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Exam Pens Query - Can any tutors help?

M

margaret.emery

Member
Can one of the tutors please find out the answer to this query?

I usually use a fountain pen to write with in the exam, as it causes less strain to my hands and it is easier to write neatly and quickly. However, I am happy to use either a 'gel' pen or fine line felt tip. Basically anything except a biro, as you have to press down quite hard to make the ink come out, and it causes my hand to hurt after a while.

(1) Does 'ball point' pen mean a only pens like a 'Bic' biro?

(2) If it does, why is this a new rule for the exams? I can't see why any black ink pen is not acceptable. Given the unusual nature of the rule, can anyone explain the logic behind it?

Thank you (in advance) for your help - much appreciated.
 
The black is because the new exam books are getting scanned to speed up their movement around the country between first, second, third, and nineteenth markers.

As for ball-point, no idea.
 
margaret.emery said:
Can one of the tutors please find out the answer to this query?

I usually use a fountain pen to write with in the exam, as it causes less strain to my hands and it is easier to write neatly and quickly. However, I am happy to use either a 'gel' pen or fine line felt tip. Basically anything except a biro, as you have to press down quite hard to make the ink come out, and it causes my hand to hurt after a while.

(1) Does 'ball point' pen mean a only pens like a 'Bic' biro?

(2) If it does, why is this a new rule for the exams? I can't see why any black ink pen is not acceptable. Given the unusual nature of the rule, can anyone explain the logic behind it?

Thank you (in advance) for your help - much appreciated.
Click to expand...

(1) Yeah it does sound like it - I've stuck a query to the examinations team - and will let you know or you could email them direct here as I think you will not be alone in wanting flexibility to aid writing.

(2) The black ink is so scripts can be scanned. They can then be emailed to markers rather than couriered which will increase the time the markers have and remove the risk of having scripts lost by the couriers (like CT4 last session).
 
Reply from the Institute:

"Unfortunately fountain pens are no longer permitted in our exams. However, gel-ink pens have not been excluded. The main stipulation is that the ink is black, the type of ball point ink is not as specific."
 
dubactuary said:
Reply from the Institute:

"Unfortunately fountain pens are no longer permitted in our exams. However, gel-ink pens have not been excluded. The main stipulation is that the ink is black, the type of ball point ink is not as specific."
Click to expand...

Strange....
 
I got back the following:

• Because we will be scanning your answer booklet, it is essential that you write your answers in black ballpoint ink (not fountain pen)
Whilst we appreciate that this may be an inconvenience for some candidates unfortunately we will not allow them to use fountain pens.

Disappointing response especially for those with RSI or other writing difficulties. I am pursuing this further with the Profession.
 
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John,
Thank you for looking into this. I never had a problem with the colour, just the type of pen. I still don't see why a fountain pen with black ink would scan differently from any other pen with black ink. However I will just go along with it. I'm sure there is a good reason for it.
 
Also can the scanners really not scan blue or red ink? In my last exam I only had 3 pens but they were all different colours. I like different colours as it helps sort out what's going on in my head and makes things clearer. As it happened the black one ran out so I had to write with the blue one, which then ran out so I ended the exam in red pen and even that was starting to run out!

With this new rule it means stuff won't be as clear in just one colour...surely in the 21st century scanners pick up various colours!?
 
margaret.emery said:
John,
Thank you for looking into this. I never had a problem with the colour, just the type of pen. I still don't see why a fountain pen with black ink would scan differently from any other pen with black ink. However I will just go along with it. I'm sure there is a good reason for it.
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I don't fully understand it - I'm getting this raised at the education committee meeting also you could also contact your Student Consultative Committee member and get them to raise it.

If it helps you can purchase grips that go on the pens which make it easier to hold and hence reduces fatigue in the exam.
 
How about pens described as "rollerball"? (Specifically the "Pilot Hi-techpoint" pens)

To me, they look just like fountain pen on the page (though they don't smudge which is the only reason I can think of that you wouldn't be able to use a fountain pen) but if you look carefully, they do appear to have a ball in the end of them.

I can not write legibly with a brio. (Unless I spend about 10 seconds per word, which is clearly not feasible in an exam). It's the friction on the page, so not sure a grip would help.

If they are acceptable, I recommend them to margaret.emery, you don't have to press down in the same way as you would a bic.

Any advice here would be great, I'm spending as much time worrying about my pen as I am about knowing the material at the moment!
 
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Ok I'll add my thoughts to this - I'm guessing the examiners want to minimise the risk of anything getting "lost in translation" through the scanning process. This objective ties in nicely with making their lives easier (a fair objective I hope we all would agree:D ) - the clearer the transcripts, be they in electronic form or otherwise, the easier they will be to read and mark.
I presume the risk with fountain pens are that they leave more ink which is less embedded on the page so that when they are scanning which presumably involves some degree of heat and friction (through manual handling and mechanical process) then there is more risk (be it relatively minor) of smudging. The colour issue is resumably that different colours scan to different degrees obviously black scans best. Ok these are relative issues in that if I was to do my exam in blue its still going to scan plus if I do it in fountain pen then there is a something of the size of a 0.01% chance some of it will not scan properly. These are small risks but from their point of view if these risks did occur wouldn't students be the first to argue why weren't these risks safeguarded against in the first place - "surely they could have made a rule that we should use black ballpoint....".
Anyway the above is probably common knowledge my point is that I am ok with the rules but I would have the proviso that students could have the option of "special scanning" or maybe non-scanning where they would be sent a code and could include this code on their booklet - the booklet would then be given whatever special treatment is required. The student would pay extra for this option obviously commensurate to the special treatment required. For those for which this is a major issue the cost am sure would be a relativley minor issue. If the numbers looking for the special treatment were manageable they could approve and send out the codes otherwise they could tell us all to sod off and use a black biro:D
 
No, it's just plain daft. Most of us have a client services department that scans incoming mail by the truckload and they generally seem to cope with whatever policyholders choose to scribble their missives in.

This smacks of a committee and a hierarchy, a useless combination at the best of times.
 
I'm guessing the scanning process has been designed and optimised for black ballpoint pens, so they want to eliminate/reduce as much variables as possible.

Don't forget also we can now write on BOTH sides of the page, which might impact the scanning and ink discussion.

At the risk of going off topic slightly, I hope desks will be a little larger if we're writing on 2 pages instead of one...
 
So any pen where the ink can be visible on the other side of the paper wouldn't scan properly? That would rule out my roller-balls.

In that case I've already failed. :(
 
tiger said:
Don't forget also we can now write on BOTH sides of the page, which might impact the scanning and ink discussion.
Click to expand...

Well done tiger, the response from one of my colleagues inquiring about this at the education committee was:

"They said that this was because they are reducing the number of pages in the exam booklets and asking students to write on both sides. They fear that if ink is used then it may seep through the paper sufficiently to make it illegible when scanned."

Margaret, if you want to pursue this further then you'd need to contact your local representative from the Student Consultative Committee (SCC). Alternatively, you could fill out a exam special access form to ask for use of a different pen - but you would need a note from the doctor saying that you have trouble doing pro-longed writing using a narrow pen...
 
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