what grade level is your writing?
Fear crept over the class room like an icy hand. The teacher’s lips moved but no sound could be heard as she wrote the assignment on the board. ‘Write an 800 word essay’.
The groans of dissatisfaction were evident on every student in the class, save one. You.
The kid with the ripped Misfits t-shirt turn to you and asks why you are not freaked out by the assignment, ‘cause everyone knows this teacher gives a lower score if you don’t write at your grade level or above’.
“I know the secret.” You reply.
Later that night, calm and collected, the words flow off your fingers as you type out your essay in Microsoft Word. You have turned on “Readability with Grade Level Ranking”.
Ha, the poor saps don’t know it’s all at their finger tips. It’s simple to enable.
- Open MS Word, click the Microsoft Office Button, then click Word Options (at the bottom), click Proofing, enable Check Grammar with Spelling, then click the Show Readability Statistics. Viola!
The next time spell check (F7) is activated, the stats window opens and there it is at the bottom of the pop up window. Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level.
At asignment turn-in day, you are calm. You know exactaly how many words are in your essay and your grade level ranking.
Parents can use this tip too!
