Hi all,
Took the ACT for the second time this June. I think it went pretty well; I snagged a 33 last year as a freshman, so I’m aiming for 34+ this time around.
Nevertheless, I have an issue that’s been bothering me ever since the day I took the test.
The night before I took the test, my dad picked up some new pencils from the store for me to use. I didn’t go with him because I was hoping to get a good night’s rest and the time was nearing 9 PM.
The next morning, he gave me the pencils to use. But they weren’t the good kind. As usual, my dad had gone to every length to make sure he got the “best deal” possible; he had found the pencils in the cheap section. I was reluctant to use them on the test, but he insisted.
It was only when I was taking the test that I realized that the erasers on my cheap pencils were terrible. So, instead of spending extra time at the end of each section reviewing my work, I spent time double- and even triple-erasing my answers so that my new answer was identifiable.
Now, to the human eye, my answers are very distinct. You can definitely tell which answer I chose.
However, I’m not sure that case exists with machines. I’m concerned that the machines will identify my erased answers as smudged (which the directions specifically warn against).
I’m going to order the Test Information Release (TIR) to see if that is the case; it will tell me how my answers were identified.
So, if I get my TIR back and there is indeed several answers labeled as “smudged”, would a hand-scorer be able to differentiate between my erased answer and my obvious dark answer? Or will they score the test in the same way that a machine would, overlooking my clear intended answer because I didn’t erase well enough?
Thanks,
CJ