Minutes a day n e w y o r k

E d i t i n g   a n d   P r o o f r e a d i n g
The revision step is not included in this lesson for an important reason. Revising takes too much time and involves
too much shuffling of text to be accomplished in the time you’re given to write your essay. Recall instead that essay
exams should be “polished rough drafts.” There won’t be extra minutes to move sentences from one paragraph
to another, delete chunks of information, or add many new points (and even if you did have the time, you’d cre-
ate a mess that most readers wouldn’t be able to make sense of). That’s why it’s critical to spend time developing
an outline and to adhere to that plan once you begin drafting. An extra sentence or two inserted later to clarify a
point is fine, but there isn’t the space or time to allow for a real revision. Instead, focus on editing and proofreading
your essay.
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