I'm sure that everyone here has failed a major class b/c of those scantron tests even though you studied, right?

I've heard from a good source that there is a weakness in the scantron machines that can be used to keep the machine from marking you wrong. *This information is presented as neutrally factual and is not a condonement of cheating, b/c you are not really cheating. It is not cheating to know how the scantron machine works instead of just sitting there like every other hapless mark in your class. Use at your own risk, and I am not responsible for any mishaps that may occur*

As you all know, there are two types of scantron forms: the kind with the round bubbles and the kind with the square bubbles.

The grading machine uses the ability to discern between light and dark while grading. If the space corresponding to the correct answer is dark, the machine will grade it correct. If the correct answer space is unfilled, the machine marks it wrong. It's a binary system-- on or off are the only two possible conditions as far as the machine is concerned.

However, you are lucky. You're smarter than any damn scantron machine b/c you know of a third way. Why can't it be dark and light at the same time, thus confusing the machine?


Here's how you can pull this seeming paradox on the machine:

1: the way that works for both styles of scantron is to lightly shade in a bubble. Do it very lightly, but dark enough to be visible. This way is covert b/c it looks like an erased answer to the average idiot teacher.

It works b/c the machine doesn't know how to respond to this. it detects pencil lead, but not enough for a definite answer. It responds to this by ignoring the question and not subtracting it from the score.

2. the second way only works on the forms with the rectangular bubbles, but is much more reliable than the first. Simply fill a bubble with diagonal lines. (it works like before, the machine detects both filled and unfilled, so it ignores it) This is fail-safe in deceiving the machine, but it may look suspicious to a teacher. Use with discretion.


Understand that by telling you this, I'm not encouraging cheating. Cheating is when you copy from someone elses scantron b/c you were too damn lazy to study. This method is simply exploiting a weakness that the scantron designers failed to fix. You are simply using every resource that you have available. Theres nothing wrong with that. Use this method on questions that you are not sure about. I still recommend that you crack the books before exams, this is just to keep you from missing the stuff that you forget in the ridiculously stupid high-pressure test environments.

[I haven't really tested this thoroughly, but when a question has you over the barrel on your next exam, what do oyu have to lose by trying it, right? [img]http://forums.massassi.net/html/biggrin.gif[/img] ]


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Most people regard me as the dark and immoral side of Massassi. At least I'm getting what I want out of life.

[This message has been edited by Pagewizard_YKS (edited January 10, 2004).]

Maybe this works on old scantron machines, but all of the ones I've encountered mark a question wrong if more than one box is filled.

You're only supposed to fill one box using one of the aforementioned methods. I should have clarified this more.



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Most people regard me as the dark and immoral side of Massassi. At least I'm getting what I want out of life.

I don't think the Scantron (or whatever the machine name) will get "confused." I think it judges the grades of darkness to come to a conclusion.

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Snail racing: (500 posts per line)
----@%

Still, remember it the next time you get stuck. It may save you from dropping a letter grade on your next test, you never know. You're going to lose a point anyway if you don't do it, so think of it as insurance.


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Most people regard me as the dark and immoral side of Massassi. At least I'm getting what I want out of life.

[This message has been edited by Pagewizard_YKS (edited January 10, 2004).]

Hmmm, I'll have to remember that...

What I want to know, what if you used a different type of pencil instead of No. 2?

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Snail racing: (500 posts per line)
----@%

not tested, so I'm not sure. Same goes with using pen.



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Most people regard me as the dark and immoral side of Massassi. At least I'm getting what I want out of life.

Nope!

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Shut up. I'm GOING to do this whether you like it or not.

Bah! You don't deserve my method!

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Most people regard me as the dark and immoral side of Massassi. At least I'm getting what I want out of life.

Invisible ink?

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Snail racing: (500 posts per line)
----@%

Actually, I have never failed a test because of the scantron. If I did fail a test it was because I didn't study enough.

But your method is not even about minimizing Scantron errors, it merely exploits the system which is CHEATING. Analogously, if I hack into the school's computer and change my grade, I am exploiting a weakness in their system, which everyone would consider cheating.


[This message has been edited by Plasma Man (edited January 10, 2004).]

I've heard that you can spread chap-stick on part of the scantron and it will not mark anything wrong. Another thing, why do they always tell you to use a No. 2 pencil if it only detects light and dark?

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"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke

"Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right." -Isaac Asimov

Never tickle the third foot!

i think i'll try this on the next test

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" You killed me. That wasn't very nice."
Noble Gases

Actually if you rub petroleum jelly all over the scantron it marks every question correct. However, teachers would definitely notice.

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<< start the revolution >>

No, actually I usually do better on Scantrons.
Multiple choice is alot easier than fill in the blank...

And neither of these methods apply to the scantrons my school uses
They're like small rectangles, just slightly larger than the size of the pencil tip, with the letter written in the middle... the way you mark them is draw a line though it.



Still, it's a good idea, I guess, except I'm not sure how "confused" the machine will be. I would think they probably factored in the assumption that there might be erasures on the paper when they programmed the machine, so it probably has a certain value or ammount of darkening it checks for - anything less is not filled, anything equalto or greater than counts... nothing in between.

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Do you have stairs in your house?

[This message has been edited by Correction (edited January 11, 2004).]

That's probably just a recommended lead because if you use something too hard the machine might not pick it up. I've seen kids use things other than that and it still worked...

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Do you have stairs in your house?

It feeds on #2 pencils to generate the power it needs to control the world.

Note; if you use Pagewizard's method for the WHOLE TEST, you better put down at least one correct/incorrect answer, otherwise it will try to divide by 0 and fail!

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GhostOfYoda - General doer of stuff.

Neat trick, but beware; when the test has a small ammount of questions and you're not part of a huge group, they sometimes correct it by hand with a transparent sheet.

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When bread becomes toast, it can never go back to being bread again.

I know someguy who marked the "Key" box on his answer sheet. When it was fed through, he got a 100%. He was the last person in the class to get his scanned though.

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Frogblast the Vent Core!

--End of Line--

Pagewizard I dont know what your smoking but thats cheating plain and simple.

As for non-no. 2 pencils I know for a fact pen works, most teahcers at my school use pen to mark scantron keys.

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AGONetwork

No, pen does not work, the kid that sat behind me in my APMEH class used pen and got every one wrong

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Happy "Diseased" dud: You said I'd be like this guy. Boycotting everything..
Happy "Diseased" dud: ted kazcnisky. That's who it was.
Happy "Diseased" dud: Wait, That's the unibomer.
Happy "Diseased" dud: Wrong guy.

Well, it does on the scantrons I use.

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AGONetwork

I've always wanted to grade a scantron test so I could test this theory. (grade the tests, then do a few experiments afterwards)
I'm not sure, but I think making a dark half-rectangle next to the question might make it see it as a stopping point, so you make sure you get one or two right, then do that and boom. Not sure if this works though, and then there's the marking the key.. but then everyone behind you gets everything wrong..


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MadQuack on Military school: Pro's: I get to shoot a gun. Con's: Everything else.
"I'm going to beat you until the laws of physics are violated!!" ! Maeve's Warcry

RIP -MaDaVentor-. You will be missed.

I'm not trying this until someone esle tested it....

This is rather pathetic, if you ask me.

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I'm not an actor. I just play one on TV.

The best thing to do is white-out the lines at the side. In fact, if you keep the first thick rectangle but not the second one, it will, in theory, keep on going. And I know for a fact that scantron machines don't have a "maybe" option. In most cases, even if you erase a mark you made, the machine still thinks that it is marked. As well, filling in the "key" mark will work, as long as the teacher doesn't notice.

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Death to all who oppose me!

A minor thing called integrity.
It reflects upon you rather badly as a person if you get caught, and if you care about such things will keep you up.

#2 is because this is the medium. Dark enough to be noticed, while light enough to be erased.

In my Junior High I remember a bunch of kids tried to do the petroleum jelly thing and teachers quickly noticed, and made the connection to the widespread urban legend.
They claimed it didn't work, but they had reason to just say that here.

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Steal my dreams and sell them back to me.....

Is it really that hard to actually learn the material?

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1 of 14 | 6-16 Never Forget. | Click.

I don't endorse cheating at all, and I've never/will never use anything like this under a testing situation. I just want to know how, and why they work.

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MadQuack on Military school: Pro's: I get to shoot a gun. Con's: Everything else.
"I'm going to beat you until the laws of physics are violated!!" ! Maeve's Warcry

RIP -MaDaVentor-. You will be missed.

I dunno what kind of sensors the Scantrons use, but the one's I've worked with, it's just a true or false if it's light or dark, there is no middle to "confuse" it.

Besides, Scantrons are no different than any other test. No one ever fails anything because of a Scantron, unless there's a technical error, in which everyone would fail and the problem would be noticed and rectified.

I do fine on Scantron tests. I get As on all my AP CS tests, Bs on most of my finals, and I've never failed a class in my life, not even gotten a D. And if I did, I certantly wouldn't blame it on a method of test grading that is simply more efficient.

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Bassoon, n. A brazen instrument into which a fool blows out his brains.

[This message has been edited by Emon (edited January 11, 2004).]

If you get caught

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AGONetwork