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STAGE 7: The Second Rehearsal

Hopefully you’re feeling more confident now that you’ve completed your first rehearsal draft and created a revision plan with your essay coach. Now it’s time to head into your second rehearsal, using your STAGE 6 Revision Run Through notes to guide you.

Focus, Focus, Focus

Remember that the focus of the first rehearsal draft was content. We didn’t worry too much about word count or organization because we wanted you to feel free to let your ideas take shape. 

In this stage, however, we want you to concentrate on three key areas:

  1. Focus: Your essay clearly demonstrates the development of your personal quality, as well as its impact.

  2. Structure and organization: Your ideas flow smoothly from one to the next, and the reader can easily follow your story and reflections.

  3. Meaningful details: Your essay includes details that help to push your story along. 

Your second draft probably won’t be right at the 650 word count mark. That’s okay! There’s still a third draft ahead of us, and we’ll concentrate more on word count and any grammar and styling issues then. 

Pro Tip: Dishing Out Advice

When you begin your second rehearsal draft, we have a very important piece of advice. DO NOT copy and paste your first rehearsal draft into a new document and simply tweak sentences. You might think you’re saving yourself time, but in most cases you’re actually not - it’s much easier to write new paragraphs than it is to ‘fix’ old paragraphs at this stage.

If you’re not convinced, think about a recipe. When you first attempt to cook a new dish, it usually doesn’t turn out exactly like you imagined. It takes a few cooking ‘rehearsals’ to get the temperature, timing, and measurements just right.  With each ‘rehearsal,’ you start with fresh ingredients instead of trying to fix or adjust the old food. The same goes for your essay. Start with a brand new dish, or in this case, a brand new blank document. 

Your Assignment:

Open your STAGE Essay Program Materials Google Drive folder and select the subfolder STAGE Essay Drafts. Click on the “STAGE 7 Draft” document to begin your draft. Make sure your chosen Common AppⓇ essay prompt is written at the top of the page!

Once your draft is complete, you’ll submit it for review in advance of your next meeting. Use the button below to submit your draft, and then continue on to STAGE 8!

The STAGE Program

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