Author here. It's mostly a satire piece referring to my own experiences. I actually am familiar with the numerical value referring to the "hardness" - but you'r

Author here. It's mostly a satire piece referring to my own experiences. I actually am familiar with the numerical value referring to the "hardness" - but you're right that the way it's written could lead to that conclusion. My elementary school specifically required Number 2 pencils on scantron related tests. And in the event that you didn't have one, a number 2 pencil would be provided. I'll update the article to make it more clear!