Oh shoot, I just realized this might be bad

<p>I was reading the PR SAT book, and I guess it specifically said that we should use #2 pencils "wooden, not mechanical" </p>

<p>I thought that the reason proctors say no mechanical pencils is because most of are supposedly not #2. So I think I used half and half. Half of my answers are using a wooden pencil, and the other half are using a mechanical BIC #2 pencil. </p>

<p>Am I screwed??? I didn't think it was such a big deal. Is there even a difference between wood and......whatever the mechanical pencils use?</p>

<p>Are most really not #2? It depends on the refills you buy, and the most common ones that I find are #2. Whenever I use mechanical pencils I'm fine...</p>

<p>I meant that when they first started appearing they weren't #2. </p>

<p>I hope I'll be fine too. The PR book just really scared me.</p>

<p>dont worry. mech. pencils are fine</p>

<p>Yeah, I think they just say no mechanical pencils because some .5mm lead isn't #2. Even then, that lead would probably work.</p>

<p>It's really hard to intentionally find mechanical pencil lead that isn't number 2 lol...and I think you should be fine, since people have accidentally used #6s and still the machine scored it.</p>

<p>Well, when you get your scores and if they are REALLY bad, then you can pay collegeboard to handscore it for $50, but it might be worth it</p>

<p>Oh, sweet</p>

<p>i don't think it will matter....</p>

<p>mechanical pencils work fine</p>

<p>^^^i would tend to think the same, but i changed my ways because after filling a scantron at my school, just for a Chapter test, with mechanical pencil, half of them appeared to be wrong, when truly, I had only missed 2 out of the possible 42. </p>

<p>I wrote the essay in mechanical though, because it keeps ur handwriting legible and there is no mistake when grading it.</p>

<p>But now that u mention it, I would contact College Board, but i think u are fine</p>

<p>I used only mechanical pencils in seventh grade and was fine. The chance that your mechanical pencil wasn't number two is really low. Don't sweat it. :)</p>

<p>I thought about using mechanical, but on the package it said, "equivalent to #2 lead!" . I was worried about it being equivalent, but not the same.</p>

<p>Yeah, I'm pretty sure they are just being cautious, and most (the vast majority) of mechanical pencils are number 2.</p>

<p>the number of the pencil is just how hard the graphite that is in the pencil is. in the end, graphite is graphite and the scantron machine will still grade it, as long as your marks are dark. the machine could misgrade your paper if you pressed ridiculously light even if you used a #2 pencil, and it could correctly grade it if you used a softer pencil number (forgot if higher or lower is softer) and just pressed really hard. softer graphite = lighter pencil marks, so just press hard and go over it, making sure the dots are dark and you should be fine as long as you're not using like a colored pencil or pen XD</p>

<p>There is no worry. I have never used wooden pencils for standardized testing, and it worked out pretty well. If the pencil screwed up my answers, I'm definitely not complaining.</p>

<p>Just kidding: Mechanical pencils can be number 2.</p>

<p>Alright thanks! Good to know</p>

<p>Gah, I can't edit my post. The "Just kidding" referred to the second sentence of my post, not the whole thing. I have never used wooden pencils on standardized tests (that is true).</p>