The Red List: your personal error log
By Michael Ukwuma
The single habit that turns practice into points. How to keep it and how to use it on test day.
Everybody has a few mistakes they make again and again. Mine used to be prepositions. I would write 'discuss about' and never notice. You have yours too.
Paragon's own advice for high scorers is simple: learn your most frequent errors and check for them specifically. That is what the Red List does.
How to keep it
Use a notebook or the printable Red List sheet. Every time you check a practice task, write each mistake on one line with three parts: what you wrote, what is correct, and why.
Example lineWrote: I am writing to discuss about the parking issue.
Correct: I am writing to discuss the parking issue.
Why: discuss never takes about.
Group your mistakes. After a week you will see patterns. Articles. Verb tenses. Missing the third point in an email. Speaking too slowly in Task 3. These patterns are gold.
How to use it
- Before each study session, read your Red List for one minute.
- Turn your top five mistakes into a short checklist.
- Proofread every writing task for those five things only, in the last three minutes.
- Every Sunday, cross out the mistakes you have not made in two weeks.
Keep it small. Do not try to fix everything at once. Fix the five most frequent mistakes. That alone can lift your Readability score.
Why this works
Feedback only helps if you act on it. Studies of written correction show the biggest benefits for learners at higher levels who actually use the correction to revise. The Red List makes sure every correction is used, not just read.
Key points
- Write every mistake with the correct form and the reason.
- Look for patterns weekly.
- Proofread for your top five, not for everything.