Flesch Grade Level in word 2003

[grilly08]

What is maximum grade level in Word 2003? I thought it was 12.0 in previous
versions of Word but have just got a score of 16.7. Also what is minimum
grade score? thanks.

 

[Jay Freedman]

What is maximum grade level in Word 2003? I thought it was 12.0 in
previous versions of Word but have just got a score of 16.7. Also
what is minimum grade score? thanks.

The formula used by Word is shown at
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HP051863181033.aspx.

The formula itself doesn't provide any maximum value -- if the document has
very long sentences containing polysyllabic words, I suppose the Flesch
Grade Level score could be pushed as high as you like. I don't know whether
Word's programming would report some maximum value regardless of the actual
score.

If you plug in small values for the ASL and ASW variables, the formula can
return values less than zero, down to a minimum of -3.4. The lowest value
that Word will report is zero. For example, look at the score for a document
containing the valid (though terse) text

Rise. Eat. Work. Eat. Sleep.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
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