French written word count

BAM!!!

Right, so I do a French grind outside school, and my grinds teacher, an LC correcter, says to keep in and around the word count by counting all the words in your first line over 2 letters to give a rough estimation of how long it should be, ie if you've 7 words over 2 letters in your first line do about 10-14 lines for questions 2-3. I've heard similar from a very reputable other grind school specifically for French.

However, every teacher in my own school says 1-1.5 pages per written piece, and that you'd never get the marks sticking to the word count. I'm not sure though that any of them mark LC French but perhaps I'm wrong.

So, who do I believe?

Canard

I agree, its ridiculous to try and express yourself in 75 words when things like "il y a" count as three! I generally go over the limit (10% above is okay) but I dont know how closely you're meant to stick to it. I find simple language, sticking to the point and using idioms/sayings gets me full marks

LoonyLovegood

My French teacher corrects the leaving, she says do about 100 words for 2/3/4, and 115/120 for part 1.

Sean.

Our teacher told us that we could write anything up to 120 words for the 90 word question but I'm really not sure if they penalize you for going over. I've heard some horror stories in which the examiner simply stops reading after 75 words, puts a cross through the rest of the content and marks the essay based on what he's read. I don't really look at the word count at all, I just write everything I know, having said that, all I know usually doesn't far surpass 75 words :rolleyes:

snoreborewhore

Oh God, my essays are all at the 200 word mark! My teacher hates short essays, so my class have all kind of adapted to her ways. I really doubt you'll be penalized for going over the limit, mine were way over and an external examiner marked my mock perfectly fine!

Eathrin

I can barely even reach the 75/90 my French is so limited:o
I suppose it'd be a good thing for me if you were meant to stick to it, that way I could stick some phrases in that account for a good part of the essay:P

Togepi

I tend to average 225 words per essay.

plein de force

You can not write an essay in 75 words of any depth.
I always went way over the limit and i got an A1 in the leaving. As long as what you write is relevant and doesn't go off track then you're fine no matter what the lenght

grantyrs10

Got my french mock back the other day and was just counting the words... around 300 words for all 3 questions . I got 36 out of 40 for q1, and got 30 out of 30 for the other too on that word count and was corrected externally