Scanned: Scanning Tips

Tips for working with Gradescope scanned assignments

Avoiding unreadable scans

1. Encourage students to write darker
2. Crank up the contrast
3. Crank up the resolution

When none of that works: How to fix unreadable scans

If you have a submission on Gradescope that is unreadable, perhaps because the student wrote too light, here’s how you can fix it.

Note: you MUST have access to the original paper submissions.

1. Locate the original paper submission for that student.
2. Make a copy of that submission using the “Pale” setting (look for it at the left hand side of the CS Dept. Copier menu.) You should see the contrast improve greatly.
   • Repeat this process if needed;on this setting, for really light pencil, a copy of a copy often looks better than the original.
3. Scan THAT new copy to a pdf
   • you want this pdf to be only for ONE student’s submission
   • you can just email it to yourself since it’s just one submission
4. Go to Manage Submissions in Gradescope. Locate the student’s submisson (you can search by name).
5. On that student’s submission, click “show details” and find the place where it says “Replace PDF”.
   • Upload the new PDF.
   • Don’t worry: none of the grading you’ve done so far will be lost. You’ll just get clearer images.