The Full form of OMR is Optical Mark Recognition. OMR recognizes marks made on a specially printed paper or document by human beings that are used in examinations, surveys, etc. It is generally used where a large number of applicants apply and data has to be processed immediately and with accuracy. Data from the document is read with an OMR reader. Data sheet is scanned through a scanner that shines a beam of light on the form paper and detects the areas of limited light transmittance i.e; in comparison to blank areas, marked areas reflect less light.
It gives less than one percent error. The applications where OMR is used are; Examinations, Surveys, Election, Evaluation and Feedback form and Banking and Insurance. Earlier, special ink, special paper and special input reader were required for the Optical Mark Recognition systems which restricted the questions to be asked. Now user can ask suitable questions and create their own forms.
On average check, it takes less than 5 milliseconds. User can use any type of mark, circle, square, ellipses. The disadvantages of OMR systems are that user can’t collect large number of text as it complicates the data and in this process, data can be missed. Also, only MCQs (multiple choice questions) are preferable in OMR system.