TIL why you used to have to use a #2 pencil on scantrons.
howeverythingworks.org/page1.php?QNum=1529Posted Jan 11, 2010, 4:25 PM UTC
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howeverythingworks.org
I wonder if there are any ancient high schools still using the antiquated models that still need graphite and won't pick up marks made by ink.
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I'd be surprised if they aren't schools like that. Replacing antiquated, but still functional, machinery is a pretty low priority for school budgets. When I run scantrons at my university (one of the University of Californias), I still have to save the scantron's output on 3.5" floppy disks.
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That's interesting. Does the machine write directly to the floppy, as in, it has a floppy drive, and drivers for it, in the embedded OS? What filesystem is on the floppy?
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I operate an ETC light board in a theater and its embedded OS allows me to save my settings and cues onto a FAT-formatted 3.5" floppy so I would imagine it would be technically feasible to do the same.
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I'm certain it's technically feasible. I'm just surprised that the reader is that independent.
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To over-answer your question:
The machine is plugged into a very old desktop computer without USB drives. I believe the desktop runs Windows '95. I would only really use it at most once or twice a quarter and it's been a year since the last time, so I'm a bit fuzzy. I don't know if the hardware or its software is compatible with newer versions of Windows. In theory, I could e-mail myself the scantron's output from the desktop, however the time it would take the computer to load Firefox or Internet Explorer, navigate to my e-mail's web client, etc wouldn't make this option practical.
To use it, I have to make an appointment to schedule it's room (it's about the size of a closet). I have to make the appointment at the beginning of the quarter, as slots around midterms and finals fill fast because every class in the School of Social Sciences with a scantron exam uses this one machine. The whole thing takes anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours depending upon how many students there are in the class and what proportion of them fill out the forms correctly. E.g., if someone forgot to fill in a bubble for their student ID, the process will halt and I need to take a few minutes to figure out what they did wrong and fill it in properly for them. Sometimes the machine jams if the stack of forms I feed it is too thick.
Given the state of the equipment, I can't say it's fun to use, but it sure beats hand-grading essays. I wish they had something better, but I can understand why money goes to other sources instead.
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Based on the article though, if you have a two-sided scantron sheet, then wouldn't it have to be a newer model?
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Most likely my high school. My elementary and middle schools didn't have scanners or such for tests. We had a mimeograph machine used up until 2000, when I left.
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Do they smell as lovely as I've read?
Bill Bryson, author of the memoir The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid writes, “Of all the tragic losses since the 1960s, mimeograph paper may be the greatest. With its rapturously fragrant, sweetly aromatic pale blue ink, mimeograph paper was literally intoxicating. Two deep drafts of a freshly run-off mimeograph worksheet and I would be the education system’s willing slave for up to seven hours.” Bryson’s reveries continued as he immersed himself in the scent and “…drifted off to a private place where fields were green, everyone went barefoot, and the soft trill of panpipes floated on the air.”
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Sounds more toxic than lovely.
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Yes. It was in a small supply closet, and the teachers used to send kids to take makeup tests in there. While another teacher ran it. Never did so well on makeup tests, but it was really neat to sit in there and watch the drum spin and hear the rhythm. And smell the purpleblue printed paper. There's something about mimeographed papers that makes em seem more worth keeping, imho.
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Ramstein American High School in Germany had a few in the auto-hobby shop. Whatever they ended up using for major tests, the old stuff shuffled around until someone found a use for it.
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damn, there is one for everything
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That's rule 78 of the Internet, there is always a relevant XKCD comic for the current conversation.
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[deleted]
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TIL what a "scantron" was.
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TIL you don't actually have to use a #2 pencil on scantrons, but they will work with other pencils and even pens.
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I had a pen that worked with Scantrons. The funny thing about that though is when I first used it on a Scantron someone else was also using a pen. I got a 100%. He got a 0.
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I always used to use a #3 pencil and never had any problems
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So I clicked the next fact and was highly disappointed.
Question 1530: Does space dust settle on orbiting space shuttles?
They said no for all the wrong reasons. There is MICROgravity in the shuttle. The center of mass is in orbit, not the whole vehicle. Anything away from the center of mass will drift away towards the planet(nadir) and away from the planet(zenith). You will get two layers of dust.
But people probably stir up this dust and it can't settle. Larger objects can and indeed do drift towards the zenith or nadir.
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[deleted]
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Remember, win or lose, the most important thing in life is to use a numbah two pencil! .. Number twoooo. --Principal Scudworth
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I hate the teachers and proctors who force me to use regular pencils even though I use #2 graphite in and can write more legibly with my mechanical pencil.
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It's a lie. I used a #3 pencil on all my final exams last semester and got As and Bs.
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TIL that there are not only #2 pencils, but #1's, #3's, and #4's.
If that blew your mind check out the various leads for mechanical pencils. There are 10+ diameter options in addition to the hardness rating that pencils have from 9H-9B
HB Lead holder represent!
I like .7mm HB and on occasion 2H
If you go to an arts and crafts store, they sell graphite artist pencils of varying hardness. The #2 is also known as HB. Be a rebel! Use 6B!
6B rocks!
A #2 pencil is actually a 2B pencil. The scale actually goes from High H numbers to high B numbers. For example:
Hardest ---------------------> Softest
6H 5H 4H 3H 2H H HB B 2B 3B 4B 5B 6B
Edit: I seem to be getting downvoted as much as upvoted. Why? Was I wrong, or what?
#2 is actually HB.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pencil#Grading_and_classification