What is an Optical Answer Sheet?
An optical answer sheet is a form which is covered in a numbered and lettered grid of bubbles. These bubbles can be filled out by users to convey specific information, and the completed optical answer sheet can be fed through a machine which is capable of reading and interpreting the filled out bubbles. These sheets are used extensively in education, but they have other uses as well. Optical answer sheets are also called bubble sheets, in a reference to the bubbles which the user fills in, or Scantron® sheets, in a reference to a major optical scanning company. In the educational field, an optical answer sheet is paired with a multiple choice examination. As the test-taker reaches a numbered question, he or she fills out the lettered bubble which appears to be the best answer. The teacher can feed an answer key into an optical scanning machine and follow the key with the completed bubble sheets. The machine marks any wrong answers on the bubble sheets and typically indicates how many q
