The Student Room Group

Can you use Gel pens?

I've recently started to write with gel pens and I find I can right much faster. The way I write is very strange and I find that with ball point and ink pens my hand aches after a bit. The gel pens seem to glide over the paper better and allow me to write a bit faster but is it ok to use the im exams? The gel pens I'm using are black and you would not be able to tell the difference between the black ink and black gel.

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Reply 1
No. You're not allowed to use gel pens or rollerball pens or highlighters either, as I found out after having used them!:mad:
Reply 2
Elements
No. You're not allowed to use gel pens or rollerball pens or highlighters either, as I found out after having used them!:mad:

Your not allowed to use rollerballs??? I know loads of people who have used them, since GCSE.....
Reply 3
I can't see why you can't use a gel pen that looks exactly like a ink pen
Reply 4
By rollerballs, do you mean the standard bic medium pens? If so, thats what I have always used, I have used gel pens before and was never told I am not allowed. I think you can use any pen you want as long as its blue or black ink, thats all the info they give on front of exam papers anyway.
Reply 5
andy_1989
By rollerballs, do you mean the standard bic medium pens? If so, thats what I have always used, I have used gel pens before and was never told I am not allowed. I think you can use any pen you want as long as its blue or black ink, thats all the info they give on front of exam papers anyway.

Ditto.

To the OP - I really wouldn't worry, especially since the gel pen looks like an "ordinary" pen. They aren't going to say "OMG this person wrote in gel pen therefore I can't mark it and will have to give them zero". I think the only reason the gel pen rule even exists is so that idiots don't go in and start writing in bright pink, which can barely be read.
Reply 6
Don't worry. The reason the rule is there is because often the exam papers are photocopied, so the examiners wouldn't be able to read it if it was a different colour. Also, it may be marked by different examiners in different colours which is why you can only use blue and black. But a black gel pen should be fine.
Well I use black gel pens in Maths exams (think I did in Jan and it was alright and I used one yesterday so I hope so!). It just says on the paper 'Use black or blue ink...' and on gel pens it says 'gel ink pen', and it's black. So by my logic there's no problem :smile:
Reply 8
oh ok thanks, I mean last year for chemistry I did all my mechanisms in pencil, like most people. If they photocopied them pencil would definetly not come up would it?
Reply 9
There's a rule about gel pens? Are you sure? I've never heard of it.

Anyway, I'm sure that even if you wrote in felt tip they'd make an attempt at marking it.
Reply 10
Basically, bring a gel pen and a 'normal pen' then check on the front of the exam paper before you start and if it doesn't say anything about only righting in a certain colour/type of ink then you could always double check with an invigilator to be sure.
Reply 11
mullard
oh ok thanks, I mean last year for chemistry I did all my mechanisms in pencil, like most people. If they photocopied them pencil would definetly not come up would it?


Pencil comes up as long as it's a normal HB pencil, I think.
Reply 12
housefire
Pencil comes up as long as it's a normal HB pencil, I think.




it depends how hard you wrote on the page. you have to press quite hard for it show up when photocopied.

proved this when a friend wanted some notes photocopying that i'd written in pencil. he said that 'it was like filling in a crossword without the clues'
I've never read/heard of any rules about what pens you can use in exams- I thought the only rule was that the colour has to be black or blue. In any case, if it looks exactly the same as an ink pen, how would they know it was a gel pen?
If you've done your diagrams in pencil and they don't show up when scanned, it should be obvious there's meant to be something there and they will go and mark the actual paper. It might be worth writing "see diagram" or similar though to highlight its presence though.
Hopefully diagrams in pencil show up, as for gel pens ive heard its just light coloured ones, blue or black ones are fine.
Reply 16
There shouldn’t be any problems with gel pens – I actually know some schools which only allow fountain, rollerball, and gel ink pens in classes, and I don’t think they’d do that if you weren’t allowed them in exams.
does this mean that fountain pen blue ink is a no no?
Reply 18
Vikkijk
does this mean that fountain pen blue ink is a no no?


I've used the same fountain pen writing in blue for every single exam since GCSEs and never had any problems! I hope they don't decide to disqualify me this time :p:
Reply 19
Ou exams officer says at the start of every exam that we have to write in blue or black and that we can't use gel pens, only roller-ball ones. But I don't know what his reasoning is behind not using gel pens even if they're blue or black :s-smilie:

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