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November 01, 2025, 05:28:23 am
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Author Topic: English Exam Word Length?  (Read 2924 times)  Share 

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casbanjo

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English Exam Word Length?
« on: October 22, 2013, 04:52:19 pm »
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How many words should I aim for per section in the English exam? Is 700-800 words enough?
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Damoz.G

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Re: English Exam Word Length?
« Reply #1 on: October 22, 2013, 05:06:34 pm »
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I found out yesterday from my English Teacher (Who is an assessor) that you should be aiming for 800-1000 words per section. Bare minimum 750.
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casbanjo

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Re: English Exam Word Length?
« Reply #2 on: October 22, 2013, 05:29:39 pm »
+3
oh boy
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Year 12 VCE Studies:
2012: Legal Studies [36]
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2014: Chemistry [37], Specialist Maths [40]
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Damoz.G

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Re: English Exam Word Length?
« Reply #3 on: October 22, 2013, 05:40:43 pm »
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Yeah I know. :( I thought it was about 600-700. Luckily she told us!
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Stick

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Re: English Exam Word Length?
« Reply #4 on: October 22, 2013, 08:23:03 pm »
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I'm sure that you wouldn't be penalised if you wrote something really well but it only happened to be 700 words (this is on the short side though). I think what your teacher was hinting at is that you need to go into enough detail (but not necessarily too much detail!) in order to do well. Remember, assessors reward you on what you have done, not penalise you on what they wished you had done or thought you should have done. If it's a good piece, these aspects won't matter one bit. :)
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pi

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Re: English Exam Word Length?
« Reply #5 on: October 22, 2013, 08:39:09 pm »
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Quote from: Damoz. on October 22, 2013, 05:06:34 pm
I found out yesterday from my English Teacher (Who is an assessor) that you should be aiming for 800-1000 words per section. Bare minimum 750.

Bare minimum for what?
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chasej

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Re: English Exam Word Length?
« Reply #6 on: October 22, 2013, 08:51:48 pm »
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It's far better to write 700 words and it look good as opposed to 1000 words with 300 words which are completely useless. I doubt examiners have the time, drive or energy to count words and therefore they can't possibly mark you on length but rather on content.

That being said, obviously by the time you get to the exam you should be able to write 800-1000 words as you would have hopefully revised enough content to write a good essay at that length.

TL;DR: If there was a minimum word count VCAA would say so on the exam instructions.

AND FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY DO NOT BE THE KID THAT SPENDS HALF OF THEIR WRITING TIME COUNTING WORDS.
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brenden

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Re: English Exam Word Length?
« Reply #7 on: October 22, 2013, 09:45:37 pm »
+1
May as well add - my longest piece was I /think/ around 970 words or something, with my shortest being 780 or so I think.
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Damoz.G

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Re: English Exam Word Length?
« Reply #8 on: October 23, 2013, 05:46:29 pm »
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Quote from: pi on October 22, 2013, 08:39:09 pm
Bare minimum for what?

Words per section....
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brenden

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Re: English Exam Word Length?
« Reply #9 on: October 23, 2013, 06:03:16 pm »
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I think he means grade scale.
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Damoz.G

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Re: English Exam Word Length?
« Reply #10 on: October 24, 2013, 10:53:52 am »
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Ohhh....Well my teacher said its the minimum word range you should be at, otherwise it would be too short, and MAY lose marks. =/
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brenden

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Re: English Exam Word Length?
« Reply #11 on: October 24, 2013, 12:34:34 pm »
+1
Your teacher is probably right :p. pi is saying, 300 words might be the minimum for a 5/10
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