To the programmers,
I'm surprised that HAL can't take tests. That is a basic tool of learning for a brain.
It is a simple matter of re-direction to have questions come from a file, and answers
go to a file, instead of the HAL 'pad'. In my own studies, I tell the AI to read a file
of questions, such as 'Read TEST.TXT' or 'Take TEST.TXT', after telling it to 'Record to TEST.REC'.
I also include the answers following the questions, so the AI can score itself, although
it doesn't do the self-scoring in mentalese yet, so nuances of articulation cause mismatches
that lower the score.
(PS, a '.' followed by a char is never a real 'period')