What is the deal with the Pencils

Test Preparation ACT Preparation
1

<p>what is the deal with ACTs saying no mechanical pencils</p>

<p>i went ahead and used em anyways because i had faith in the #2 lead mechanical pencils</p>

2

<p>yeah...i used them anyway also...i guess the ACT people are just paranoid that the lead will somehow be "non-standardized" and it'll possibly throw off the grading...meh...</p>

3

<p>This has been discussed before:</p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=200039&page=1&pp=15&highlight=mechanical+pencils%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=200039&page=1&pp=15&highlight=mechanical+pencils&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=125150&highlight=mechanical+pencils%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=125150&highlight=mechanical+pencils&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Sounds like if you do want to use a mechanical pencil, you need to make sure it has a number 2 lead in it and bring backups in case the proctor stops you.</p>

<p>Have you compared bubbling speed? One comment said that one can bubble faster with a regular pencil. If so, you could save the mechanical one for the writing section.</p>

4

<p>Get one of these [url=<a href="http://www.officeworld.com/Worlds-Biggest-Selection/PENZE22N/06Q2/%5Dclick"&gt;http://www.officeworld.com/Worlds-Biggest-Selection/PENZE22N/06Q2/]click&lt;/a> erasers<a href="I%20tried%20to%20find%20a%20picture%20that%20wasn't%20at%20a%20store,%20but%20failed">/url</a>. If it were practical to do so, ACT would send each test center a supply of these for kids to use. They reduce scanning errors caused by poor erasure, which may be one of the problems with mechanical pencils.</p>

5

<p>In my experience, bubbling speed is fastest with a good #2 wooden pencil with a foam grip (bought separarely), throughout the not-really-sharp but not-really-dull phase. Think about the surface area of the lead.</p>