Under normal circumstances, the exam requires the use of a 0.5 mm black pen to facilitate machine scanning and online marking.
Don’t make this rule too mysterious or suspicious. Let me explain it to you.
First of all, let’s talk about why the handwriting is required to be black. This is because when the test paper is scanned, light will hit the paper. If other colors are used, the handwriting will become unclear or even intermittent due to some optical reasons that are difficult to explain in a sentence or two. So it doesn’t mean that the blue pen will not be visible, but that the words written with the blue pen will be unclear. What's more, some colors are ignored by the machine, such as the red color of the grid. If you write with a pen of a similar color, the teacher will not be able to see your answer at all. Therefore, it is recommended that everyone use black pens as prescribed.
Secondly, let’s talk about why we use a signature pen. In fact, any pen that can write can be used to answer papers, but the signature pen is the most stable. Currently, the only things that can be used to answer papers are signature pens, ballpoint pens, and fountain pens. Let’s analyze them one by one.
The ink of ballpoint pens is relatively viscous. If there are air bubbles in the middle, the ink will easily break and cause instability. After all, ballpoint pens are basically cheap products and are not safe.
Let’s talk about fountain pens. I’m very familiar with this one. The grades of fountain pens can vary a lot, from heroic low-end products worth a few RMB to dragon and bird pens worth several thousand euros. Let’s talk about them separately.
The most common problem with pens that cost a few yuan is ink leakage. Once one or two drops of ink leak out, the entire test paper will become difficult to handle. If not, it will be regarded as a mark paper and directly A zero score, and even if it weren't for that, leaking ink would be annoying enough.
As for high-end pens, according to my experience, there is currently no high-end product with a conventional pen tip of 0.5 mm, and the pens of Dragon and Bird are very bold (not to mention Dragon and Bird, It’s a pen from Pai, and it’s generous when it comes to water.) It’s not suitable for answering papers because it’s not easy to dry, and there’s a chance that the ink may run out in the middle. The 0.5mm pen tip is called EF or Generally speaking, pens are not suitable for answering papers, and some provinces simply prohibit the use of pens for answering papers. Of course, if you must use a fountain pen, and there is no ban on fountain pens in the province, then I recommend you to use a Parker steel rod, remember to change to an EF (XF) nib, and Quink ink is recommended. Fountain pens of this grade and above are basically the type that has a lot of water content, even including Jinzhuo.
Again, why use a 0.5mm pen? This is because during the scanning process of the paper, it is impossible to be very precise. If the handwriting is too fine, what is actually seen on the screen will become intermittent, which will make the marking work difficult. If the handwriting is too thick, then due to the complex strokes of Chinese characters and the fact that the characters are generally written smaller in order to cram in more answers when answering questions, the answers may become lumpy and difficult to read.
But there is a problem, that is, the thickness of the actual writing is not only related to the writing tool itself, but also to the ink and paper. In fact, the current technical level cannot be exactly 0.5 mm, so if If you think the handwriting is thinner, you can write with more force. If you think the handwriting is thicker, you can write with less force. 0.5 mm is actually just an approximate amount. No one can guarantee 0.5 mm. We just need to write the words clearly. The thickness is about 0.5 mm is fine. If you really feel that the handwriting is too thin, you can even use a 0.7 pen to write.
Also, let me digress. The standard examination papers we see should have red grids, and the machine will "turn a blind eye" to the red grids when scanning. In other words, the papers that actually appear on the marking teacher's computer screen do not have grids, so everyone's The words must be written neatly, not up and down. Of course, if you want the teacher to see the blank paper, please use red pen to answer the paper. Ha ha.