Scantron
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Scantron is a company, based in Irvine, California, USA, that manufactures and sells machine-readable papers on which students mark answers to academic test questions, the machines to analyze those answers, survey and test scoring systems, the taking of school attendance (with a mark denoting an absent student) and image-based data collection software and scanners. In addition, Scantron is the largest provider of test scoring and survey technology in the United States,[1] with a range of technology solutions that allow a user to conduct web or paper based surveys.
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[edit] Background
The traditional Scantron test scoring system usually takes the form of a multiple-choice, fill-in-the-bubble form of varying length and width, ranging from single-column, 15-answer tests, to forms of several 8.5×11-inch pages used in standardized testing, such as the SAT and the ACT.
[edit] How it works
A test taker fills in bubbles on the Scantron form with a Number 2 (HB) pencil. The instructor then collects the completed Scantron forms from the test takers. The instructor feeds the forms into a scanner, which reads the answers and calculates a score.
A caveat with the system is that if a test-taker accidentally skips a line (eg, by marking question 18's answer in space 19, etc), the machine mark all of the questions from that point on wrong. Usually, the person taking the test can catch this, but if not, they will be left with one (or however many questions they accidentally skipped) blank row of bubbles at the end of the test.
[edit] Urban Legend
Several urban legends exist about the possibility of outsmarting scantron machines [2], most of which assert that certain alterations to the exam paper will cause the machine to mark all questions as correct. All such legends are false [3] and attempting to interfere with the way an exam paper is read will normally cause the machine to pass the exam paper to a human operator for manual inspection. The Scantron method is unbeatable.
[edit] See also
- Mark sense
- Tabulating machine
- Optical Mark Recognition
- Optical Character Recognition
- Course evaluation
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ Marguerite Clarke, George Madaus, Catherine Horn, and Miguel Ramos, "The Marketplace for Educational Testing"
- ^ http://www.snopes.com/college/exam/scantron.asp
- ^ http://www.snopes.com/college/exam/scantron.asp
