Aurals

Healio

just a query, are you allowed to answer these exams in pencil, as i was not marked by my irish teacher and the german teacher took off marks sayin "es ist unregelmassig!" f**kin germans.

subway_ie

Uh ohhh.... I answered all the papers that we had to hand up in pencil (irish aural, french aural and paper, business). I'm fairly ****ed if they dont accept pencil.

claire h

Not sure about there being an official ban on using pencil or not, but you're better off using pen anyway. Clearer and less likely to fade - particularly in the real thing, when they're going to take a couple of months to be corrected. Just add it to the list of things you've learned from doing the mocks...

subway_ie

I just have a habit of changing answers alot - much easier with pencil, no tipp-ex or scribble all over the script. Everything else i do in pencil though - and i dont think it fades *that* fast - all my notes from 4th year are in pencil, still prefectly readable.

Agent Smith

i use pencil on the sole basis that it's easier to correct then pen.



i cant see them refusing to accept them now

Sev

No, they dont ban pencil.. thats just silly.

Mutant_Fruit

42kg of zinc.

And on a more on topic note, use a heavy pencil HB or B, don't use a 2H or 3H, they are too light, and will fade faster, as well as being a pain in the ass to read.

Healio

i demanded my papers be marked and im up to 130 on points woo-hoo

BoB_BoT

We were told to always answer in pen for exams, the simple fact is that the pencil rubs off the paper. Get some of your mock paper write on it with pencil and see how easily it rubs off.

Sev

Well.. I did my applied maths and maths leaving cert exams in pencil, because I prefer pencil. I feel its neater, for maths especially, and if you make a mistake or youre not happy with something, you can just rub it out. I think this "oh pencil will fade away etc." is a a bit of a myth, I have stuff written in pencil from years back that I can still read fine.

As for what mutant_fruit said, I dont agree that a darker HB or B pencil wont fade away as easily, in fact I would believe the opposite. Yes a 2H pencil is lighter and contrasts less on the whole, but.. ever take a rubber to something you wrote with a 2H pencil? it just doesnt come off very easily, and if it does, youre still left with the impression of what you wrote, you cant get rid of it all together, because you have to press harder with a 2H pencil to get it to function. Whereas with a darker pencil, you dont lean on it as much, it writes easier, therefore will rub away easier too. I would use a HB in your exams, for the sake of that its a nice balance and will rub out nicely when you make a mistake. Just dont forget a rubber going into the exam

BoB_BoT

well i've small writing so if it gets smugged tis impossable to read, I do however use a pencil for maths, but when I'm positive of the correct answer, I write that in pen, just to be sure, maybe i'm just being too caucious.