Paper 1, Exercises 5 and 6, are students penalised for going over the word count?

In IGCSE English as a Second Language, component 1, Exercises 5 & 6, a word range is provided in the rubric. This is to support candidates with their responses. Whilst responses which exceed the word range provided are never penalised (marks are always awarded positively), potentially both Content and Language marks may be affected. Centres are advised to refer to the published mark schemes and the levels-based criteria for these exercises.