Data worksheet. The *key line gives the keyed-correct answer for cognitive items. The optional *sub line is used for a variety of purposes. In the second example above it's used to tell Excel that items are to be scored in the "affective" manner (as seen in, for example, rating scales). In the third example it has been employed in order to activate the mastery-test scoring option.

The control language is not complicated. Several examples may be seen here. Note that the use of a control language such as Lertap 5's provides real parsimony in most cases -- had Iteman 4 been used in the third example, forty rows would have to be entered in a table or spreadsheet simply to describe the items (where they are in the input file, and how to score them).

Once scoring instructions have been entered in the CCs worksheet, the options in the Lertap 5 Excel tab come into play. A complete example is presented in these on-line PowerPoint slides, also available as a pdf file.