Timeline for Why require permanent pens and disallow correction tools in exams?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
16 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Feb 28 at 2:39 | comment | added | Allure | @JanusBahsJacquet it's been a long time, but in my memory I used pencil in elementary school. Come high school, pens became expected but correction fluid was not banned. I understood it as pencil fades much easier than pens, which makes pencil exams harder to grade. I also remember MCQs where you shade the answer for grading (not necessarily with machines, teachers used paper cutouts to grade this too). The instructions would specifically say to use a 2B or HB pencil. | |
| Feb 27 at 23:05 | comment | added | Janus Bahs Jacquet | @Todd For college-level education, I’ve always assumed it’s just a meme. I get the impression that there may be more truth to it in regards to elementary and high school, but I’ve never studied in the US, so I have zero first-hand knowledge. | |
| Feb 27 at 22:34 | comment | added | Todd Wilcox | @JanusBahsJacquet I'm not sure how seriously the trope you mentioned is considered, but in my last four semesters as a full time student in a US university, I've had zero multiple choice tests. | |
| Feb 27 at 22:30 | comment | added | Todd Wilcox | "A common rule in exams is to require them being written with permanent (non-erasable) pens" - Is it? I'm currently attending classes at a university in the US and all of my professors require my tests be taken with erasable pencils. Is this more common in other countries, perhaps? | |
| Feb 27 at 16:39 | comment | added | Janus Bahs Jacquet | @A.R. Interesting. I’ve never even heard of exam papers being processed by automatic scanners. Ours would just be copied on regular photocopiers and kept in school archives (nowadays they are presumably scanned and stored on servers). I don’t immediately see the benefit, either – how much can you automate about a five-page handwritten essay? The only situation where I can really see it being useful would be for multiple-choice, and those don’t exist on exams here. There is of course a trope that US exams are all multiple-choice … might that reflect your experience? | |
| Feb 27 at 14:37 | answer | added | Remy | timeline score: 4 | |
| Feb 27 at 13:46 | comment | added | OpenAI was the last straw | @JanusBahsJacquet Really? I don't think I ever took an exam where I was required to write with pen. Indeed, for many exams I was required to use a pencil to accommodate ancient automatic scanners that relied on the reflectivity of pencil marks and would report an exam with answers written in pen as blank. | |
| Feb 27 at 10:17 | comment | added | Janus Bahs Jacquet | @Allure Anecdotally, this restriction was in place for every single (non-digital) written exam I’ve ever taken in my life, from elementary school all the way up through university. | |
| Feb 26 at 7:56 | comment | added | Wrzlprmft♦ | @user541686: It is not obvious to some of my students for sure. Since I could not really find a comprehensive resource on this, I thought I might as well create one. | |
| Feb 26 at 7:22 | comment | added | user541686 | Kind of bizarre to see this question. Is this a question anyone ever asked? Is it not obvious it's to prevent altering the marks after the fact? | |
| Feb 26 at 3:19 | answer | added | user182601 | timeline score: 7 | |
| Feb 25 at 23:29 | comment | added | Allure | I don't believe I have actually seen this restriction, at all levels ... | |
| Feb 25 at 19:27 | history | became hot network question | |||
| Feb 25 at 18:27 | answer | added | Bryan Krause♦ | timeline score: 12 | |
| S Feb 25 at 11:26 | answer | added | Wrzlprmft♦ | timeline score: 19 | |
| S Feb 25 at 11:26 | history | asked | Wrzlprmft♦ | CC BY-SA 4.0 |