How strict are universities on word count?

Most college application portals specify a word count range for your essay, and you should stay within 10% of the upper limit. If no word count is specified, we advise keeping your essay between 400 and 600 words. You should aim to stay under the specified limit to show you can follow directions and write concisely.

How strict are unis on word count?

As a rule, a word count is a target. Get within 10% either way and you've met the requirement. A strong paper that goes 20% over or under might be acceptable, but with a warning. 30% or more might require a revision or suffer some grading down.

What happens if you go over the word count at university?

Word limit penalties

The precise word count must be written on the coversheet. Overlong essays will be penalised according to the following rule: 1% of the maximum obtainable mark will be deducted for every 100 words, or part thereof, over the word limit.

How far over a word count is acceptable?

No more than 5% above or below the word limit is acceptable for written assignments (e.g. an essay of 3000 words must be no less than 2850 and no more than 3150).

How strict is a word limit?

For the vast majority of programs, it's generally acceptable to exceed the word limit by 5%. There are, of course, a few exceptions: Caveat #1: If a school gives you a range (e.g., 250-750 words), you should ideally stay within that range.

How I was ALWAYS Under the Word Count for EVERY University Essay | Essay Technique

Do lecturers check word counts?

As far as your professors are concerned, they will check the word count of your assignment. They need to see if you have done the work properly or not. They can check the word limit in many ways. There are many word counter apps that they can use to check.

Is it okay to go below word limit?

If you've already pruned and deleted and minimized and made it as tight as possible, you'll probably be fine. In most academic situations, yes. Teachers usually want "around" 500 words or "around" 300 words. So a "few" will unlikely draw a penalty.

Can you go over a word limit in university?

If you are found to have exceeded the specified word limit for an assessment, your work will be subject to a penalty: Up to 10% over length – No deduction off final mark. Between 10% and 20% over length – Deduction of 5 marks off final mark.

Does word count really matter?

Publishers have reasons for their word count guidelines.

An overly-long book costs more to print, more for the paper it's printed on, more editing hours, and occupies shelf space that could have held two books rather than one. Both readers and other author friends will appreciate a book that “stays in its lane.”

What if my essay is over the word limit?

If you've gone over the word limit set for your assignment, shorten your sentences and cut repetition and redundancy during the editing process. If you use a lot of long quotes, consider shortening them to just the essentials. If you need to remove a lot of words, you may have to cut certain passages.

Will I lose marks for going over word count?

If you say get 60 marks/100 in an essay and you go over your word count, you lose 10% of your marks.

How to reduce word count?

Is there a minimum word count for UCAS?

UCAS personal statement word limit

Your personal statement length can be up to 4,000 characters long. This may sound a lot, but it's a word limit of around 550–1000 words with spaces and only about 1 side of typed A4 paper. You need to keep it concise and make sure it's clear and easy to read.

Can you go 10 percent over word count?

Assignment length requirements are usually given in terms of numbers of words. Unless the lecturer tells you that these limits are strict, it is normally acceptable to be 10% above or below this word limit (so, for example, a 2000 word assignment should be between 1800 and 2200 words).

Is 60 000 words too short for a novel?

In general, the Safe Zone for adult fiction is 70,000-100,000, and the Safe Zone for adult nonfiction is 60,000-90,000 words. Less than that and your book is probably too short. More than that and your book is probably too long.

How important is word count in university essays?

Essays are given specified word counts for a reason. They prevent us from going too far in our research, thereby losing a sustained argument, and they prevent us from keeping our scope too narrow. However, cutting word counts is not always easy, especially in a piece of writing you have written yourself.

Is 50 000 words too short for a novel?

Generally, a story that is over 40k words is considered a novel, but it'll be on the much shorter side since the average length of the novel is around 50k-70k words. But there is also another important thing to consider; whether the word count is sufficient for the novel depends on its genre.

What is the leeway for the UCL word count?

You may be told the word count at the UCL Institute of Education in one of the following ways: 2000 words: this means you need to write 2000 words, plus or minus 10% leeway. This means you need to write a minimum of 1800 words and a maximum of 2200 words.

What is the penalty for word count in UCL?

Work that exceeds the word count by more than 10% will be reduced by one grade or 10 percentage points. This must not take the mark below the Pass Mark. Any material in addition to the 10% excess may not be taken into account in grading.

What is the minimum word count for Turnitin?

To submit successfully, Turnitin requires files to be: less than 100MB; has a minimum of 20 words (unless the assignment settings state otherwise) is less than 800 pages (.

Does Turnitin word count include references?

Footnotes are counted in PDF documents but are not counted when submitted as part of a word document. Turnitin – and Word – will by default count every word in a document; titles, references, bibliographies etc (but not, as described above, footnotes in Word documents).

Why do professors care about word count?

Word count requirements are set by professors so students thoroughly answer writing assignments and to discourage unnecessarily lengthy responses. In theory, they add structure to assignments.

Does UCAS have to be exactly 4000 characters?

Remember, it can only be 4,000 characters, which is about two sides of A4. So, you'll need to use your words wisely to fit everything in. You can find a full guide on How to start a personal statement: the attention grabber, but here are the main things to think about. Don't overthink the opening.

Is my personal statement too short?

How long should my Personal Statement be? The length of a personal statement varies depending on the university, but generally, the average length for an undergraduate application is between 400-600 words, around one side of A4 paper or a maximum of 47 lines.

Does UCAS 4000 characters include spaces?

The maximum number of characters is 4000, and this includes spaces.