Editing and Revision

Self-editing guides and revision habits for polishing 11+ creative writing under time pressure.

3articles

The Self-Editing Checklist Every 11+ Student Needs

Give students a practical checklist they can memorise and apply in the last minutes of any timed writing task. Organise it into three levels: surface (spelling, punctuation, capital letters), structural (paragraphs, opening, ending), and craft (show not tell, varied sentences, figurative language). For each checkpoint, provide a specific question to ask: "Have I used at least two different sentence openers in each paragraph?" Explain that self-editing is a skill that improves with practice, not a talent. Include a sample marked-up paragraph showing edits in action.

7 min readIntermediate

7 Common Writing Mistakes 11+ Students Make (and How to Fix Them)

Identify the seven most frequent errors that cost marks in 11+ creative writing based on common examiner feedback: tense inconsistency, comma splices, starting every sentence with "I" or "The", telling instead of showing, no paragraphs, weak endings, and overuse of exclamation marks. For each mistake, show a real-looking example, explain why it loses marks, and provide a corrected version. Keep the tone constructive: every mistake on this list is fixable with awareness and practice.

8 min readIntermediate

Upgrading Your First Draft: A Revision Guide for 11+ Writers

Take a deliberately mediocre first draft and walk through the process of improving it. Show five revision passes: replacing vague words with precise ones, adding sensory detail, varying sentence structure, strengthening the opening and ending, and checking technical accuracy. At each stage, show the text before and after the revision. Explain that first drafts are supposed to be imperfect; the skill is in knowing how to improve them. Include a "revision checklist" students can use on their own work.

8 min readIntermediate

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