ABSTRACT
Educating the younger generation poses problems for governments all round the world, but are these problems on a more gigantic scale than in the People’s Republic of China. Its school-aged population is already an enormous 200 million and increasing rapidly. The government there is determined to overcome all the difficulties it faces. China has never had a system of standardized universal education but it regards the multiple choice examination system as a means of achieving uniformity of marking and asessment nationwide. Multiple choice offered the State Education Commission in China an examination system which is fair and brings about better selection of pupils for further education. The technology which has made the widespread use of multiple choice assessment possible is known as Optical Mark Reading. Data can be transferred directly from multiple choice examination papers completed in pencil into a computer. The pencil marks are detected by a method based on reflected infra-red light.
