HOW DO YOU COUNT WORDS IN A WRITTEN EXAM?
I. WHAT ARE THE GENERAL POINTS? 1) It is important to clearly and precisely state the number of words in an English written exam, when the question requires it. Omitting this information will result in a penalty of one to two points! 2) Do not give an approximate number and avoid writing "about" or "around" or their symbols before the number as this could be interpreted as hesitation and will earn you a penalty of a least one point and possibly up to two, as I have already said to you. II. HOW DO YOU COUNT WORDS? In actual fact, the rule for counting words is quite simple: each word separated by a space counts as a single word. III. WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT POSSIBLE SCENARIOS? Let's look at the different cases where word counting applies and how to count them accordingly. 1) Abbreviations and acronyms count as a single word: USA = 1 word; e.g. = 1 word; for example = 2 words. 2) Compound phrases depend on spacing: sugary drink = 2 words; New York City = 3 words...