Question about smear on answer sheet

<p>I dont know if I should be asking this or not, but this has nothing to do with the test questions.</p>

<p>However, lets say its any SAT,</p>

<p>For some reason if I mark a bubble on one side it ALWAYS SMEARS THROUGH and is CLEARLY VISIBLE on the other side.</p>

<p>So lets say section 4 and 6 are on same page but back to back. If i mark an answer in section 4, you can see a "black spot" on section 6 where the bubble in section 4 is made.</p>

<p>Im concerned about this. Will the scan tron read all my answers as if i put down two different answers for a question? has anyone else had this situation. The proctor did not allow us to erase any of these stray smears (I notice this after time was up)</p>

<p>should i tell college board to hand grade or something (like email them right away)</p>

<p>Or does this happen to everyone?</p>

<p>
[quote]
For some reason if I mark a bubble on one side it ALWAYS SMEARS THROUGH and is CLEARLY VISIBLE on the other side.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>If you're using pencil I don't see how this would even happen, at least if it is indeed "smearing through." Perhaps you're pressing hard and it's picking up lead dust from the sheet behind it?</p>

<p>
[quote]
Will the scan tron read all my answers as if i put down two different answers for a question?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I believe it ignores questions for which more than one answer is given, if the stray marks are clearly visible. I've never heard of this happening to anyone else, so you should call College Board and tell them your situation. They might say there is nothing you can do about it, however, if the actual marks and the stray marks are indistinguishable.</p>

<p>I think its because our proctor told us to fold up the booklet and while working on other sections, when i pressed down the black mark got inprinted on other side.</p>

<p>Or it might be not two back to back pages but two separate pages when they are pressed together</p>

<p>i think they are distinguishable (but i didnt really get to see it, i only noticed a few of these stray black bubbles at the end when we had to refold our books back) because the circles dont really align with the bubble, it just a circle in the middle of the page</p>

<p>like </p>

<ol>
<li>ABCDE Z 14. ABCDE</li>
</ol>

<p>The stray black bubble would be at spot Z between two columns (if one starts with choice 1 and the other starts with choice 14)-however those were the ones that i saw, there might have been one on one of the answer choices that i didnt see</p>

<p>And I ask someone else, they said that they notice it but their proctor allowed them to erase it (so it did happen to someone else)
Should I call collegeboard right away and ask or later</p>

<p>If it ignores the question, does it count as an omission (because if it does, and since i didnt omit any, then when i see the score report and there are omissions, then i will know for sure whether this probelm affected me)</p>

<p>Yea this kind of happened on mine but i dont think its enough for the thing to mess up.</p>

<p>yeah that happens to me.</p>

<p>when i was taking the act, i noticed that this kinda happened to me. and then my bubbles sorta got transposed to realllly random places.</p>

<p>thats why i never fold back my book. </p>

<p>chances are it probably wont affect you. if you press lighter than i do, which you probably do, then the transposed mark probably wont be that dark. but who knows. little you can do about it. next time though, id just advise you to not fold it back.</p>

<p>yea i didnt think so but my were actually really black, i just hope they didnt correspond to one of the bubble choices (hopefully they just smeared at random points on the page, not actually on an answer bubble)</p>

<p>Also i alreayd asked but
If it ignores the question (if i happen to "bubble" two answers), does it count as an omission (because if it does, and since i didnt omit any, then when i see the score report and there are omissions, then i will know for sure whether this probelm affected me)</p>

<p>so anyone that took this have this issue?</p>

<p>should i be concerned</p>

<p>i think this actulaly happenede to me on AP test last year but i never got to see my score to see if it affected me...yea i shoudlnt fold it but proctor was like 'fold and go to section 2"</p>

<p>hey if i ask them to hand grade will they notice that they were smears (i mean they dont even perfically lign up with the answer bubbles)</p>

<p>Yeah it happens to me because the desks we have to sit in were really small..and I have to fold my answer sheet so that my test booklet, calculator, eraser would all fit on it!</p>

<p>I usually go back and erase those marks though. I do tell my proctor so she can watch and make sure I'm only erasing those marks instead of filling in extra answers.</p>

<p>my proctor was like NO you cant make anymore changes since time is up even though i told him that you could watch me</p>

<p>he was like "im pretty sure collegeboard has this figuered out...so you can go bother them"</p>

<p>Awh that sucks!
I usually know my test proctor..usually one of the school AP teachers so it makes things easier because they know I won't cheat. and we don't have many people taking the SAT/SAT II at my school (most take the ACT) so they're not in charge of more than like 15 people and can see what everyone is doing.
He/She just makes me put everything up except for an eraser and my answer sheet.</p>

<p>But yeah, if you didnt omit any answer but when you get your report back and it says you did..you might want to contact collegeboard. maybe have it hand graded or something.</p>