PreMark™ allows you to pre-print critical respondent information onto select
BenchMark™ 3000 and Advantage™ 1200 test documents. This pre-printing
process is also known as 'pre-slugging' or 'pre-coding.' By pre-printing this
important information in a manner that our scanners can automatically interpret,
people will spend less time filling in bubbles and administrators spend less time
addressing incorrectly bubbled answer sheets.
In seven easy steps, PreMark™ allows you to define how you want data to print
onto your answer sheets.
- Step 1: Prepare a Microsoft Excel® spreadsheet ('roster') with the
information you want to print onto your BenchMark™ 3000 or Advantage™
1200 answer sheets.
- Step 2: Open PreMark™ and chose the template for your answer sheet.
- Step 3: Import your roster spreadsheet into PreMark™.
- Step 4: Map the fields in your spreadsheet to the fields on your answer sheet template.
- Step 5: Select which fields you want PreMark™ to code to be read by your scanner. (Only numeric-only data can be read by the scanner)
- Step 6: If you need to, you may sort your file to print in a particular order.
- Step 7: Your data will be merged into a PDF that you can now overprint onto your selected AccuScan answer sheet.
Once you have printed your answer sheets and your assessments, evaluations, or surveys
have been administered, simply scan your documents using our DataLink™ software
and receive the immediate gratification of increased data accuracy!
Can I use PreMark™ to print my own answer sheets instead of
purchasing them?
No. PreMark™ allows you to print crucial information over your purchased answer sheets,
but does not allow you to print the actual stock answer sheet.
What answer sheets will PreMark™ work with?
PreMark™ will work only with select BenchMark™ 3000 and Advantage™ 1200 answer
sheets that are made for pre-printing. You can tell if your answer sheet is made for
pre-printing if it has either an area on the top of the form with light vertical bars (in the
case of forms that use binary slugging) or if your form has one thick vertical bar along the
right side of your form. These bars are where the binary marks or barcodes are overprinted. For
a list of specific forms that can be used with PreMark™, contact us at
premark@appersonprint.com.
I am creating a custom answer sheet. Will PreMark™ work with my
answer sheet?
Yes, but we will need to create a custom template for you. Please be sure to let your sales
representative know that you are interested in using PreMark™ with your answer sheet so
that the form can be properly designed to accommodate the requirements of PreMark™.
Will PreMark™ work with my Scantron™ or NCS™ forms?
No, not at this time. However, please contact us at
premark@appersonprint.com, as we may have an alternative solution for you.
What type of printers will PreMark™ work with?
PreMark™ generally works with any normal laser printer. The printer should be set to only
print using black ink. Although binary and barcode pre-printing is much more forgiving than
traditional pre-slugging, where marks must very precisely hit bubbles, customers must still be
careful to check that their answer sheets are not shifting too much during the printing process.
Every printer has different tolerances for how much documents may shift during printing. Please
be sure to inspect answer sheets throughout your print run for alignment.
Will PreMark™ only work with certain test scanners?
Yes, PreMark™ is only designed to work with Apperson's BenchMark™ 3000 and
Advantage™ 1200 test scanners.
What type of format must my data be in for PreMark™?
Your data must be formatted in a Microsoft Excel® spreadsheet. The spreadsheet
should be in the same file format as the version currently installed on your PC (i.e., if the file
format is Excel 2007, and you are running Excel 2003 on your computer, you must convert the file
to Excel 2003 format). The data should be entered into your spreadsheet
as you wish to see it printed. For example, if the data is in all capitals in your spreadsheet,
it will print in all capitals. If you have your students' first names and last names in separate
columns, you will have to print them in separate fields on your answer sheet.
What type of data can be pre-printed using PreMark™?
There are two types of data being printed by most customers: human-readable data and
machine-readable data. The human-readable data will be things such as the student's name and
test name. This data is generally more useful for knowing to whom the answer sheet should be
provided. On the other hand, you will also be printing machine-readable data. This is data that
the scanners will read. This data will be printed either as binary marks along the top of your
answer sheets or as a barcode along the side of your answer sheets. Typically machine-readable
data is the critical information you must capture in order to tie the test data back to a student
and to know what test the answer sheet represents. Machine-readable data can only be numeric.
The human-readable data can be alphabetic and/or numeric.
I am trying to select a field to be barcoded or binary coded but it
doesn't appear in the drop down box. Why?
Only fields in your file that contain numeric only data will be shown as eligible for binary
coding or barcoding. If PreMark™ is not presenting the field you want to print, it is
likely that one or more of your cells contains non-numeric data. To fix this, you must remove the
non-numeric data from your roster and refresh your session.
How much data can be pre-printed?
The amount of data that you can pre-print depends on the size of the fields on your answer sheet.
Some sheets are more restrictive than others. Please be aware that some BenchMark forms do not
allow more than 14 characters to be barcoded. The size limitation for how many characters can be
binary coded or barcoded depends on how many fields you are pre-printing in these areas, so it is
difficult to provide an exact maximum number of characters.
Why am I getting an error message when I select the fields I want to
barcode/binary code?
You have exceeded the maximum character length allowed for the barcode or binary area for your
particular form. You will need to deselect one or more fields or find a way to reduce the size
of one or more of your fields within your roster file and re-import.
I have pre-printed information but it is not showing up in
DataLink™ when I scan. What is going on?
Most likely the problem is that you have not enabled those fields to be displayed in
DataLink™. To display the fields, in DataLink™ go to View, select Scanner Results
Grid Options and then select the checkboxes next to the fields you want to view.
How do I know if the machine-readable data I pre-printed will be read
correctly?
You should always print a few sample answer sheets before printing your entire roster file's
worth. You should both visually inspect your answer sheets and, more importantly, scan your
sample answer sheets to ensure that the data is being brought into DataLink™ in the way
that you expect.