Optimization of bubble sheet shading using an infrared technology based pen

Abstract

Almost everyone feels nervous or at least experiences some levels of anxiety in exams or quizzes. Nowadays people find all exams turns to multiple choice questions as it is more useful to ensure students’ understanding. Shading the bubble sheet is a big problem for most students because it takes long time, accordingly this will affect the anxiety's level of students. In addition, Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) systems appear to make exams’ marking faster and easier, leading to save the professors effort. This paper discusses a solution for the problem of feeling anxious and the wasted time in answering and marking exams by designing a unique pen. Additionally, it regards the need of making use of exam time by changing the used pen tip diameter. This gives the ability of shading in one pen press. Also, an alarm electronic circuit is added to avoid any mistakes in shading. Besides, an erasing mechanism is performed to make it easier if the student decides to change his answer. Consequently, bubble sheet exams will be easy for both students and professors. As a result, the proposed pen is time efficient as it gives approximately 70 % efficiency over the ordinary pen.