What's the OU's tolerance on the word count?

[said]

I know I could email my tutor but thought I'd get a quicker response here? Anyone?

I keep cutting but it's starting to lose any coherence now.

As Prolesworth said, it's usually 10%. But do check with your tutor as each one is different - my current one (my sixth over the years) is very anti-going over the word count, and while he hasn't marked me down so far, he has made quite a big thing of it in feedback. So my latest TMA is full of tables and very little continuous prose .

always check with your tutor. some will refuse to mark anything above the word limit even if its only fifty words of the conclusion of a four thousand word essay.

I thought you had to be exact and they would then stop reading and only mark you on what was within the word count. That's what my tutor warned us against on our ETMA.

Tutor has told me it's 10%. Phew! Thanks all. Will remember to use more tables next time though, good tip

I teach an OU course and we have just had this discussion with the office. Apparently, many students are under the false impression that there is a 10% leeway - there isn't. The word limit is the actual maximum and if you go over, then you lose marks. Refs are not counted. Usually there is just a warning if it is the first TMA.

That's how it is for our course - so you might want to check. Even some tutors don't seem to be clear about this.

We were just told this and it is still being discussed - as you no doubt realise - there is no easy way to exclude refs from a count so it a royal PITA for the tutor!

I cut and paste to a new document and remove the footnotes so I get an exact word count. Footnotes don't count, but references within the work do. Or they did when I did my OU studies.

Well, from memory, the TMA booklet says something about if you exceed the 10% tolerance re the word count a second time, you will lose 10% off your mark. Wish suggests that there is a 10% tolerance. Anyway, my tutor has said it's ok so I'm sticking with that unless told otherwise. Deducting the in-text refs would be a major PITA - but doing the whole thing has been a major PITA when trying to use Open Office for the first time and needing to cut and paste diagrams - which aren't included in the word count?

i wish everyone would agree with a bog standard system, on our course it's 10% and not allowed any quotes or headings

Why can't you quote?

quotes don't count on webcounts i mean

AFAIK on our course there's 10% leeway. Footnotes and biblio don't count, but the in text references do.

on my psych they stop reading at the word limit

I'm going to ask about this varying from course to course and get back.

Any update Acinonyx?

I posted the query online but haven't had a reply. If I do I will be sure to post it here.

Acinonyx,

In case it's helpful, I've cut and pasted below the feedback I got from my tutor on word count - and how to stay within it - on my last TMA. I had contacted him beforehand and asked him what his policy was on word count, and he said 10% over was OK, so I was a bit miffed when he brought it up in feedback. Looking at it on the cold light of day of course it is all helpful advice , and I am aiming to stay within the wordcount for the TMA I ought to be I'm writing this weekend.

"... It follows a logical format and covers the main points asked for but is over word limit. Do look at how you might reduce word count as concise writing is an important skill to get your ideas across to the reader.

The following points may help you for the next TMA.

1. Remove all adjectives - a "bad disaster" is just " a disaster" - you don't need to put the "bad" in and you save words.

1. At an early draft stage, write a summary of the main points - an executive summary - then focus your next draft on these points. - One of the impressions I get from your report is that you've done a lot of work but have had difficulty deciding what needs to go in / could be left out. With these assignments you need to focus on the purpose - for example TMA02 when you come to write it, has a purpose to convince the reader that your proposal is a good idea and to agree to do it. So here, you need to apply the test of "does this help make a good case for my proposal?"

1. Get someone else to read it - and ask them to feed back to you what they understood.

1. Look for places where you repeat yourself.

1. Avoid excess information give, give the reader what they need to understand and make judgement on what you are telling them."

Sorry, just re-read thread and realised I should have been addressing my previous post to said, not Acinonyx!

Cheers midtowner All useful stuff - except getting someone else to read it

Thanks as well Acinonyx

Ha ha. Got my TMA back. Very happy with result but my tutor has made a few "You could have said more on x..." type comments. No, really, I couldn't. Aargh!