<p>I was told by four different people, including the test proctor, that using a mechanical pencil was fine as long as the lead was #2. Is this true?</p>
<p>Yes yes, i've used mechanical pencils on SAT and SAT II tests for a long time :)</p>
<p>yeah. today we had to use the pencils that CB supplied. weird</p>
<p>Good, because I was sort of losing my mind about this. Haha.</p>
<p>Yeah it was weird.. I used mech. pencils in my SATIIs, APs, etc, cept this time the test kept saying NO mechanical pencils. We didn't even get collegeboard pencils :( haha. I felt like such a rebel using my mech. pencil, except it really doesn't matter if you have the right lead. HB lead = #2 pencil lead.</p>
<p>you COULDNT. look at your admission ticket.. it says no mechanical pencils.</p>
<p>It says it has to be a #2 pencils. Is there honestly a difference between #2 lead in mechanical pencils and #2 lead in normal pencils?</p>
<p>I had a teacher once who worked for College Board writing the SAT for a long time and she said it doesn't even matter if it's #2, they just tell you that to keep it consistent. It'll score it as long as you have a solid mark in the bubble. Not sure if that's true though, although she has no reason to mislead me.</p>
<p>Also, can I ask to have it hand-scored if I get my answers back and it turns out that you REALLY needed to have a normal pencil? I don't care if I have to pay extra.</p>
<p>it says no mechanical pencils but most people don't care. my procter did though. there were about 5 people who only brought mechanical, and she wouldn't let them use them. they had to borrow from other people.</p>
<p>i hope the whole mechanical pencil thing doesnt affect your score on the essay... my hand was getting tired during my essay from the wood pencil so i switched to mechanical on my second page.. people still get 12s with mechanical pencils right...??</p>
<p>as long as it's a #2 mechanical pencil you're completely fine.</p>
<p>Thanks, veganactress. Puts my mind at ease :)</p>
<p>i think its because they think people are going to put stuff inside the mechanical pencil when you take the eraser off.</p>
<p>Hahaha I can't believe someone would actually take the time to do that</p>
<p>but yeah, valid point, lol</p>