I find it quite a challenge reaching the required word count in my letters. Anyone else having the same issue. Any tips on increasing word count? I feel as if my letter is clear enough after 300 words and don't want to waffle just to reach 450.
I am not sure how you can end up with a lower word count. My experience has always been that the word count is at least 10% higher than recommended.
Personally, I found when doing CA3 papers that if I was well short of the recommended word count (say more than 50/75 words) I had missed out a key point that they were looking for in the answer. I think the word count is a good guide to check if you've missed out on anything crucial or just put in far too many points into your answer.
Obviously I am the only one with this problem. Just yesterday I had to explain to some idiot why he can't have a No Claims Discount on his term assurance. I can do that in two sentences, but ended up with 350 words without missing out any ideas. I doubt that anyone is going to count the words explicitly. Anyway, maybe I'll improve with time.
I also find 300 words sufficient to write my letter/emails and do not like waffling for the sake of it. I tend to score high on the presentation q's for the assignments (80% +), but only mid-50's on the letters/emails. Can anyone tell me roughly what pass mark you need for this exam? My guess is 60% but I don't really know!
There is a Senior actuary here who marks the Communiaction paper and he told me that I should alwys get the 500 word count, because I believe there is either 2 or 4 (can't remember), attached to this......given the converstaion happened quite a while back, I vaguely remember him saying that you increasingly lose marks for every set range of word count your final draft was over by. So for eaxmple, something like 1 mark for missing he 500 count, another 2 for being over/under 50 words, etc etc. So it is worth writing anything just to fill your quota.
I disagree! Yes, they count the words. Yes, you will lose marks for being outside the guideline number of words. BUT you shouldn't pad just to make the wordcount. If you are absolutely convinced you've given enough detail and covered all the points adequately, leave it as it is as you are likely to lose marks for waffle. It is more likely, however, that you have missed something, like not explaining something fully enough. To prove a point, we once asked the examiners to mark our 250-word answer to a 500-word guideline question (Subject 201), and it was a pass (OK, not a brilliant pass, but a pass none-the-less....). However, that was a pretty unusual question and the answer was written by someone who teaches the subject.
Thanks for the answers. Next question: What score on average will get you a pass in this exam? I only ask because it would be useful to know if I am on-track or not!
We don't get told pass marks from the Profession, I'm afraid. It's important to get your scripts marked by someone and act on the feedback. Try and avoid all the things the examiners keep saying that students do badly. Percentage scores are a bit strange for this subject, in that your writing could be very good (and hence get a high score), but if you miss technical content, the script won't pass anyway. More important to look at the grade (if you're doing assignments/mocks). Ian
Is there a list of common mistakes, short of looking at all the examiner's reports? (Would rather not do this as want to attack these "blind".) Cheers muchly.
Sorry Cymro, I haven't got a concise list to hand. But the Course Notes effectively give you a list in more detail, as that really is what the course is all about! Also, the marking schedules used in the assignments and mocks act as a good checklist. The list is very long. To get you started: waffle, jargon, heavy language, repetition, misuse of numbers, unnecessary complications, wrong viewpoint.....etc. These ideas are also developed more fully at our tutorials. Hope this helps Ian
Who knows the answer?! I have sat this exam 4 times! This September will be my 5th attempt. I have been to a tutorial, been for exam councelling, I have done the assignments and still no clue as to what I should be doing differently. Just plan to keep sitting it until they get rid of this poxy exam which they may well do...you never know!
I would like to know if people actually count word by word?? I find this boring and time consuming. Instead I have started counting the number of sentences I write. If they are about 15 to 20 words long then I try to write around 30 lines (+/- 5). does anyone else follow this techniques? Thanks so much
Sentences vary in length. Try average number of words on a line -- tends to be more consistent. Sentence length is important however. I've seen a recommendation that you should not exceed 20 words. With a pass rate consistently below 40%, guess it's these type of things that are important.
