What are people's thoughts/preferences on bubbling? Do you bubble as you go or at the end of each section? Also is it safe to roughly fill in the bubbles(by roughly, I mean a quick dark scribble), I have this paranoia of having my answer sheet misread, so I find myself wasting a lot of time filling in the circle "properly"..
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I wouldn't worry too much about filling the whole bubble in -- use your dullest pencil for bubbling, start in the middle, and bubble 2/3 or more of it. It should take less than half a second for each bubble It's definitely overkill to fill up the entire space; the scanner will go right through the center; just make sure you don't leave the center unmarked, and you should be good to go.
Also, a second reason why NOT to waste a lot of time bubbling: In the event that the scanner doesn't read all of your bubbles, You can pay a bit extra for them to re-grade it by hand -- in which case it will be very, very obvious what answer you chose, even if it isn't "perfectly" bubbled.
Whatever you decide on, it will be okay. Just develop a habit so that it is seamless and reliable for test day.
As zhenders pointed out, you can always pay a fee for LSAC to hand-check it. But better to avoid that, if you can. (Imagine paying to hand-check and LSAC notices they misread a correct answer, and detract a point or two.)
Bumping this to ask a more specific bubbling question -- does anybody set aside a separate "bubbling pencil" that's already dull before the beginning of the test? If not, would you personally consider this strategy?
I find filling in Scantrons with dull pencils to be quicker and I find marking up any section with sharp pencils to be preferable.
I bubble after every game, every RC passage and between every page turn for LR (so after two pages). I take my time to make sure there is no bubbling error by letting my fingers guide me.
I have never taken more than two minutes combined to bubble in so although it feels like it wastes a lot of time, I don't think its actually the case. Also, I think its well worth it to slow down to make sure I don't make any errors. So up to you, I just wouldn't want to feel rushed about bubbling on the real test.
@FerdaFresh
I have actually thought about doing that because bubbling in with dull pencils is so much quicker. I may give that a go! Thanks for that tip.
@Sami I'm glad someone as capable as you gives this idea credence! Hope it makes a positive difference
@FerdaFresh and @Sami I bubbled on page turns.
AND DULL PENCILS ARE THE WAY TO GO!! But actually. I just used a dull pencil for the entire test. You get used to it and you bubble way faster.
I just realized this is a four-year-old thread!
Me too! I think J.Y. does it that way too.
Oh maybe I should start using dull pencils!
The real question is (especially since you scored so damn well ) is what brand pencil do you use?
For bubbling, I bubble in after I finish each question on LR/RC. And I bubble in after every game. I don't know if I do that deliberately or that's just how I do it. I may try it the way Sami and Allez do it though.
I'm sure the difference between dull and sharp pencils is like max 10-15 seconds, but it's an easy marginal gain.
@"Alex Divine" I just used the basic yellow ticonderoga pencils. I never really got into all the pencil nuances.
This is a little off topic from the dull/sharp pencil thing (I do like the dull pencil idea, though). I bubble after every 2 pages as well, but I do something else that seems to save a bit of time (maybe just for me because I get a little paranoid about getting off). If a 2 page set is #'s 12-19, I bubble in in reverse order (19, 18, 17, etc). I started doing this after a minor mishap where I realized I was off by a bubble or two in one section, and I noticed I was then wasting time checking every single number as I went to avoid another mistake. Now I just spend an extra second making sure I'm starting on the right end number and only focus on the order of the letters as I copy. You also know every two pages if you're off because you won't connect properly to the previous set of bubbles, and you won't accidentally keep bubbling in a number or two off from where you should be as you're always double checking the last number of the set.
@btate87 that's a great idea!
I actually bubble after each individual LR question, as it gives me the tiniest break to re-gather my thoughts for the next question, and then I never have to worry about going back. For LG and RC, I bubble at the end of each game/passage. I'm usually pretty anal when it comes to filling in the entire bubble. On the Sept. 2017 exam, I did change 1 of my answers and completely erased the bubble I had filled in, and while I was still credited for the right answer, the scan of my answer sheet shows both bubbles filled in! The wrong answer I had erased was just much lighter. Kind of freaked me out. :-)
I think that they seriously darken the marks on the scan that they send you in your report. I, too, had a couple of instances where I completely erased marks but on the scan they sent it looked like I bubbled two answers.