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Best non-cedar pencil for ACT?


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I have a teen student who is taking the ACT next month and is allergic to cedar to the point that holding a regular pencil makes her break out in hives. She uses mechanical pencils, but those aren't allowed on the ACT. Does anyone recommend a basswood or woodless pencil that works on the ACT that she can order online? Bonus points for Amazon prime eligible or as an add-on at Amazon, since if needed I could order for her.

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The ACT booklet explicitly states that mechanical pencils are not allowed, so I don't think any of those would work-even if they actually would be fine. The last thing we want is for her to be forced to use a pencil that makes her break out (which would be pretty distracting, at best) or to be refused admission because she is using the wrong pencil.

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I would contact the ACT folks and clarify; thin lead mechanical pencils have harder leads, which is probably why the ACT recommends against them. A mechanical pencil with a #2 lead should be fine. I would try to get a written notice from ACT to that effect in case a local administrator gets finicky about it.

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I would contact the ACT folks and clarify; thin lead mechanical pencils have harder leads, which is probably why the ACT recommends against them. A mechanical pencil with a #2 lead should be fine. I would try to get a written notice from ACT to that effect in case a local administrator gets finicky about it.

ACT won't let students use mechanical pencils because people have been known to wrap pieces of paper with notes inside the barrel of the pencil to cheat. It has nothing to do with the lead.

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Does anyone know if they'll throw you out if you have a mechanical pencil? I don't think they are really careful here, but I don't want DD to get disqualified. She won't break out like the OP's example, but she can't stand normal pencils. The only kind I can get her to use (for math) is mechanical pencils.

Sigh.

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We have used wordless pencils made from recycled materials that were given out on Earth Day. They were pretty good.

 

Does anyone know if they'll throw you out if you have a mechanical pencil

I don't think the proctors would disqualify her but they could confiscate all other writing instruments which means she had nothing left to use if she didn't bring the usual pencils.

 

"Bring sharpened, soft lead No. 2 pencils with good erasers (no mechanical pencils or ink pens). Do not bring any other writing instruments; you will not be allowed to use them. If you are registered for the ACT with writing, your essay must also be completed in pencil."

http://www.act.org/content/act/en/products-and-services/the-act/test-day.html

Here they start sitting the kids at 7:30am, close gates at 8am and start at close to 9am. So plenty of time for proctors to check. My oldest test room had 3 proctors to less than 30 students. We won't allowed to walk youngest to his test room but it was less than 20 kids per room.

Edited by Arcadia
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Does anyone know if they'll throw you out if you have a mechanical pencil? I don't think they are really careful here, but I don't want DD to get disqualified. She won't break out like the OP's example, but she can't stand normal pencils. The only kind I can get her to use (for math) is mechanical pencils.

Sigh.

 

DD brought one to the SAT, and thankfully the teacher had brought regular pencils. 

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