Over writing in an exam...

12

Hi, I had my Spanish GCSE mock yesterday, and realized that I wrote around 250 words on a 15 marker that stated to write around 150 words. What will happen? Thank you

Reply 1

username2911200

19

Original post by tomas530

Hi, I had my Spanish GCSE mock yesterday, and realized that I wrote around 250 words on a 15 marker that stated to write around 150 words. What will happen? Thank you

They will read and mark the first 150 words and ignore everything else; you won't get any marks for anything after 150 words.

Reply 2

tomas530

OP

12

Oh, well that's not good.... :smile:

Thank you.

Reply 3

username2899906

16

Original post by Glassapple

They will read and mark the first 150 words and ignore everything else; you won't get any marks for anything after 150 words.

Are you sure that is true?

Reply 4

username2911200

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Original post by Goldfish4343

Are you sure that is true?

100% yes. If the question asks for 150 words and you write more than that, you've answered the question with the first 150 words so whatever you've written beyond that is irrelevant. After the 150 words you've officially finished the question so they won't give you marks for anything over as those words are not answering the question.

Reply 5

mushroom21

13

I do 2 languages and in both mocks they marked all the stuff I wrote and I wrote over 300 words. The question says “around 150” so even then they don’t mean bang on 150 anyway, and they probably won’t spend the time counting the words?? I don’t think you need to worry too much, after all for more able students they’d be expecting you to write more.

Reply 6

diamondionysx

8

On the exam board website (if you’re doing AQA) it actually says that they mark everything that’s you’ve written in the writing tasks, whatever’s on the page(s) so you don’t need to worry

Reply 7

username2911200

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Original post by mushroom21

I do 2 languages and in both mocks they marked all the stuff I wrote and I wrote over 300 words. The question says “around 150” so even then they don’t mean bang on 150 anyway, and they probably won’t spend the time counting the words?? I don’t think you need to worry too much, after all for more able students they’d be expecting you to write more.

Those are mocks where your teachers are nicer to you, not real exams.

Original post by diamondionysx

On the exam board website (if you’re doing AQA) it actually says that they mark everything that’s you’ve written in the writing tasks, whatever’s on the page(s) so you don’t need to worry

I'd like to see a quote for this.

Reply 8

mushroom21

13

But I’m pretty sure if it was an issue they would tell me not to write so much, I know it isn’t a real exam. In fact, I saw another thread just like this stating the same thing, that AQA marks everything a student writes in their paper

Reply 9

TomW624

14

Original post by Glassapple

Those are mocks where your teachers are nicer to you, not real exams.

I'd like to see a quote for this.

http://filestore.aqa.org.uk/subjects/AQA-MFL-TG-FAQ-14.PDF

Page 21. Points 164 and 165.

Reply 10

TomW624

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Original post by Glassapple

Those are mocks where your teachers are nicer to you, not real exams.

I'd like to see a quote for this.

Original post by TomW624

http://filestore.aqa.org.uk/subjects/AQA-MFL-TG-FAQ-14.PDF

Page 21. Points 164 and 165.

Sorry i realise that is an older document. This is a newer one (2017 onward).

http://filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/languages/AQA-MFL-GCSE-FAQ.PDF

Paragraph 8 of Page 22.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 11

TomW624

14

Original post by Glassapple

Those are mocks where your teachers are nicer to you, not real exams.

I'd like to see a quote for this.

Original post by TomW624

Sorry i realise that is an older document. This is a newer one.

http://filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/languages/AQA-MFL-GCSE-FAQ.PDF

Paragraph 8 of Page 22.

Finally found the exact one for Spanish for 2018 onward. The others are for languages in general.

http://filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/spanish/specifications/AQA-8698-SP-2016.PDF

Its on Page 100 of this document.

p.s. sorry for spamming so many just trying to give the most clear and most recent information. Also thought the general languages one would be useful for those doing something other than spanish.

Reply 12

username2911200

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Original post by TomW624

Finally found the exact one for Spanish for 2018 onward. The others are for languages in general.

http://filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/spanish/specifications/AQA-8698-SP-2016.PDF

Its on Page 100 of this document.

p.s. sorry for spamming so many just trying to give the most clear and most recent information. Also thought the general languages one would be useful for those doing something other than spanish.

'Candidates aiming at grades g–d should produce between 100 to 175 words per task. Candidates aiming at grades c–a* should produce between 200 to 300 words per task.'

http://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/82560-specification.pdf

I think it must depend on each exam board for that they want, when I did my GCSEs I did OCR.

Reply 13

slatscarl

10

Original post by Glassapple

100% yes. If the question asks for 150 words and you write more than that, you've answered the question with the first 150 words so whatever you've written beyond that is irrelevant. After the 150 words you've officially finished the question so they won't give you marks for anything over as those words are not answering the question.

thanks for the advice, will be sure to remember when i do my exams

Reply 14

TomW624

14

Original post by Glassapple

'Candidates aiming at grades g–d should produce between 100 to 175 words per task. Candidates aiming at grades c–a* should produce between 200 to 300 words per task.'

http://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/82560-specification.pdf

I think it must depend on each exam board for that they want, when I did my GCSEs I did OCR.

Yeah it says similar to what you've just stated in the AQA documents too but says any words over will still be marked.

From Page 100 of the above mentioned document.

"The student is expected to produce approximately 150 words over the whole question. The number of words expected is approximate; examiners will mark all work produced by the student."

It gives varying word approximations throughout the document for the individual written questions but always ends with the statement about all work being marked.

Did OP say what board they are doing? If not the information i've provided will be irrelevant if they are not doing AQA.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 15

username2911200

19

Original post by TomW624

Yeah it says similar to what you've just stated in the AQA documents too but says any words over will still be marked.

From Page 100 of the above mentioned document.

"The student is expected to produce approximately 150 words over the whole question. The number of words expected is approximate; examiners will mark all work produced by the student."

Did OP say what board they are doing? If not the information i've provided will be irrelevant if they are not doing AQA.

The OP didn't say what board they're doing. If they're doing AQA then you're correct, if they're doing OCR it doesn't explicitly say anything over the recommended word count won't be marked but that's what my teachers always told us.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 16

TomW624

14

Original post by Glassapple

The OP didn't say what board they're doing. If they're doing AQA then you're correct, if they're doing OCR it doesn't explicitly say anything over the recommended word count won't be marked but that's what my teachers always told us.

Either way these specifications show that you should be able to convey your points for a good amount of marks within the above mentioned limits. I probably wouldn't stress too much if its about 100 words over but if someone was writing say 500 words for something that 150 words can be worth an A* I would advice that they change/revise how they answer questions trying to be more concise and waffle less, otherwise they are just going to waste time and effort in the exam. Don't you agree?

For what your teachers told you it may be the case that they told you this as it would force you to be more concise and think how best you could answer the question with relevant information without waffling. It probably also helped your time management as you we're wasting time writing forever on a single question.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 17

BenL2001

3

They don't don't worry, no one expects you to write bang on 150 words.

Original post by Glassapple

100% yes. If the question asks for 150 words and you write more than that, you've answered the question with the first 150 words so whatever you've written beyond that is irrelevant. After the 150 words you've officially finished the question so they won't give you marks for anything over as those words are not answering the question.