Beginning students will often compose material that is rhythmically complex (or at least a little complicated) and certainly goes beyond their current notation literacy. Notation programs presuppose that the user understands the notation tools (pitches as well as durations, time signatures, groupings, accidentals, key signatures, and so forth), and a beginning student is highly unlikely to have a confident grasp of all that is required to create a professional-looking and ACCURATE score of their composition.

Because notation programs have a linear approach to creating the score (you decide on the time signature prior to inserting notes, for instance) the beginning student can find themselves stymied very early on in the compositional process, bogged down in literacy issues, when they should be focussing their energy on musical flow and experimentation.