Give Each Section of a Paper a Word Budget — Free
Papers fail at the section nobody budgeted: 900 words on the introduction, 1,200 on the first argument, and 300 words left for the conclusion the marker actually weighs. Assign words to sections before writing, and the shape of the paper stops being a surprise.
The proof surface
Free path: the card computes locally in the browser with no key and no account. Where an AI step helps, any free chat assistant works — Google AI Studio's free tier and Groq's free tier were both no-card and rate-limited when this page was reviewed on 2026-09-13 (limits change; check before you rely on them).
Why the flat version breaks
An outline gives you an order and no proportions. Word budgets give the proportions, and hours give the schedule. Both come from the same ten minutes of arithmetic and neither is visible in a document that only lists headings.
How to build the card in four passes
The introduction is usually 10 to 15 per cent of a paper and the analysis is the biggest block. Budgeting first is what stops the first section from consuming a third of the limit.
Drafting speed and editing speed are different things. Time yourself writing one section of this paper, and use that figure — 220 words an hour is realistic for argument, 600 is realistic for narrative.
Work days, not calendar days. The card gives you a daily word figure, which is the number that tells you whether the plan is possible in the time you have.
The card marks any block over four hours as one to split. The heaviest section is also the one worth starting first, because it is the one that determines whether the paper is finished.
SAMPLE DATA, NOT A VERIFIED CLAIM: AG210 · 2,500 words · five sections · 9 days · 220 words an hour · heaviest block 900 words. Replace these values with your own source before you rely on anything.
What breaks first
Budgets that do not add up to the limit
A budget of 2,100 words for a 2,500-word paper reappears as a lost mark. The total is on the card; check it against the limit before you start writing.
Skipping the conclusion in the budget
It is a section with words like any other, and the one most often written from memory at 02:00. Budgeting 250 words for it costs nothing and changes the last day entirely.
Treating the hours as a deadline
The hours figure is a plan, and the card says so. Writing takes longer than plans, which is why the daily word figure matters more than the total — it tells you early when the week has slipped.
What you pay otherwise
| The usual route | What it leaves out | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Rewriting an over-long section | Cutting 900 words you spent two days writing | two days |
| A thin conclusion | Ten per cent of a mark, written in twenty minutes | the top of a grade band |
| A deadline extension | An extension application and the disruption behind it | more time than the plan needed |
| This page + the free word budget card | Computed in your tab, result on screen before you type anything | $0 |
Try the free word budget card
Five sections are already budgeted to 2,500 words at 220 words an hour over nine days. Change the speed to 150 and every hour figure moves.
Open the free word budget card →Keep the work if you will use it again
Every section, the hours at your pace, the daily word figure and the split-the-long-block note, with no account.
Every section, the hours and the daily word figure stay free. The one-time tier adds the printable budget card plus the saved papers behind it.
Boundary: This schedules the words you assign; it does not know your assessment criteria, referencing rules or institutional limits. Check the brief, and treat the hours as a plan rather than a guarantee.