1 - Getting Started ~5 mins
Today you are reflecting on someone else's draft and on your own. Peer review is not a warm-up before the real work. It is the work.
You will read a partner's Personal Statement Draft 1 against four criteria: clarity, voice, evidence and fit for purpose. You will name the one change that would most improve it, then take the feedback on your own draft and revise it in this period. The version that leaves the room has to be different from the one that came in. That revised draft is Personal Statement v2, and it is your next ALT 1 checkpoint.
2 - Key Terms ~4 mins
Three terms you will use for the rest of ALT 1. Read them once, then keep them beside you while you review. Your four review lenses today are clarity, voice, evidence and fit for purpose.
| Term | What it means for you | Real example |
|---|---|---|
| Peer review | A structured read of someone else's work against named criteria, ending in specific comments and one priority change. Today you judge a partner's draft on clarity, voice, evidence and fit, then hand them one change they can make now. | A reviewer underlines "I am passionate about helping people" and asks for the Tuesday shift where that actually showed up. |
| Fit for purpose | Whether the statement tells the intended reader what they need for that opportunity. Your comments should ask who this is for, and whether a stranger in that role would know what to do with it. | An apprenticeship reader wants proof you turn up and learn on the job; a long list of every hobby weakens the fit. |
| Revision | Changing the draft itself because of feedback, not storing the notes for later. Personal Statement v2 must differ from Draft 1 before you leave. A log of feedback you intend to use is not a revision. | Cutting two vague opening lines and leading with the after-school club scene your reviewer said only you could have written. |
3 - Review, Then Revise ~38 mins
Open your partner's Personal Statement Draft 1 (from Lesson 25) on their device or on paper. You have two jobs in this period, in order. The second half is protected rewrite time: at least one body paragraph or opening must change before you leave, not only a footer note.
Job 1 — Review (about 15 minutes). Use the rubric on screen. Take one criterion at a time. Every judgement below the top level needs a comment that points at a line, not at the whole piece. Finish by naming the one change that would most improve the statement.
Hand-over: your partner must be able to read the full review without your device. Use the activity copy or export if it is available; otherwise screenshot or save a PDF and share it, email it, or write the four level judgements plus your one priority change on a half-page slip or sticky and hand that over.
Job 2 — Revise (about 18–19 minutes, protected). Read the review you received once without explaining yourself. Then open your own draft and revise it into Personal Statement v2 in your Strand 1.1 folder. Change the body: rewrite at least one paragraph or the opening so a stranger could tell Draft 1 and v2 apart without reading the footer. At the end of the document add three short lines:
- the one change your reviewer named
- what you actually changed because of it
- any feedback you decided not to take, and why
Disagreeing is allowed. Leaving the draft untouched is not. ALT 1 checkpoint: peer feedback received and acted on.
Peer review: personal statement draft
4 - Think About It ~8 mins
Talk these through with the person beside you, or sit with them quietly for a minute.
Receiving is the harder half. When you first read your review, what was your instinct: explain, defend, or write it down? Which of those actually helped the draft?
Disagreeing with reasons. If you declined a piece of feedback, what reason did you give yourself? Would that reason still stand if a course admissions officer or an employer made the same point?
Optional Digital Portfolio note in your own time: add a short paragraph under Personal Statement v2 on one piece of feedback that was hard to hear and what you did with it (acting on it or declining it with a clear reason both count).
5 - What You Covered ~5 mins
In this lesson you:
- Peer-reviewed a partner's personal statement draft against clarity, voice, evidence and fit for purpose
- Named the one change that would most improve their statement and handed the review over
- Revised your own draft into Personal Statement v2 so it differs from Draft 1 in the body
- Recorded the reviewer's priority change, what you did about it, and any feedback you declined with reasons
- Advanced ALT 1: peer feedback received and acted on
Next lesson you will tailor a version of this statement for a specific audience without losing its core.
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