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Comment by D13Fd | Hacker News Reader

It's literally painful to do an essay exam on pen and paper.

Only part of the exam is an essay exam, but modern law is going to be practiced on a computer, and it makes sense for the test to be administered on a computer.

(if only they could get away from ExamSoft...)

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> It's literally painful to do an essay exam on pen and paper.

It is taking everything in me not to make a full-on "kids these days" rant.

In order to make it fair, you would have to hobble every test taker to use pen and paper.

I remember writing essay answers with pen and paper and also with a typewriter and using Wite-Out. I would not want to compete using those tools against someone who is able to edit their answers before submitting them.

If it makes you feel better, in my modern western country, all exams are still done with pen and paper. It pretty much only has advantages: easier to proctor, less issue with cheating, less technical problems, everyone is taking the test in the same condition. The idea that you could just come out of school and not be able to write a dozen pages without feeling pain feels weird to me.

It fades pretty quickly. My hands cramped returning from each summer vacation as a child.

I mean, it is wise of you to hold back. Writing by hand can be painful without the proper technique. I have one book that teaches you how to write properly by hand. It turns out that you should use your shoulder a lot more; it’s much easier to cramp up if you use your fingers to drive the pen/pencil, which is what I have always done. When was that book released? Maybe in the 1910s sometime. They don’t teach people such things any more.

Lack of backspace and clipboard is the point. I don't think modern people should be able to write long good text without them.

Could you share some more about this book?

It was painful for me decades ago. Not sure what it has to do with kids these days.

>pen and paper

Kids these days. Back in my day we used chalk and a slate!

Go on and copy twelve pages of a book right now. Tell me at the end that it's not painful.

> It's literally painful to do an essay exam on pen and paper.

Hahaha, flashbacks to "Blue Book" exams in college, which was a long time ago but recently enough that I basically never wrote anything by hand (all typing) except those tests. They did indeed hurt.

[EDIT] To be clear, they hurt because I rarely wrote anything by hand.

It does not need to be painful. There are pens that require far less friction to write than ballpoints or pencils, namely fountain pens and rollerballs. Good technique helps too, e.g. writing with your whole arm instead of your fingers and your wrist only.

Unfortunately, most people in Europe seem to be done with fountain pens after the first few years of elementary school. I am not sure about the rest of the world, but I would guess that it is similar.

// EDIT: Grammar

> Unfortunately, most people in Europe seem to be done with fountain pens after the first few years of elementary school.

I grew up in New Zealand.

Our writing stationery was pencils; the teachers didn't want young students using pens until the student could demonstrate competency in writing neatly. But after that, all the students used cheap ballpoint pens; maybe a gel or rollerball pen.

I never encountered fountain pens until the end of high school.

The hallowed pen licence! Our classroom had a sheet on the wall listing those who were allowed to be issued pens. Didn't make mine until year 6 I think.

Damn, I still wouldn't be allowed a neat writing device under that regime.

You are already fighting through the pain of taking a test. Pen and paper is just a tiny bit more.

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