Importance of spelling in exams?

[kenhung123]

Are you penalised for spelling in science exams? I mean by spelling words slightly incorrectly however the meaning is clear and the misspelt word does not resemble another word. Example maybe in biology we are asked to name a disease and we write dyabetis instead of diabetes will we get no marks?

[periwinkle]

  eye rekkon good england speling and grammer are really importent if you dont done it in a ixam youl b in trubble

[periwinkle]

 no, seriously, it varies, sometimes they're uber-strict, sometimes not

[ninwa]

as long as it's not mistakable for another word - examiners will not guess at what you were TRYING to say

[/0]

Chem teacher said if you misspell 'cryolite' you will lose the mark, so I would try not to 'mispell' things
(He sometimes marks vcaa exams)

[periwinkle]

Are you penalised for spelling in science exams? I mean by spelling words slightly incorrectly however the meaning is clear and the misspelt word does not resemble another word. Example maybe in biology we are asked to name a disease and we write dyabetis instead of diabetes will we get no marks?

Well you know how to spell diabetes now don't you ?

They are lenient, yes, but only if they can understand what you are trying to say.

Misspells like:
Thiamine     -> some nutrient
for
Thymine      -> the base

They will penalise you for this.

   what if you confuse 'organism' with 'orgasm'?

[shinny]

Are you penalised for spelling in science exams? I mean by spelling words slightly incorrectly however the meaning is clear and the misspelt word does not resemble another word. Example maybe in biology we are asked to name a disease and we write dyabetis instead of diabetes will we get no marks?

For Biology, no. As long as it sounds phonetically correct, they will give you the mark. However, if it is ambiguous as to what you're referring to, as with the whole glycogen/glucagon thing, then they aren't going to give you the benefit of the doubt if you write glycogon, but you will for glikojen (well, possibly...might be too extreme of an example). Hence for that reason, you're better off just learning the spellings. I think the same rule applies to other sciences, but I haven't had teacher confirmation on the rules in the others.