Planning and Editing Under Time Pressure
Understand how paragraph structure can be varied to create cohesion, and paragraphs and images can be integrated for different purposes.
In an exam you cannot write a better essay than your plan allows. Five minutes of planning buys more marks than five minutes of extra writing — every time.
Method
Plan on the page, and leave it there
The plan is usually credited. Draw a line through it rather than erasing it.
Ten per cent planning, ten per cent editing
In a fifty-minute essay: five minutes to plan, forty to write, five to check.
Never start a new paragraph in the last two minutes
An unfinished paragraph costs more than a missing one. Stop and edit instead.
Edit for two things only
Sentences that run on, and words you repeated. Everything else is a luxury under time.
Worked example
e.g. A fifty-minute essay, from reading the question to putting the pen down.
- Minute 0 to 1. Underline the command word and the limiting words in the question.Discuss is not argue. To what extent is not whether.
- Minute 1 to 3. Dump every idea in note form. Do not judge them yet.Quantity first. Selection comes next.
- Minute 3 to 4. Number the notes into paragraph order and cross out the weakest.Weakest to the middle. Strongest last.
- Minute 4 to 5. Write your first line and your last line before you start.Knowing where you are aiming stops the essay wandering.
- Minutes 5 to 45. Write. One paragraph per numbered note, no new ideas.Resisting the good idea that arrives at minute 30 is a skill.
- Minute 45. Stop writing, even mid-argument. Finish the sentence and move on.Do not begin a paragraph you cannot complete.
- Minutes 45 to 50. Edit for run-on sentences and repeated words only.Read the last line. Does it answer the question you underlined?
Practice
Timing decisions, made in advance so you do not have to make them in the room.
1
You have eight minutes left and two paragraphs still planned. What do you do?
AnswerWrite one properly rather than two badly, then edit. A complete paragraph scores; two half-paragraphs and an abandoned sentence do not.
2
Why is the plan left visible instead of erased?
AnswerIt is usually credited, and it shows the marker your structure was deliberate. Draw a single line through it so it is clearly identified as planning.
3
A great new argument occurs to you at minute 30. Do you use it?
AnswerNo. Inserting it breaks the structure you planned and usually costs more in cohesion than the idea gains in content. Note it and move on.
4
Under time pressure, why edit only for run-on sentences and repetition?
AnswerThey are the two errors a marker notices most and that are quickest to fix. Hunting for subtler improvements in five minutes usually creates new mistakes.