In the Writing paper, how important is it for candidates to get the word count exactly right?

The number of suggested words given in the question paper is a recommendation only. Placement within any particular band of the mark scheme does not depend on any one particular criterion being met or on the length of a candidate’s response. Rather, a holistic consideration of the work is needed to identify the best fit, taking into consideration all the given criteria.

However, we do recommend adhering approximately to the word counts for the following reasons.

• If a candidate writes less than the recommended word limit they may struggle to address all of the tasks in the required detail. In Q3 more precise and relevant detail may enable them to access higher bands of the mark scheme.

However, if a candidate exceeds the recommended word count too much, it may impact them for the following reasons:

• Candidates should bear in mind that they can only score a high mark for Task Completion (worth 10 of the 28 available marks in Question 3) for an answer that is focused and wholly relevant. Including information that is not directly relevant to one of the bullet points in the question may therefore negatively impact on their mark for Task Completion.
• Writing much more than 140 words often increases the chance of mistakes occurring which may impact on the marks for Accuracy (worth 8 of the 28 available marks in Question 3).

We suggest that candidates should practise answering these types of questions before the exam, and take note of how many lines/pages they should write in order to answer within the word limits (this will be different for each candidate, depending on their handwriting).