Four hour exams, what's a good word count? Forum

[Bankhead]

just enough to demonstrate solid legal analysis and argumentation.

1L year definitely noticed an inverse correlation between high word counts and top grades. A-quality answers shouldn't have any extraneous or frivolous material. Be concise.

For example, a student who gets a B+ by writing 7k words likely won't be able to improve by writing 5k words instead -- he/she will probably just hit less issues and come out with a worse grade.

I said "just enough" -- lowering word count for the sake of lowering word count has little to do with writing "just enough to demonstrate solid legal analysis and argumentation." The point, in large part, of law exams is to demonstrate good judgment, persuasive ability, and technical mastery of the material (while remaining "objective."). So giving a hard number like OP is requesting is meaningless without analyzing the substance of the fact pattern.

[ResolutePear]

I have heard of some people spewing out 9K words and others hitting a high of 3K. I know quantity does not necessarily equal quality. But, what's a good word count?

Also, none of your shenanigans Helm.

I agree. 9000.


But, to be honest.. I doubt that prof's are going to assign grades via word count.

[keg411]

I still think I wrote way too many words on my Torts final and I'm kicking myself over it. I wish I could have been more concise, because I agree with those who generally say concise = better. Median, here I come .

[alllucknotalent]

does anybody have a guess for how characters=words

so far my conracts and property i have been right around 30k characters but have no idea to guess how many words that is

[MBZags]

does anybody have a guess for how characters=words

so far my conracts and property i have been right around 30k characters but have no idea to guess how many words that is

I think 30,000 characters is somewhere around 5,000 words.

[swc65]

Yeah I had 5K words and just over 30K characters. You can try hitting ctrl+w on examsoft and it will give the word count.

[swc65]

Also, I see now that posting this topic was probably misguided. I was just a little spooked at the time because someone had written 9K words!!! however, it turns out they were spewing their outline into the test and reciting every rule a la LEEWS. I have now had two professors tell me that the last thign they want to read is the legal rules considering they have taught them a thousand times.

[TCScrutinizer]

I might have written 3,000 words for my 4-hour Ks final. I knew the material, applied it as succinctly as possible, and I think I covered my bases in most respects. I'm expecting a B- to B, though, based simply on the fact that I didn't write nearly as much as I could. I'll probably be posting about it in the horrible exam stories whenever I get my grades back... it was a weird exam for me.