We’ve been using Remark Office for a while to mark the MCQ component of our mid semester and final year exams. Remark is probably the most commonly mentioned program when you go hunting on the net, and for good reason, it is a very good program. Unfortunately their licence management can be inconvenient if you have numerous computer issues like we have had. So I’ve had a look around to see if there are options that might be better.
This is what we are after (apart from the obvious i.e. it’s accurate and reliable)
- Can be installed on a stand alone PC
- Simple to install
- Simple to use
- Less expensive than Remark
- Quick to correct student entry errors – this is the biggest time suck with OMR
- Student ID validation – This is the worst of the entry errors. We have large units 200-600. We hand out copied sheets and students have to write in their own ID. Remark Office links to a class list to help ID verification.
I have not done a comprehensive review of features, I’ve just focused on the features listed above. Some programs I have dismissed after skimming the website, others I have downloaded and tried out.
Remark Office – cost $1400.
Annoying – Licence management/transfer is a pain. The initial learning curve is a little steep.
PC OMR – $500.
Deal breaker – If the student makes a mistake filling the square you have to edit the image and reread, you can’t just view the image and insert the correct response in the table.
http://www.cai2000.com/list/PC%20OMR/
LaCuritie Assessment OMR – $420
Annoying – No instructions. You have to put the questions in the program. You can’t do a bulk import of questions.
Deal Breaker 1 – There is no verification of student ID against an an external list (ie there is no way to now if the student go their ID wrong or duplicated).
Deal breaker 2 – BMP is the only accepted image format. Our scanner doe not output BMP image files
Deal Breaker 3 – Might not pick up entry errors by students
http://www.lacuritie.com/en/assessment-omr-suite/
Quexf – Free open source
Deal Breaker – Very complex installation process
http://quexf.sourceforge.net/
TCExam – free open sources-
Deal breaker – needs to be installed on a server
Udai OMR – Free Open Source
Deal Breaker – Insanely user unfriendly
http://www.cse.iitd.ernet.in/~aseth/udai/OMRProj/README.html
FormScanner – free Open Source
Annoying – very skimpy instructions.
Deal Breaker 1 – Form set set up not user friendly
Deal Breaker 2 – I can’t see any feature for verification of student ID against an an external list
http://sourceforge.net/projects/formscanner/
ABBYY Flexicapture
Deal Breaker – Looks like it would get the job done but it’s twice the price of Remark
http://www.abbyy.com.au/flexicapture/functionality/
SmartShoot OMR
I didn’t get a price on SmartShoot, but it’s probably my favourite of the programs I tested. When they get better English instructions it might be worth a look (assuming you don’t need student ID verification)
Very Annoying – No English instructions
Deal Breaker – There is no verification of student ID against an an external list
http://ssomr.com/eng/info.asp
KaptureAll – cost $6,000
Deal Breaker 1 – The error verification process is a bit awkward. It produces a spreadsheet of results and a list of files that it detected errors in The file shows the scanned image with the error highlighted and provides a field below the image to add the correct answer. There appears to be no quick way to check if the program misses an error. With Remark (and SmartShoot) the document image appears when you click on a student result or correct an error.
Deal Breaker 2 – I can’t see any feature for verification of student ID against an an external list
Deal Breaker 3 – It costs more than Remark Office.