Many students will say that one of their greatest fears is taking test and final exams, but nothing beats the fear of knowing that test scores could be coming back graded incorrectly by a machine.
“That’s not the case,” said Seward Hamilton, director of the Testing Service Bureau. “The main reason is that students are not taking the time to shade in their answers.”
Over the last year, there has been a great concern about students not bubbling in their answers correctly on Scantron test sheets. Many questions have arise as to why so many students’ graded Scantron sheets are filled with answers that are correct, but are being marked as wrong.
“Ten percent of students are not filling in the shaded area completely and it’s happening more frequently now than ever,” said Hamilton.
Hamilton suggested a few key things for students to do before they begin taking their test. First, he said to completely shade in your full name and identification. Secondly, students need to focus and take the time to go back and make sure they filled their answers in correctly. Finally, make sure they have a number two pencil for filling in their answers.
“If they could find a different method other then bubbling in the answers I think that would be better,” said Sarina Douzart, 20, a business administration and marketing student.
“The Testing Service Bureau is much better now than it used to be,” said economics professor Nathaniel Johnson who is one of the professors that has received Scantrons back with correct answers marked incorrect.
The Testing Service Bureau on campus has been around for over three decades providing everything from college placement test, dual enrollment, and advanced placement testing.