Why aren't we allowed use red biros in exams?

Rocky_Dennis

As the title says, does anyone know?

Sid_Justice

I think it's because the examiners use red biro to correct so they want to make it easier to differentiate student vs examiner marks. makes it easier to recheck marks etc. i think.

Rocky_Dennis

Sid_Justice wrote: »

I think it's because the examiners use red biro to correct so they want to make it easier to differentiate student vs examiner marks. makes it easier to recheck marks etc. i think.

I thought as much, was just curious. Cheers

-Kenny-

Yeah the last thing ya want to do is upset them auld wans

constantg

Andrewh1984 wrote: »

As the title says, does anyone know?

Seriously?

How did you get into 3rd level???

Look back at any corrected work you've ever gotten back. Any corrections on it are usually recorded in red ink, because red is a cautionary colour and highly recognisible at a distance.

Also, how bored are you with study that THIS is the question you put on boards?

Peteee

constantg wrote: »

Seriously?

How did you get into 3rd level???

Look back at any corrected work you've ever gotten back. Any corrections on it are usually recorded in red ink, because red is a cautionary colour and highly recognisible at a distance.

Also, how bored are you with study that THIS is the question you put on boards?

Jesus, knock it off.

The only stupid question is a question not asked.

Duff

constantg wrote: »

Seriously?

How did you get into 3rd level???

Look back at any corrected work you've ever gotten back. Any corrections on it are usually recorded in red ink, because red is a cautionary colour and highly recognisible at a distance.

Also, how bored are you with study that THIS is the question you put on boards?

lolwut?

Rocky_Dennis

constantg wrote: »

Seriously?

How did you get into 3rd level???

Look back at any corrected work you've ever gotten back. Any corrections on it are usually recorded in red ink, because red is a cautionary colour and highly recognisible at a distance.

Also, how bored are you with study that THIS is the question you put on boards?

Apologies for upsetting you , you shouldn't get so upset, as i said in my previous post, i thought this was why, i was just curious

sceptre

Perfectly reasonable question to ask. While it's unlikely that anyone would want to write their whole answer book in red pen (though I have a friend who insisted in writing all of her macroeconomics answers in purple), plenty of people use red as an underliner for heading emphasis, for example, and hence might well wonder why doing that is a no-no.

There's no call for acting the maggot when someone else asks a question, it's as easy to ignore it and pass on. While I'd be of the opinion that it's possible to ask a stupid question (then again, I also moderate the Politics board and one of the site admins so it's more likely that I'd think that), this certainly wasn't a stupid question.

(yeah, that second paragraph can be taken as a moderator post)

PunkFreud

sceptre wrote: »

Perfectly reasonable question to ask. While it's unlikely that anyone would want to write their whole answer book in red pen (though I have a friend who insisted in writing all of her macroeconomics answers in purple), plenty of people use red as an underliner for heading emphasis, for example, and hence might well wonder why doing that is a no-no.

There's no call for acting the maggot when someone else asks a question, it's as easy to ignore it and pass on. While I'd be of the opinion that it's possible to ask a stupid question (then again, I also moderate the Politics board and one of the site admins so it's more likely that I'd think that), this certainly wasn't a stupid question.

(yeah, that second paragraph can be taken as a moderator post)

Ah crap! I was using a red pen as underliner for the last 2 years! This is the first I've heard of this "not allowed" stuff. I remember reading the answer booklet before, and not noticing anything aboout red pen.

SarahBeep!

PunkFreud wrote: »

Ah crap! I was using a red pen as underliner for the last 2 years! This is the first I've heard of this "not allowed" stuff. I remember reading the answer booklet before, and not noticing anything aboout red pen.

+1 on this!! Pretty glad this was asked to be honest...
So like, no red AT ALL??

Coz school got me into the red and blue habit!

cson

No red at all is nonsense.

I've been here 4 years and used red biro in every one of my exams and its done me no harm as far as I can see.

1huge1

PunkFreud wrote: »

Ah crap! I was using a red pen as underliner for the last 2 years! This is the first I've heard of this "not allowed" stuff. I remember reading the answer booklet before, and not noticing anything aboout red pen.

I've been using red for the odd title and underlining important figures in exams, not much mind you and I doubt it would ever confuse the corrector, interesting to know all the same.

freyners

balls..ive been using red pen for titles and underlines for the last two years as well:D

constantg

possibly a slight overreaction mods? I've had and heard worse go by without a word said. it is a discussion forum after all?

Pablo_

...so could start writing 5/5 and 10/10 in the margins in red and big correct ticks ... the corrector might go for cup of tea and come back and think they have it corrected ... can't see any flaw in this plan !:D

constantg

Pablo_ wrote: »

...so could start writing 5/5 and 10/10 in the margins in red and big correct ticks ... the corrector might go for cup of tea and come back and think they have it corrected ... can't see any flaw in this plan !:D

Legend! However, perhaps decent but not exceptional marks would be a good idea? 8/10 or 3/5

Also to highlight my point, when i was in the su back when we'd just made the move from using stone tablets.....a student came in and complained her lecturer had failed her exam.

I thought it was very harsh so i checked it out.

Turns out the student in question had written in red pen (the corrector's choice) and underlined in green (the supervising corrector's official choice).....needless to say didnt turn out well....

constantg

also for those still in doubt see the following....

Whilst not Ireland still I think it's pretty empahatic http://www.nslc.wustl.edu/courses/Bio3058/stein/exams/2011Bio3058exam3.pdf

http://www.getthroughguides.co.uk/forum/archive/index.php/t-431.html

Rocky_Dennis

Pablo_ wrote: »

...so could start writing 5/5 and 10/10 in the margins in red and big correct ticks ... the corrector might go for cup of tea and come back and think they have it corrected ... can't see any flaw in this plan !:D

That's fair enough but you could also argue that it would make it easier for the examiner to correct the exam if answers are underlined in red or if diagrams are labeled in red. As it was said in a previous post, red is highly noticeable and it would make it alot easier for examiners to identify an answer.

NeirBot

I use black biro for everything, don't even own a blue biro, never mind a red or green one!

I reckon if the answer is there then it will be seen... if I tried to underline stuff I'd probably just underline wrong answers!

Mossin

While not a stupid question to ask at all OP, I'd like to know where you heard this?

In all my time in UL, I never heard of not being able to use a red biro, and I used it many times, in maths, stats, economics, just to name a few, as it was easier for me to review my final answer when looking over it, especially helpful if the exam was MCQ....Maybe things have changed since last year though...

Rocky_Dennis

Mossin wrote: »

While not a stupid question to ask at all OP, I'd like to know where you heard this?

In all my time in UL, I never heard of not being able to use a red biro, and I used it many times, in maths, stats, economics, just to name a few, as it was easier for me to review my final answer when looking over it, especially helpful if the exam was MCQ....Maybe things have changed since last year though...

We were warned at the start of the exam by the invigulator that we could not use red biro anywhere on our script. We were told that the orders came from the SU. Think it is a bit ott to be honest. There was no problem with using them till now.

Like you, i prefer to underline my answers in red so they are easy to distinguish. Maybe people over used their red biros in the christmas exams and examiners found them difficult to correct, so the easiest thing to stop the confusion is to ban them.

constantg

Andrewh1984 wrote: »

We were warned at the start of the exam by the invigulator that we could not use red biro anywhere on our script. We were told that the orders came from the SU. Think it is a bit ott to be honest. There was no problem with using them till now.

Like you, i prefer to underline my answers in red so they are easy to distinguish. Maybe people over used their red biros in the christmas exams and examiners found them difficult to correct, so the easiest thing to stop the confusion is to ban them.

So I was right and people jumping up and down and waving their arms and giving out to me were......wrong? is that possible?

I'll accept apologies in the form or grovelling, subservience, general apologies and pints of rockshandy (but none of that red lemonade b*llocks!)!!

Rocky_Dennis

constantg wrote: »

So I was right and people jumping up and down and waving their arms and giving out to me were......wrong? is that possible?

I'll accept apologies in the form or grovelling, subservience, general apologies and pints of rockshandy (but none of that red lemonade b*llocks!)!!

To be honest, i think people were jumping up and down and waving their arms because your post didn't come across well, you seemed like an arrogant pr1ck to be honest. Not saying that you are but I'd say that's why you got the reaction you did.

pickarooney

cson wrote: »

No red at all is nonsense.

I've been here 4 years and used red biro in every one of my exams and its done me no harm as far as I can see.

Wait until you get into second year.

breedie

Andrewh1984 wrote: »

We were warned at the start of the exam by the invigulator that we could not use red biro anywhere on our script. We were told that the orders came from the SU. Think it is a bit ott to be honest. There was no problem with using them till now.

Why would the SU have anything to do with how the exams are run? Did you mean SAA?
I'm invigilating at the moment and haven't heard anything about a ban on red pens. As far as I'm concerned you can write it in your own blood as long as you get the results you need!

constantg

Andrewh1984 wrote: »

To be honest, i think people were jumping up and down and waving their arms because your post didn't come across well, you seemed like an arrogant pr1ck to be honest. Not saying that you are but I'd say that's why you got the reaction you did.

I get what you mean. I dont really come across very well on here sometimes, but still don't really think there was any need for a ton of bricks treatment. 2 mods having a go cos i cracked a joke, come on overkill surely?

But honestly, I would've thought it was common knowledge not to use red or green ink in exams???

PeakOutput

hmmm i used red in my exams just yesterday to emphasise the answers to the maths questions, I have been doing it the last 4 years I wonder how many marks I have lost as a result

Rocky_Dennis

breedie wrote: »

Why would the SU have anything to do with how the exams are run? Did you mean SAA?
I'm invigilating at the moment and haven't heard anything about a ban on red pens. As far as I'm concerned you can write it in your own blood as long as you get the results you need!

Apologies, i did mean the SAA, I'm only stating what we have been told at the start of two exams, maybe it only applied to these two particular exams but i have sat three so far and one of them was MCQ so it wouldn't apply to that. I automatically assumed it applied across the board.

sceptre

Someone must have an exam left and can check. Isn't it written in the directions on the front of the exam answer book? Something to do with using black or blue pen?


Aside, on the "moderators having a go" (I'm not in the habit of "having a go" btw, I tend to just tell people to knock it off) thing, an on-thread warning is pretty much the most relaxed form of "stop acting the plonker and learn politeness" warning I can give, well under a yellow card, red card, profile infraction, temp ban, perm ban or site ban. Politeness is cheap. Card might have been easier tbh. The procedure for objecting to any of these is to send the moderator(s) in question a PM rather than objecting on-thread and throwing it off-topic. That's what's done on the entire site, including this small part of it.

spurious

Not sure why this is even an issue at third level in this country.
Red or green biro should not be used in the Junior or Leaving Cert. exams as they are the colours the Assistant examiners and Supervising examiners use.

Would love to know what schools told people otherwise.

freyners

i think there has to be some common sense in this...i use red biro for titles in essays and for number of bullet points...hardly going to put out the corrector too much. Writing your whole exam in red biro would just silly..common sense will tell you that its the correcting colour, plus a whole essay in red biro would be extreme irritating to read.

ive an exam friday and ill find out whats the story with it if no-one has anything before that

cson

spurious wrote: »

Not sure why this is even an issue at third level in this country.
Red or green biro should not be used in the Junior or Leaving Cert. exams as they are the colours the Assistant examiners and Supervising examiners use.

Would love to know what schools told people otherwise.

Don't see why it'd be an issue either way; couldn't an examiner just correct in black/blue to achieve the same effect?

That's just a theoretical p.o.v. btw, I wouldn't advocate people writing a whole exam paper in red or green but using red or green for highlighting, numbering or emphasis is perfectly ok imo.

optimised

I've also been using red pen..hmmm I wonder

Rocky_Dennis

sceptre wrote: »

Someone must have an exam left and can check. Isn't it written in the directions on the front of the exam answer book? Something to do with using black or blue pen?


Aside, on the "moderators having a go" (I'm not in the habit of "having a go" btw, I tend to just tell people to knock it off) thing, an on-thread warning is pretty much the most relaxed form of "stop acting the plonker and learn politeness" warning I can give, well under a yellow card, red card, profile infraction, temp ban, perm ban or site ban. Politeness is cheap. Card might have been easier tbh. The procedure for objecting to any of these is to send the moderator(s) in question a PM rather than objecting on-thread and throwing it off-topic. That's what's done on the entire site, including this small part of it.

When the invigulator said it, the first thing i did was check the directions on the exam, there was no mention of it, I then questioned the invigulator about it, I had thought she meant that we couldn't fill in our name and I.D number on the front of our answer book in red. She said that we couldn't use red biro anywhere on the answer book.

Anyway, I have an exam tomorrow so i will see if we can use red biro. Put the issue to bed

Rocky_Dennis

Ok so i sat an exam earlier and we were allowed use red biro:rolleyes: Don't know what the story was with not been able to use them in my other exams. They were both chemistry exams so maybe that had something to do with it, I just don't know, doesn't make any sense to be honest :rolleyes: Hope I have given some bit of a conclusion to what I started

SarahBeep!

Andrewh1984 wrote: »

Ok so i sat an exam earlier and we were allowed use red biro:rolleyes: Don't know what the story was with not been able to use them in my other exams. They were both chemistry exams so maybe that had something to do with it, I just don't know, doesn't make any sense to be honest :rolleyes: Hope I have given some bit of a conclusion to what I started

Well, the CES Department aren't exactly..... *stops before a huge rant ensues*

garv123

i'd maths tuesday and another written exam today and not once did someone mention not to use a red biro nor was it written anywhere.
its been beaten into us since secondary school to use red for labeling the question or a title. it makes stuff look more clear. actually thinking back in primary school in 5th and 6th class we had to write ANS=70707 in maths in red biro.