A paper can be perfectly written and still fail on the photocopier. A header that pushes the first question onto page two, margins too tight for the office stapler, an answer space so cramped students write up the side — these are not content problems, but they cost marks and minutes all the same. Print-readiness is a design decision, and it should be the default, not an afterthought.
The print checklist
- Margins wide enough for stapling and the copier’s own clipping — not the screen’s edge-to-edge.
- A running header with subject, class, and total marks on every page, so loose sheets can be reunited.
- Answer spaces sized to the expected response, so a three-mark question gets three marks’ worth of room.
- Page breaks that never split a question from its options or its answer lines.
There is one more strip worth designing in deliberately: a clean OMR/identification band at the top — name, roll number, section — laid out the same way on every paper so a stack can be sorted at a glance.
Margins, header, and ID strip designed in — not patched after the first bad print.
Nobody grades a paper on screen. If it was not designed for the photocopier, it was not finished.
Rabia Naqvi
Rabia writes about the day-to-day workflows that give teachers their evenings back — from answer keys to term calendars — drawn from years in the staff room.
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