Pen recommendations

[mummyandbaby]

My son is about to sit his end of year 10 exams. He uses a Frixion pen on a daily basis but these pens are not allowed for exams. What pens do your DC use for exams?

plain black biro, the GCSEs require this so my dd wanted to get into the habit x

Black Bic biros are what mine use.

Our DC like Zebra ballpoints - but both they and I have noticed that recent purchases have run out of ink sooner than expected, so it's good thing that we mainly buy packs of 10 from Tesco.

One of my personal favourites (when buying a pen or three for me, not stocking a stationery cupboard for DD and DS2) is the Uniball Signo 0.7mm.

So long as the ink is black and doesn't fade with heat, they can use whatever pen they like. Writing essays with a biro can be hard going on the muscles in the hand, especially if they have any level of hypermobility.

DS2 used a Stabilo Easy pen (with a black refill) for his GCSEs and will do the same for his A-levels.

DS1 used a Lamy safari fountain pen (with black ink cartridges) for all his exams.

Basically:

Good pens: biros, ballpoints, fountain pens.

Bad pens: gel pens (ink doesn't always show up properly), friction-erase pens (ink fades when exposed to the heat from a scanner).

Thanks all. Are rollerball pens ok? Any other recommendations are also welcome.

Biro or liquid ink is fine. My DS had always written with gel pens and I bought loads of different pens for him to try after his year 11 mocks as he was stressed about changing the type of pen he had been using for years. He ended up opting for these Pilot V Ball 7 VB7 Rollerball Retractable Fine 0.7mm Tip 0.35mm Line, they also comes as non-clicker pens with a lid. His sister preferred these ones, Jetstream Colours SXN-150C - Retractable 0.7mm Rollerballs.

DD1 used Stabilo Easy with a black ink cartridge.

DD2 uses Uniball Air.

Both picked as the ones that produce the best quality handwriting for my individual DCs with motor skills issues.

Anything with a separate lid is a disaster in our house (DD would probably have lost the top to her nice Lamy 13th birthday present fountain pen by the end of that term anyway, had someone not pinched the whole thing first). None of our DC is / has been given to random acts of pen-clicking whilst doing homework, so I trust them not to do it at school - and stain remover is more expensive than pens.

TeenTimesTwo
I'm reassured to hear that DS2 isn't the only teenager using a Stabilo Easy in public exams. It's a great pen, especially for those who find pen grip difficult.

We like papermate inkjoy pens but to be honest I've no idea if they are allowed for exams as A, we are in Scotland and rules might be different and B, both DC typed their exams latterly. They are however lovely pens to write with and are also triangular which makes them better for grip imo.

DD uses black Bic Biro

Ds2 uses those four colour Bic ones with soft touch grip, I think he only uses the black but he likes the bigger size.

I am with Dd personally.

Lamy safari ink pen