@"Edward__" said:
I used a child's pencil - MY FIRST TICONDEROGA, they are much fatter than normal pencils - which reduces stress on your hand and also gives you a larger eraser.
I kept them in my front jacket pocket for easy grabbing.
Check the box, it's really just used for statistical purposes after admission decision has been made. A few schools I've applied to had the responses to that section hidden from the actual PDF application being sent for the adcom to review.