Writing in Pencil?

honru

Yeah, I know, pretty subtle question but would it be OK write in pencil in the exams? Specifically for English and Maths.

I know I'm going to have the odd mistake/correction here and there and rather getting loads of crosses throughout the answerbook, I'd prefer to just rub it out.

But do the examiners (generally) have a thing against pencils anyway?

Rhyme

Im sure its allowed, just not preferred. If your papers are exposed to certain conditions pencil reacts differently to pen and may smudge etc...

If push comes to shove, write in pencil and then when your done quickly go over in pen.

Shyster

Every one of my teachers drilled it into us not to use pencil ANYWHERE on our exams. We all wanted to do it for the aural and the teachers who are correcters told us its a pain in the ass cos it smudges and fades by the time they get around to correcting the last few papers its barely legible. Im sure they're over-reacting but i wouldnt recommend it on the off chance that you could miss out on marks because it cant be read....

Creamy Goodness

I'd never use pencil ever.

not only is it hard to read but it can smudge.

another reason we've been told not to use it is because if you make a mistake you are likely to rub it out. whereas with pen if you put a single line through it and write something else that's wrong and what you striked out is right - providing the examiner can read it - you'll get the marks.

Also never ever use tip-ex in fact don't even bring it into the exam.

Only use pencils for graphs, maps, etc.

Cherry_Pie

I did maths last year in pencil as did my friend, I got a B1 and she got an A1! Unless you write really lightly and don't lean on the pencil I think its ok for Maths. Would use it for English though

Drag00n79

Pencil is not regarded as best practice — especially on the pink paper. Some lighter pencils can be a bitch correcting with that background. Don't worry about making mistakes — it happens. Leave the Tipp-ex at home too.

Creamy Goodness

just remember everything that is legible on your paper is corrected. even if there's a line through it, so I wouldn't even rub it out if I wrote in pencil

honru

Yeah, pencil can smudge badly. Think I'll stick to pen for Maths as I can easily cross it out.

I just know in English (if I do write in pen) I often tend to find a word that needs tweaking so, cross it out, write the new word above it.

Yet later, there's always a case where I'll decide to change that word again. This could happen a couple of times, so at the end of the day the page just looks like a mess.

Hope someone gets what I'm saying.

*Angel*

I wouldn't, pen is generally clearer, and you're not meant to erase your mistakes.

Scarinae

Are you serious? Crap, I always use pencil when I'm doing Maths, and for the aurals. We were always told to use pencil for the aurals because it's easier to correct mistakes, and they say use pencil in the Biology section A and B. But I won't now!

Creamy Goodness

Fishie just to make it 100% certain, examiners mark you on what's legiable.

If it's legiable you'll get marked on it.

This is great especially for maths as if you don't know how to do a question you can try one way, cross it out, try another way and you'll get some attempt marks.

I only found this out in the mocks where I done a question right but then crossed it out and attempted it another way but got the marks for the answer i crossed out.

Kevin_rc_ie

yeah i like to correct stuff to, i make a lot of mistakes. so i got some pens that you can rub out. got them in mizu off grafton street (japanese shop) i'm sure you can get them in lots of places.

who ever said you should write in pencil and rewrite in pen is a nutcase, unless he/she is talking specifaically about the aural.

i think it's fine to write in the french and irish aurals in pencil. i'm not sure about biology, are they short/tick the box questions? maybe ok too. but english no. no. no.

newgrange

The only time you should use pencil is for drawings, sketch maps, illustrations and the like. Do not worry if you are writing notes to remind yourself of things, or an essay plan for example - mark a line through it and clearly mark it 'rough work', or 'plan'.

I would also avoid the marker type pens, as over time they have a tendency to soak through the page and make the reverse side illegible.

NEVER use Tippex.
NEVER use red or green biro.

*Page*

You have to use pen because

During the correction process someone can alter your exam (see freaky Friday 2003 for reference)

Pencil fades and smudges.

And always leave your attempted work visible because if it’s the right answer they will give you marks for it!

Drag00n79

*Page* wrote:

And always leave your attempted work visible because if it’s the right answer they will give you marks for it!

As long as you don't have a completely contradictory answer beneath it.

Scarinae

newgrange wrote:

NEVER use red or green biro.

I use red biro in my diagrams in Biology, as pointers - that's ok, right?

Creamy Goodness

examiners would prefer if you didn't use any red or green pen anywhere.

but that's really a bitch as in bio i tend to use it a lot maybe use red colouring pencil?

A good alternative is to buy a pen that can be rubbed out with an eraser. You can get these in Eason, and they are made by papermate, the brand with the two hearts. I would advise you to try it out maybe the night before the exam, because the ink alternative that the pen uses flows differently to other pens, and can be a slight strain to use. Other than that it is identical to ordinary pens, with the added bonus of being like a pencil.

TheDoc

LOL had to laugh when reading this. You would be a pure idiot if you wrote in pencil and deserve no marks for anything. You dont understand how stupid this is.

Your papers are closed over, placed in a large crate, where hundreds of papers are crushed on top of yours, the exams are distributed to the markers, all this cramming,crunching and compression? Your paper would be pure smudge, and it WILL NOT be corrected, simple, you are told not to write in pencil.

Cannibal Ox

Yet later, there's always a case where I'll decide to change that word again. This could happen a couple of times, so at the end of the day the page just looks like a mess.

If your doing it for artistic merit, I'd really just leave the original word (as in...I'm thinking in the narritive/descriptive, you say something like..."Tom jumped over the fence" and then decide it would read better as "Tom leaped over the fence" and then later thought "Tom hurdled the fence").
The examiners aren't looking for a brillant, thought provoking story they are looking for an example of your understanding of the English language. Which can be a b!tch, cause if your really good at writing stories you want to prove it but often, in trying to do so, you'll end up with a story that might be good but doesn't entirely show your understanding of English.
So yeah, keep it simple and clear and you'll get what you deserve.

ballooba

Using a pencil is messy unless you sharpen it regularly. I wouldn't recommend it because you have little enough time without messing about with sharpeners.

If you make mistakes you are better off just drawing a single line through it and moving on. Don't scribble all over your paper as this will annoy the examiner. Don't write in red as this will really annoy the examiner. Using tippex will also annoy the examiner.

Remember if you cross something out, then replace it with something incorrect, as long as the two are not conflicting and the crossed out statement was correct you do get some of the marks.

As long as your paper is legible then it doesn't have to be an art work. I'd be more concerned with getting as much as I know down.

Whatever was aid earlier about pencil not being corrected is a load of BS. Yes, there is a chance that it will be smudged. The examiner is doing their best to give you marks they're not that petty.

mrs. hamlet

Crap i did my maths paper 1 and irish aural in pencil!!
and i have used red pens and tippex!
The examiners are going to love me!!

BraveheartGal

[DM]-TheDOC- wrote:

LOL had to laugh when reading this. You would be a pure idiot if you wrote in pencil and deserve no marks for anything. You dont understand how stupid this is.

Your papers are closed over, placed in a large crate, where hundreds of papers are crushed on top of yours, the exams are distributed to the markers, all this cramming,crunching and compression? Your paper would be pure smudge, and it WILL NOT be corrected, simple, you are told not to write in pencil.

well i wrote in pencil for my mocks and i got on grand and there were a hundred papers, and they were all putinto a box and they were all crammed and crunched and whatever

and when i got my papers back, i wasnt docked marks
and my papers were more legible than 99% of the others
i used pencil for maths and irish in my leavin

Sev

I wrote in pencil for LC Maths and for the aurals, and I write in pencil for all my college exams. I would definitely recommend it, screw what they say about it smudging, just make sure you dont use too soft a pencil. A HB should be fine.

Most of the reason I use pencil is because I think to quick and write to quick so I very often make very silly mistakes, and being a bit of a perfectionist, I just cant have scratched off lines in what I write, it just confuses me, annoys me, frustrates me and simply hinders my ability to think. Maths is a lot easier to do when you can see a clear logical progression of what youre working at without having the added confusion of trying to navigate through the messiness of scratched out lines.

BraveheartGal

snap

im exactly the same