sub get_std_test { 
  die +(caller(0))[3].' cannot be called in void context' 
    if not defined wantarray; 

  $/ = "===\n";   # set our delimiter  
  
  my %config = mcas::get_config(); # returns a hash of all config vars
  my $count = 0; 
  my @questions; 

  open QUESTIONS, '<questions' or die "Cannot open QUESTIONS file: $!"; 
  while (<QUESTIONS>) {
    if (rand($.) < 1) { 
      if ($count == $config{num_questions_per_test}) { 
        last; 
      } else { 
        push @questions, $_; 
        $count++
      }
    }
  } 
  close QUESTIONS;
  
  die "\$count = $count, < num_questions_per_test config var" 
    if ($count < $config{num_questions_per_test}); 

  return @questions; 
}