Word count

Overall:

From the subject guide:

“The total word count for the documentation must not exceed 2,000 words. This does not include excerpts of code, comments or diagrams. The overall word count must be clearly written on the first page of the document.”

With respect to success criteria:

From the IB representative on the official teacher forums:

Success Criteria are not included in the word count if they do not contain extended writing. The CS FAQ will be updated (hopefully soon) to clarify this.

With respect to diagrams:

From the subject FAQ:

In terms of diagrams, words that are used to label or identify the diagram or elements in the diagram are not included in the word count.

With respect to tables:

From the subject FAQ:

Tables (as used in design or in testing strategy) are typically not counted in the word count. However, extended writing (like descriptions or explanations) in tables will be part of the word count.

With respect to testing:

From the subject FAQ:

The assessment criteria are looking for evidence of the testing strategy and not necessarily the actual testing itself. Students can include examples of the strategy being applied in the documentation, but they do not need to provide full testing. This could be included in the appendices if it is important to reference in the documentation. The TSM suggests incorporating test tables for a few major algorithms with observed results. Tables are not part of the word count. The exemplars in the PRC help illustrate this.