<p>I always use mechanical pencils. What does a regular pencil have over a mechanical pencil? Nothing. Mechanical pencils have white erasers (don't leave smudge marks), and best of all, you do not have to sharpen them! They work perfect for scantron tests and are cheaper in the long run than wooden pencils. </p>
<p>And if you use mechanical pencils, you're saving trees. :D</p>
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Nothing can beat the Pilot Precise V5 Rolling Ball Extra Fine pen.
<p>Wow... I've only ever heard of .7 and .5 mm lead. I tend to press too hard for .5 lead, but I like to use it because it looks neater and crisper than wider lead. Most of my pencils (ie, the ones I find lying around the house + whatever ones my parents buy) are .7 mm. I only use mechanical pencils. I like pens, too, but mostly I use pencils. </p>
<p>I use college ruled paper--or graph paper. I've actually been using a lot of graph paper for non-mathematical applications, like my world religions Christianity essay test today. :D</p>
<p>i buy the cheap mechanical ones that come in a bag of 10 or so. i can't deal with the whole refilling the lead thing, and i usually break my pencils anyways (a lesson i never seem to learn: if you are grinding your plastic pencil into a surface, or using it to pry something, the hole for the lead will get covered up and make the pencil completely unusable).</p>
<p>Foray mechanical pencils are the best in my opinion. I hate people who write with mechanical pencils and press to hard to make a terrible squeaking noise. It drives me insane man.</p>
<p>I didn't realize peopel got so technical with their pencils. I just have a bunch of free pencils with ugly patterns sitting around. I just have a knack for collecting pencils. I just use those.</p>
<p>I love #2 mechanical pencials with .5 lead. All other kinds are just to thick. The brand I'm currently using (and have been for the last two years) is Zebra. Not only does it write great, it looks grat too!</p>
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I still use wooden pencils for tests like the PSAT, FCAT, and SAT. Ticonderoga and Mirado make excellent wooden pencils.
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<p>Whenever I take those tests my (Asian) dad sharpens like ten pencils for me before I wake up. So yeah, I end up doing that too. I'm always the pencil-lender on standardized tests.</p>
<p>I prefer mechanical pencils all the way. On tests, or general usage. They always have that quality of a newly sharpened wooden pencil, and they're just generally handy. (Not to mention I have yet to find a wooden pencil's eraser than can outdo a mechanical eraser. They should consider changing that part of wooden pencils.) As to which brand, lead size, or model, I am indifferent. I'll take the cheapo $0.50 ones or the $4.00+ ones. I'll take 0.5mm, 0.7mm, or 6.9303mm. As long as it is mechanical, I will embrace it.</p>
<p>Though, I always end up having to carry quite a few around as they can jam/break. But that issue is generally nonexistent with higher-end ones, and their other convenience factors negate the matter anyways.</p>