What happens if you go over the word limit? (1 Viewer)

[stazi]

I just am finishing an essay and am already on 1520 words. The word limit is 1200 and it says the absolute limit is 1400. What happens if I'm over? Are there mark penalties?

 

[gordo]

i know in my course u lose 1 mark for eveyr 100 words u go over (as in 1-100 words over the limit)

 

[QuaCk]

they don't read/assess the extra words

 

[gordo]

u email the assignment and they word check it

 

[Not-That-Bright]

I (from my limited experience) would suggest NOT going over the limit...
They can get pretty cut about this.

 

[Minai]

If your lecturer has the policy of emailing the assignment, then you're screwed (ie since they'll word check it)

Nevertheless, lecturers are pretty experienced, and they'll know what 1400 words looks like so they could probably tell. And as someone said, the most common punishment is to stop marking at the 1400 word mark.

 

[stazi]

melbournian, it is ECOP Good sign!
Did you write your real word limit on the cover sheet?

 

[yulia]

Be careful, make sure the same person is going to mark it if you're taking melbournian's advice.

I haven't gone over yet, but I went under by about 100 words and I was penalised severely for it, saying I was dramatically under the word limit, but meh, it was Socio Legal Studies so like I care.

 

[Adam]

So glad after one and a half years of Engineering I haven't ever needed to worry about a word limit.

Logic > words

 

[Generator]

Some stop reading at a certain number, others read through the entire essay and then penalise you for its length, others read through the entire essay and then decide whether the argument is worthy enough for the length to be ignored, and others just don't care provided that it's within reason (their idea of within reason, of course). I'm sure that there are other ways that an academic/marker may deal with an extended response, but they are the four that I have encountered. Given that at this stage you do not know what will happen, you would be best to ask the person who will be marking it or the person setting the marking guidelines (if possible). It's safer than hoping for the best.

 

[spin spin sugar]

i dont get how they can say "1200, maximum 1400" if they really dont give a shit how much you write. i feel sorry for the people who follow the rules and miss out on marks

 

[stazi]

Email from tutor:

Stas,
There are no strict penalties that relate to exceeding the word limit, eg one mark for every 100 words. However part of the task is to be concise, as all the topics involve large issues it is easy to exceed the limit. It is best not to though so try and cut it down.
Cheers
Gemma

 

[spin spin sugar]

yeah i can imagine if you go way over the limit, and someone else in your class doing the same question managed to keep it under and convey the same points, or better points, perhaps in less detail though, they would consider it unfair and surely penalise you for it in some way

 

[absolution*]

Yeah i pretty much ignored the 1200 limit and was aiming at 1400 the whole time. Pretty silly stuff.

 

[stazi]

i was aiming at 1500 thinking that was the max word limit. Now im fucked.

 

[Sarah168]

its not that hard to cut down 100 wds...

 

[absolution*]

true..........................

 

[stazi]

Not when you actually wrote 1650 words, hoping to cut it down to 1500. And when everything adds to the essay in it. And youre a viking.

 

[Sarah168]

lets put this in perspective. I would rather be cutting down from 1600 or whatever to 1400 then having 200wds and running out of stuff to write. Not that im in the latter situation because i havent started....

everyhing adds to the essay? yeah, well, if u gotta cut some, u gotta cut some. be more succinct.

 

[absolution*]

use auto-summarise you bum