Check answer length against assignment limits.
Word limits usually come with a stated tolerance, commonly 10 percent either side, and both bounds matter. Going over risks a penalty or having the excess simply not read. Coming in well under is the more common and more costly error, because it almost always means a criterion has not been addressed — markers set limits to indicate the depth expected. The words-per-mark figure is the genuinely useful output: at 800 words for 25 marks you have roughly 32 words per mark, which tells you how much text each point in the rubric can support and whether your allocation across sections is sensible.
Allowed range
Lower = limit x (1 - tolerance%); Upper = limit x (1 + tolerance%)
Words per mark
Words per mark = word limit / marks available
Not usually. A limit signals the depth a marker expects, so an answer at 60 percent of it has almost certainly skipped a criterion or left an argument undeveloped. Being 20 percent under is a stronger warning sign than being 5 percent over.
Allocating effort. If a question is worth 25 marks with an 800-word limit, a section carrying 10 marks deserves roughly 320 words. It stops you writing 500 words on the part you find interesting and 100 on the part carrying most of the marks.