Revising is not rewriting. Keep your ideas and sentences where they already work, and change only the parts that cost you marks.
This page belongs to SPM English guided writing. It helps to know the three checks for content, organisation and language.
What order should you revise in?
Start with the biggest problem and work down to the smallest. A missing point costs more than a clumsy sentence, and a clumsy sentence costs more than a wrong comma.
The four repair lessons follow that order:
- Finding the missing content point before correcting grammar checks that every required point is there.
- Turning a list of opinions into a paragraph with a supported main idea builds structure from loose statements.
- Editing an informal phrase for a specified audience without over-formalising matches tone to the reader.
- Reducing repetition while keeping the required detail tightens the wording.
What does a voice-keeping revision look like?
A student writes: “School canteen is too crowded. I think we should have two queues.” The task asks for a reason and a suggestion for the principal.
A rewrite that replaces your voice would give something like “The canteen suffers from chronic congestion.” A voice-keeping revision adds only what is missing: “The school canteen is too crowded at recess, so students wait a long time. I suggest two queues, one for drinks and one for food.”
The writer’s own plain sentences remain. The revision adds a reason and a detail for the suggestion, and fixes the missing “the” before “school canteen”.
Where should you start?
If you often lose credit for leaving out a point, begin with the first lesson. If your answers cover the points but read as a list, go to the second. If your tone is often marked as wrong, try the third.
After the lessons, use the practice set for this topic. The English writing task checklist gives you the same order as a tick list, and grammar repair helps with the final accuracy pass.
If you would like a teacher to revise your own drafts beside you, see online one-to-one English tuition.